Milwaukee / Kettle Moraine State Forest
Chain o Lakes State Park, IL to Kettle Moraine State Forest, WI | Visiting Friends in Milwaukee | Hiking & Camping in the Pike Lake Unit of Kettle Moraine State Forest | April 2026
As our time on the Hennepin Canal Trail was drawing to a close, we naturally started to wonder ‘what next?’ Moving right along to completing the I&M Canal Trail would be fun, but it doesn’t have camping at trailheads the way the Hennepin does, which would make the logistics a bit more challenging. We started to look to our other goals, such as county counting, and thought it would be fun to get our last county in Illinois (Lake County) and then continue into Wisconsin, which is a state we haven’t spent a lot of time in. Thinking of Wisconsin reminded us of our letterboxing friends from the state (who now live in Tucson), which led me to check their blog to see what they were up to — and what do you know, their latest post mentioned preparing to travel to Wisconsin. We quickly sent a message to see if our visits might overlap and to ask for recommendations, and it turned out that our timing was perfect as they were in their last week in the Milwaukee area. We set up a time to meet the day after our projected Hennepin Trail completion.
The day of our scheduled meet up, we woke up at our campsite in Chain O’ Lakes State Park in Illinois, finished our morning chores, and then started driving North. We quickly crossed the state line and got the first of our 3 new counties for today. The morning was cold and wet so we didn’t make any stops. One hour and a few counties later, we arrived at our friends’ rental home in Wauwasota, a suburb of Milwaukee.
We were greeted by our friends Wisconsin Hiker and Martini Man, and (as a surprise) were able to meet more Letterboxing and internet friends, Tiptoe and Tonto, in person for the first time. Letterboxing personalities who we’ve known about for years, who are regular readers of this blog, and who had even met Curtis’ parents. It was a good time catching up, swapping stories, sharing our adventures from the Hennepin, and hearing their experience biking its length. We went out for burgers and custard at Kopp’s as recommended by our friends who used to be locals, which we knew we’d enjoy since we love Culver’s so much! After that, we said goodbye to new friends Tiptoe and Tonto, then spent a few more hours visiting with WI Hiker and Martini Man before their next commitment. We were so glad to get to see them and catch up in what had once been their home state, especially since we didn’t make it to Tucson this past winter!
As we were leaving, they mentioned that a new Thomas Dambo statue had recently been installed in a nearby park. And so we went that way next to check it out. Since we’re running out of Whispering Giant statues, it makes sense to start searching for trolls on our travels. This is the second time we’ve gone ‘troll hunting’ — the first being in Kentucky last summer. We were really impressed by this one, it was very creative compared to the others which were either just sitting or lying down. We heard that Iowa was about to get a few of its own trolls (they were being assembled this very week in fact!) so we knew that would be something we’d have to do this summer while we’re in the Midwest!
After our time in Milwaukee we traveled North into the Kettle Moraine State Forest, specifically the Pike Lake unit. We didn’t feel like stealth camping in a city, so our options were pretty limited, which led us to a paid spot in the forest. After finding a spot in an almost empty campground (and then paying significantly more than we really felt it was worth), we settled in the van, and then set off on a bit of hiking along the Ice Age Trail. Our wandering ultimately led us to the top of Powder Hill and the observation tower built there. While the majority of today had been cloudy with rain off and on, the sky had now partially cleared and we were treated with a lovely golden hour, watching the sun disappear behind the clouds on the horizon and seeing the surrounding landscape light up in warm hues.
I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting a lot for an area so close to Milwaukee and Lake Michigan, but I was impressed by the landscape, the rolling hills, the not insignificant climb up to this hill. I was glad we ended up here, and though we didn’t have much planned, I was excited to see what else we would find in Southern Wisconsin.
We made our way back to the van where I settled in for the night, and Curtis went off in pursuit of more letterboxes before also calling it a night. We enjoyed a quiet and cool evening all cozy in the van.
