Fall destinations in northern Wisconsin

Fall is a special time around the Northland, and Travel Wisconsin shared a few of their top-recommended destinations in the northern part of the state.

The Fall Color Report on their website will help leaf peepers pick the best spot for when they’re free.

“Three-day forecast, it’ll tell you what to do while you’re there, any fun events that are happening at that time, where to stay, where to eat, all of it,” Travel Wisconsin Communications Director Craig Trost said.

He gave a few recommendations of specific places to spend some time this fall:

• Parks to hike
  • Frog Bay Tribal National Park (Bayfield area): “Frog Bay Tribal National Park is America’s very first tribal national park here in the United States. It’s pretty remarkable,” Trost said. “The Red Cliff Band of the Lake Superior Chippewa put aside … like 300 acres of land, something like 4,000 feet of pristine, undeveloped Lake Superior shoreline, couple miles of hiking trails.”
  • Big Bay State Park (Madeline Island): “There’s about 1.5 miles of accessible boardwalk beach properties,” Trost said. “When you’re on an island, you’re on island time.”
• Douglas County waterfalls
  • Pattison State Park: “Pattison State Park has both Big Manitou and Little Manitou Falls. How can you beat – what is it? – the fourth largest waterfall our side of the Rocky Mountains?” Trost asked.
  • Amnicon Falls State Park: “It is so beautiful. A couple miles worth of hiking trails out at that park. And the falls there are beautiful,” he said. “And both of them have dog-friendly paths, so you don’t have to leave your best friend at home.”
• National Scenic Trails
  • Ice Age Trail: “It is fully enclosed here in the state of Wisconsin, so you have to be here to see it. And it is incredibly remarkable,” Trost said. “It’s a 1,000-foot trail. It’s in an amazing trail: great hiking, amazing landscapes, fall color perfect time of year to get out on the Ice Age Trail.”
  • North Country Trail: “It’s a beautiful trail, but in order to see the full beauty of the trail, you’ve got to check out our side of the trail,” he said. “There’s 220 miles of the trail in Wisconsin.”
• Overlooks and observation points
  • Mountain Fire Lookout Tower (Oconto County): “Wow, what an amazing 100-foot-tall fire lookout tower. It is the only lookout tower in the Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest that you can actually still climb up,” Trost said.
  • Timm’s Hill: “It’s a county park in Price County in Wisconsin. And it’s the highest point in the state. It’s about 1,951-ish feet above sea level,” he said. “Heavily forested, so if you’re looking for fall colors, you can’t beat Timm’s Hill.”