Early Autumn 2021: From Coulees to Kettles | |
On our way to the Kettle-Moraine State Forest, we stopped off at a newly opened cafe in Amherst for a stack of pecan, strawberry, whipped cream, and maple syrup pancakes. They were wonderfully decadent. | |
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We spent the better part of a week in Wisconsin’s coulee region, also known as the driftless area. Coulees are deep river-cut valleys. Glaciers, up to 2-miles in thickness, have a tendency to scour and bulldoze everything in its path. Because the glaciers missed this region, the rivers and creeks had several thousand more years to do their cutting work. Coulees, and their smaller cousins, hollows, sculpted a rugged topography in this area.
So, what about the opposite end of the glacial spectrum? The kettle-moraine area of Wisconsin, on the eastern side of the state, is where the last glacier ran over and then petered out. This left unique landforms like morains, drumlins, kames, eskers, and kettles. We set up base camp at Long Lake State Campground in the Kettle-Moraine State Forest Northern Unit. Tucked between the huge Lake Winnebago and the colossal Lake Michigan, this park and the surrounding Kettle-Moraine State Forest is a study in glacier action.
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The Long Lake State Campground provides private camp sites with plenty of room. Many sites are densely wooded, however, we purposely chose an open site to get the best solar exposure. | |
The beach at the State Campground. Long Lake is a delightful clear-water lake. | |
This info plaque shows the extent of the last glacier to power its way through Wisconsin. Notice how the southwest part of the state was left unaffected. | |
This info plaque depicts the various glacial landforms left behind. | |
Once we were set up, we drove around the immediate area. We started off with the Parnell observation tower. It sits on a ridge and literally towers over the entire area. I tried to find out if it was on top of a moraine or an esker or whatever. I couldn’t find any info on that, but it does require a long tough hike up the side of a steep hillside just to get to the tower. Then another zillion steps up the tower. The view on top is impressive and worth the effort. | |
Heading up the hill to the tower. | |
Heading back down the hill. | |
Next, we went the opposite direction - down. The Greenbush Kettle is a deep water-filled depression left behind by a block of ice that got stuck in a big pile of glacial drift (gravel and rocks). When the ice melted, it left a small round lake at the bottom of the depression. | |
Yes, we really got into the info plaques on this trip. The Greenbush Kettle is a superb example of a kettle lake. A block of glacial ice got trapped in bunch of glacial drift (fancy word for gravel). When it melted, a small round lake formed at the bottom of the depression. Europeans, when they first saw these, thought these lakes resembled a kettle of water. The name stuck. | |
The drive through the Kettle-Moraine State Forest was dramatic, with lots of steep, curvy hills weaving through thick canopied woods. The little towns and villages in the area are cute, and in some cases, very ritzy. Elkhart Lake is an example of the ritzy type. | |
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Birthplace of the Road America Road Race, Elkhart Lake is an upper-crust resort town. OK, let me first tackle Road America. In the early 1950s, a bunch of sport car owners ran a race through the town streets and around the neighboring country roads. It was an old-fashioned street circuit race. The state legislature wasn’t amused and banned street racing. Not to be deterred, these racing enthusiasts then built a 4-mile track with 14 turns that basically mimicked a street race. They called the track, Road America and it is a big deal in the non-Nascar racing world. They host sports car racing, Indy-car racing, vintage car racing, and even stock car racing. It’s a lot more than Nascar’s “go fast - turn left” formula.
The resort part of Elkhart Lake centers around the lake that the town is named after. It is a gorgeous lake. These resorts aren’t like the rustic cabins in the woods on a lake up in northern Wisconsin. These resorts are “old money” resorts. They are big old white-washed wooden structures that have been meticulously maintained with manicured lawns and gardens. Even the newly constructed resorts are built in that old-world style. The Osthoff Resort is a prime example. It is acres of giant white buildings replicated to look like a roaring ‘20s upper-crust sanctuary.
The actual downtown of Elkhart Lake is tiny but very cute. The residential area continues the theme of older, well-maintained homes with large wrap-around porches and plenty of dormers. Even the newly constructed homes are elaborate. You won’t find many three-bedroom ranches in Elkhart Lake.
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The actual downtown of Elkhart Lake is deceptively small. The community, with all of its resorts, is rather big. | |
This is a typical Elkhart Lake resort. There are scores of these white wooden structures, wonderfully maintained, sitting on meticulously manicured grounds. | |
The actual lake is a deep blue lake with lots of bays. It is, however, built up with more ritzy resorts and mansion homes. | |
This party boat is unique. It is a customer-pedaled pontoon saloon. We have previously seen customer-pedaled street cart saloons, but this is the first pontoon saloon we’ve seen. The drinkers were whooping it up pretty good, so I am assuming that they were having a great time. | |
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Just up the road from Elkhart Lake is the Broughton Sheboygan Marsh and Wildlife Area, complete with a county campground, a boat landing, and another observation tower. The restored wetland is another gift from the glacier. Like the more famous Horicon Marsh 40 miles to the east, it is an expansive wetland that provides a much-needed stop for migrating birds in the Spring and Fall.
The marsh drains via the Sheboygan River. A kid was fishing the river and caught two impressive crappies while we were there. At $35 a day, the campground is pretty expensive, especially for a setting that is little more than a parking lot. There was a restaurant in the little park spewing out some delicious and primal smoked meat scents out into the surrounding air.
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Next up was the small city of Plymouth (population: 8,500). Plymouth is, hands-down, the cheese capital of the world. There are several giant cheese factories located in and around Plymouth, including the headquarters of Sargento Cheese. I was astounded to read that 15% of all the cheese produced in the US is processed here.
The downtown is beautifully maintained with magnificent turn-of-the-century buildings. Many cities are now embracing the use of murals to enhance their appearance, however Plymouth has the finest murals we’ve seen yet. They are vivid, glossy, and clever. We liked Plymouth a lot.
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Beer, both local and European, is celebrated in Plymouth. | |
It was a long full day. It was time to head back to camp where we had a pot of homemade rotisserie chicken soup waiting. | |
Glossary of terms used for newcomers: 1) V-Jer. The name of our camper. 2) Saturn. The name of our Van. 3) Duende. Our mischievous gremlin that breaks things. 4) Tata. The good gremlin that helps us fix Duende’s dirty work. 5) The Black Hole. This is what we call Walmart because every time we go in for just a couple of items, we come out spending way more than we figured. 6) QT. Quaint Town. 7) Little Buddy. This is what we call our Dyson cordless stick vacuum. | | | | |
