High Cliff State Park

I've been visiting Wisconsin since Wednesday. Yesterday, I spent a few hours hiking at High Cliff State Park in Sherwood. My family used to visit High Cliff when I was a kid and it's the first place I ever went camping. The last time I was there, however, was over a decade ago.

Located on the shore of Lake Winnebago, High Cliff used to be a limestone quarry and kiln. The limestone was cut from the Niagra Escarpment, a bluff of rock running along the length of the park, then baked into cement. The quarry and kiln have been dormant since the 1950s.

I hiked the Lime Kiln Loop, which passes the ruins of the old kiln then rises through to the trees to the cliff face. After hiking, I drove to the top of the cliff. Atop the cliff, there's a lookout tower offering sweeping views of the Fox River Valley and a statue of Red Bird, a Winnebago Indian chief.