Potawatomi State Park

Potawatomi State Park is a 1,225-acre property located close to Green Bay (Lake Michigan) near Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. The park serves as the eastern terminus of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail but also offers opportunities for boating, sailing, hiking, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing, fishing, bicycling and snowmobiling. There are several miles of hiking trail in the park with about eight miles open for bicyclists. There is a boat launch on Sawyer Harbor, a sheltered inlet on Sturgeon Bay, but because the shoreline along the bay is so rocky, there is no swim beach. The concessionaire on Sawyer Harbor does offer canoes, kayaks and paddle boats for rent. The park also offers an accessible fishing pier along the southern shoreline of the bay.

The countryside is characterized as a gently rolling upland terrain bounded by steep slopes and rugged limestone cliffs on the lake side. About two miles of the property offers direct water frontage along Sturgeon Bay, a small branch of Green Bay. Virtually the entire park can be viewed from atop the 75-foot-high observation tower near the trailhead for the Ice Age Trail.

This is an area of dense basswood, white pine, sugar maple, white birch and red pine forest along the Niagara Escarpment (the cliffs that rise straight up from the waters of Sturgeon Bay). Among the wildlife often seen at the park are white-tailed deer, opossum, skunk, raccoon, gray squirrel, fox and chipmunk. At least 50 species of birds are year round residents on the area while another 200 or so species have been recorded passing through in the various seasons.

In winter some of the trails become groomed cross-country ski trails while others are opened up for snowmobiling. Snowshoers can go anywhere in the park except along any of those trails. Sawyer Harbor is the area where you'll find most of the ice shanties in winter. There is also a small sledding hill near the campground, across from the warming shelter.