Hiking the Elroy-Sparta State Trail

Hiking the Elroy-Sparta State Trail from Norwalk to Elroy, Wisconsin | June 2026

We began our day waking up in the small town of Norwalk, feeling well rested in our camp spot beside the Elroy-Sparta State Trail. We knew that, as it was the weekend, the trail and town would probably be busier today. Luckily, the stretch between Norwalk and the next town of Wilton was only 6 or so miles and we could use the same methodology we used while hiking the Hennepin: Hike in the morning, take a lunch and siesta, hike in the afternoon.

We set out east from the town of Norwalk, crossing over the local stream several times. The trail paralleled highway 71 somewhat regularly, so there was frequent car noise, but we were soon in the trees heading up another gulley. We saw regular bikers in pairs or groups, but next to no walkers. We soon made it to the mouth of Tunnel #2. I walked through to the other side so we could have a trail continuity. While it is shorter than Tunnel #3, it’s still deceptively long. You can see the other opening the entire way, it’s a straight shot after all, but it just doesn’t seem to get any bigger.

Our walk back to Norwalk was uneventful, though we saw more and more bikers as we got closer. By the time we reached the trailhead we found a very full lot with lots of family groups getting ready to bike. We packed up a bag for lunch and our books and moved to the shade of a nearby pavilion. Inside the van on days like this it can get rather warm, especially in the front seats, so it’s best to spend the time outside.

We loitered around for several hours; reading and playing Pokemon before deciding to move the van over to Wilton. A 10 minute drive to cover almost 2 hours of walking. We found the trailhead as well as a caboose visitor center. The walk from here back to tunnel 2 was shorter than from Norwalk so we finished much quicker. We continued to pass lots of bikers including some we had passed in the morning going the opposite way. We hike in and out in 12 miles intervals. They bike in and out in 60+ mile intervals so it would seem.

Back at the trailhead in Wilton we made dinner and then moved the van back to Norwalk. But not before grabbing a pint of ice cream that was produced locally from the gas station, because we were in dairy country after all!

On our second full day hiking the Elroy-Sparta, we drove right back to the trailhead in Wilton and had our breakfast at the trailhead. Today would be a longer day for walking since the next stretch of trail to the next trailhead was about 9 miles (one way). To add to the planning, it was supposed to rain around the noon hour. We hoped that we could finish the first segment before then, but brought our umbrellas just in case.

The morning was cool and breezy, if humid, and we were rather alone on the trail. Not nearly as many bikers out before the rain came. Heading West from Wilton we crossed over the Kickapoo river several times before heading into the coulee that led to the last (or is it the first?) tunnel. After six miles, we arrived at Tunnel #1. But unlike the other two tunnels, we could not see the other end. ‘Must have a curve’, I thought. But since we had already walked 6 of the 9 miles to the town of Kendall, I figured we’d save the walk through the tunnel for the next leg.

We returned back to Wilton, still seeing only 2-3 bikers. About 3 miles from the van it started sprinkling. At about 1 mile it started raining. Fortunately it never dumped buckets on our head, and our umbrellas kept us mostly dry, though we experienced more mosquitos during this walk than any day walk prior. We waited out the rain in the van with some lunch and relaxing.

Around 3 I asked Jess if she wanted to finish the section from Kendall to the other side of the tunnel. I said it would be 3 miles – meaning 3 miles from Kendall to the tunnel; 6 miles total. Jess interpreted this as 3 miles total and agreed despite the humidity. We drove over to Kendall and started our walk back towards Wilton. We listened to our audio book and were passed by a lot more bikes and bugs than we had seen that morning.

We eventually made it to the other end of Tunnel #1 and joined a congregation of bikers at the mouth of the tunnel. I walked the quarter mile through the tunnel to the far end. At about half way, I realized, there wasn’t a turn in the tunnel, it was just fog that prevented seeing through to the other side. It made it spooky and interesting though. I returned back to the East entrance to find that Jess had started back to avoid the bugs. I loitered around until the other bikers left and I had an opportunity to find a letterbox, and then spent the remaining three miles catching up with Jess. We reunited quite literally at the van. It was only then that Jess realized the mileage had been double what she had thought I said at the beginning.

We ended up returning to Norwalk for one more night of ‘free’ camping, but not before grabbing another pint of ice cream. We did walk 18 miles today, after all!

On our fourth and final day along the trail, we knew we wanted to get an early start. The start of the week was promising to be very hot and humid, so whatever hiking we were going to get done we wanted done in the morning. We drove back to Kendall and started out towards the eastern terminus of the trail in Elroy. There are only three tunnels along the trail, so this was mostly just a bike trail following the Baraboo River and the valley. And weirdly this was some of the most pleasant walking we had on the trail. The trail went through interspersed trees, prairie, and wetlands and was open enough to let a nice cool breeze keep us cool despite the ratcheting heat.

And because of this, we found that the miles slipped by and we reached the trailhead in Elroy before we even got close to our turnaround time. With that we had hiked from Elroy to Tunnel #3. There still remained a section between the town of Sparta and Tunnel #3 that we hadn’t walked. But we were ok with that. At either end of this trail were even more rail trails: the 400 Trail, the LaCrosse Trail, and the Great River Trail. These all connect together to form a network over 100 miles long. Maybe we’ll come back and walk those some day. But until then, we had an uneventful walk back to Kendall where we continued on to beat the heat, and start making our way North for the next part of our road trip.