Where to go winter camping in Wisconsin

You know what season it is? Winter camping season.  With proper planning and the right gear, you too can stay toasty warm while enjoying our state parks, forests, and recreation areas during the cold months.  Have you explored our state's great outdoors once the snow falls? The sheer quiet and desolation of these s…

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Searching for the sandstone gems hidden away at Mill Bluff State Park

I explored a new state park I've been super intrigued by: Mill Bluff! On way home from a weekend spent kayaking, hiking, and camping at nearby Buckhorn State Park, I headed thirty minutes west to visit another new-to-me state park I've been aching to get to for a long time: Mill Bluff. Part of the Ice Age Nat…

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Backpacking Rock Island State Park: The final day

After a chilly second night, my watch beeped me awake a little after seven, and I began boiling water for a hearty warm meal of dehydrated spicy southwest breakfast hash from Getting up to stretch, slip on my pair of cold hiking boots, a bald eagle flew just feet above the fence of cedars that surrounded my cliffside …

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Backpacking Rock Island State Park: Seeking that northern solitude

Waking up on an early Saturday morning to blue skies, an eerily calm lake, and pristine fall weather.  My beloved Eureka Taron2 backpacking tent stakes its claim at what I'm confident is the most incredible, jaw-dropping primitive wilderness site to call home in the entire state. Remind me next time to bring coffe…

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Backpacking Rock Island State Park: Arriving with the storms

Rock Island is the crown jewel of Wisconsin's state park system. It's also the most remote, hardest to access, and desolate.  Gray skies and cold rain couldn't dampen the smile I had hopping off the second ferry at Rock Island State Park, the 40th state park I've traveled to. When I sat down last Octo…

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Exploring the dreamy wilderness of California's Pinnacles National Park

Originally one of the first national monuments set aside to be protected by Teddy Roosevelt, Pinnacles became our 59th national park in 2013 thanks to former President Barack Obama. In all of my travels, I've never been to any national park properties west of the Rocky Mountains. But that changed when I was able …

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Staying warm with Outdoor Vitals' StormLoft down quilt

Once the maple leaves finish falling and days grow darker earlier, you probably keep an eye on that temperature rating when shopping for new outdoor gear. The essential magical material idolized in any form of outdoor recreation whether it be skiing, backpacking, hiking, or even fat tire biking; is goose or duck down…

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