Rock Island State Park

Hike Name: Rock Island State Park Location: northeast WI Length: 6 Submitted by: Tod Nicol Date Submitted: 0/0/00 Rating:	more Wisconsin trail reviews Wisconsin national parks Wisconsin state parks
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Description
THE ROCK
The second week in September of this year my girl friend Lisa and I took a backpacking trip to Wisconsin's Rock Island. This island is found in northern Door county about 1 1/2 hours north of GreenBay on the outer tip of the peninsula. Getting to the island is almost as enjoyable as the island itself. At shores end of the peninsula you board a ferry that takes you on
a 30 minute trip to Washington Island. Once you've landed on this island you drive a few miles to the eastern shore to board a passenger ferry to Rock Island. You arrive at a boathouse that the former owner built before donating the land to the state. There you'll see the rangers station along with his summer quarters were he lives only a few months out of the year.
This island is surrounded by 6 miles of rocky and sandy shore line. There are 35 camp sites in the southwestern part of the island. Lisa and I camped on the east central part of the island in one of the 5 hike in sites with atleast 100 yards between sites. We set up camp not more than 5 yards off the shore of Lake Michigan. We had an abundance of fallen timber to burn in
our fire ring that the site offered. Our camp site was about 50 yards form the hiking trail and was practically impossible to see. It seemed like we were the only ones on the island intil we set off to explore the scenic environment. On the island you will find the oldest lighthouse in the state along with a stone water tower that is in the national register of historic
places. Lisa and I enjoyed looking over the brilliant blue water of Lake Michigan standing on a 50 foot bluff. Trekking though the wooded terrain we crossed stone foundations of earlier inhabitants and 3 very old cemeteries. Theres really no hard hiking on the island except for trekking through about 1/2 of a mile of sand dunes. Walking through the boat house was like
walking through a museum were we looked at pictures and seen belongings of the former owner on other information of the island. Back at our camp site we sat by the fire and watched day light turn to night and we viewed boats passing in the distance. The moon light sparkled off the water and we fell asleep to the cashing of the water on our door step. In the morning we
used the lake to clean up ourselves and our morning dishes and proceeded to pack up camp and hike back to the boat house to wait for the ferry to arrive. This was our most memorable trip to date and I urge anyone that enjoys backpacking into camp and loving wildlife and nature to take time to visit the ROCK as we call it.

Directions to Hike
From Greenbay, take SR 57 north to Rt. 42 to Washington Island.

Contact Information
Rock Island State Park
Washington Island, WI 54246
or call:
(920)847-2235

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