Point Beach State Forest

The weather finally cooled down a bit here in Wisconsin...for a few days, anyway. So, I packed up the car and drove up to Point Beach State Forest in Two Rivers for my next new state park adventure.

Dune beach at Point Beach State Forest

Point Beach State Forest is a beautiful little spot just north of Manitowoc. It took me almost 3 hours to get there, but it was well worth the drive. There is a U.S. Coast Guard lighthouse on site that was just beautiful with a little early morning light on my Monday morning walk on the beach. It arrived at Point Beach in 1893 and had been part of the French exhibition at the Chicago World's Fair. A light was needed because 26 ships were stranded on the point before it was erected, including the steamship Vernon that took down 36 crewmen and passengers with it in 1887. There was only one survivor and he never fully recovered so the cause of the sinking is a mystery. Point Beach consists of 5.5 miles of undeveloped shoreline and sand dunes which result from the wind and wave action that constantly changes the landform.

 

The park itself has more than 2,900 acres of forest and beach, 127 family campsites, two indoor group cabins and an outdoor group campsite.  There are numerous picnic areas with tables, grills, water, concession stand, playgrounds and restrooms. I camped in the tent loop which had a narrow winding road that campers would not be able to fit on, but there were plenty of areas with nice electric sites suitable for our fifth wheel that I noted for a future visit with Wayne.

Reading "Water for Elephants" on my Kindle after a busy afternoon hiking and biking.

Specialized plants with long roots help stabilize the dunes

Point Beach also has 11 miles of hiking/skiing trails and a self guided half mile nature trail. The trails were mosquito infested due to the marshy "swales" that exist between the ridges that the trails follow. Bring your insect repellant! Whenever I forgot to put mine on I got bit every time I stood still! It was mosquito-free down near the beach due to the sandiness and the breeze off the lake though.

Ice Age trail

Point Beach also contains a segment of the Ice Age trail, which I couldn't resist exploring. I did about 2 miles which ran right alongside the dunes area by the beach.

The best trail through the forest was the crushed limestone 5 mile section of the Rawley Point Recreational Trail which started at the lodge area at the beach and connects the forest with the city of Two Rivers. I turned around once it left the forest since I had seen the scenery on the rest of it because it runs alongside the road into the park. The trail mostly follows the ridges through the pine and hemlock forest but also crossed through this slightly dune-like area in the middle that was wide open and full of milkweed and other interesting plants.

Rawley Point Recreational Trail

And, boy, was there plenty of milkweed to be had around here! Healthy looking, too, unlike the plants south of Sheboygan right now. The butterflies were loving the milkweed and all the other blooming plants that were planted outside the nature center at the lodge on the beach

I ate breakfast before I left Sunday morning and packed myself a sandwich for lunch, but needed something for dinner after hiking for 2 miles and biking for 15 miles all afternoon. I dropped into Pick N Save, and the best I could do was a roll and a fruit cup to go with my leftover pretzels, tomatoes and cucumbers. Being a vegetarian can be challenging without a fridge or stove, let me tell ya! Topped it off with a diet Snapple and a couple of dark chocolate Doves and called it a day!