What's So Great about High Cliff State Park?

Well, besides the fact that WE are here.... heh heh.

While I was cleaning firepits and grills today (a camphost task) I decided to snap some pics of my favorite parts of the park!   Just so you can see what a great place this is....  

Wisconsin DNR Website on High Cliff State Park

The park is almost 1,300 acres located on the NE shore of Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. High Cliff State Park is named for the large section of lime stone cliff that is part of the Niagara Escarpment.  The park is open year round. We have:

• 112 family campsites 32 of them with electric, the remainder rustic
• 8 large group campsites, with central open field area
• a handicapped cabin for rent
• 4 picnic areas and 2 dog friendly picnic areas (one with swimming access)
• beach house and large grass beachfront (no lifeguard)
• a 40ft lookout tower
• a big indoor pavillion with center fireplace, and numerous outdoor pavilions for rent
• a butterfly pond with handicap access trails and bridges
• a myriad of hiking, biking, horseback trails all over the park
• In the winter there is cross country skiing, snowshoeing and snowmobile trails maintained in the park, as well as winter camping in the group sites. 
• historical site of an old lime kiln manufacturing operation
• General Store museum, and a nature center
• A 100+ slip marina 

  There is a LOT to see and do here.... but most of all it's the scenery!

Along one of the hiking trails

Yup, it's all about the cliffs! 

The HIGH Cliffs! 

View from the beach out towards the breakwater

Yup, this is Lake Winnebago

140,000 acres -  30 miles long by 10 miles wide

a very shallow lake of only average 15 feet deep, deepest 21 feet

One of the shelters available for rent for parties or picnics

overlooking the lake

The Marina has over 100 slips to rent and small concession stand

The boat ramp for access to the lake (fee charge)

Pet friendly picnic area with water access for water-loving dogs! 

 An elderly gent (who now passed away) used to make these Martin Houses

for the park, and they are used every year

 The Butterfly Pond

 (if you look from the air, it's shaped like one) 

Created by the efforts of The Friends of High Cliff.

It has a lovely walking trail around the perimeter with handicapped access 

The General Store Museum

with displays of how the people lived here in the 1800's working at the Lime Kilns.

Now it also hosts the Nature Center for the Park Naturalist

The Lime Kilns

Historic Ruins of an industry long gone past. 

The Beach Changing House and picnic grounds

 (with Steve working inside to get it ready for the season)

There is a LOT of lawn to mow in this park!  

Today, we only have one part time temp worker Kelsey, to help Steve mow ALL the lawn!!!!

Here is the 40ft lookout tower and the big pavilion in the upper park picnic area

Yup.. It's big! 

See how nice and green the grass is?  

I think it is from everyone 

who just HAS to spit down from the top!!!!

Here is Steveio's office and maintenance shop. 

Pretty impressive for just one guy, eh?

Yup, Steveio is the only full time maintenance worker for the whole park. 

He does get some temp summer workers to help with cleaning, lawn mowing and repairs.

The entire park is run by 4 full time people, and a few part time temp help in the summer.

But, basically, Steve is in charge of all the equipment, repairs, and maintenance.  

Then there are THE CLIFFS! 

It's wonderful to walk among them on the criss cross of trails all over, 

along the top edges, 

the bottom flat areas, 

and up and down between. 

 This is the handicapped cabin that can be rented out

with proper application at the office

This is one of my favorite paths to walk, 

it's along the east side of the campground.

In the fall, it's a blaze with oranges, yellows and reds.

Parts of the park are on old farmsteads, 

and the stone walls remain from the fields

As I walk around the park, the volunteer and staff mantra is:

"IF YOU SEE IT, YOU OWN IT" 

meaning any trash anyone sees, it MUST be picked up. 

Right now the trilliums are in bloom, 

and each white blossom looks like trash wrappers! 

Here is a map of the campground.... 

And a map of the entire park

(click to open in a new window to enlarge) 

After a long hard day of work, ranging from sign installation, cement finishing, inspections, gravel hauling, lawn mowing and handling a dozen phone calls....  Steveio didn't even have a chance for a lunch break.  Whew!  

While he is doing all of this, I am cleaning firepits, grills, assisting campers with information and picking up trash, dumping my ash buckets and of course, taking pictures! LOL

We tossed some burgers on the grill. some sweet corn in the microwave, and poured ourselves some liquid refreshment.

We love High Cliff State Park

Can't you tell? 

High Cliff Mid Week work

The campground is pretty peaceful and quiet during the week!  Most of the sites around us are empty.

And the weather is perfect for a summer day----  Steve had a call at 7:30 a.m. to get down to the marina to let in some electricians for work... so we took a quick buzz down in the car.  I snapped an early morning pic of the quiet marina and the pretty flowers around the main building.

Since I was out and about early, I started cleaning firepits and getting a jump on the day, then I could sit back and do some quilting in the afternoon. (my free time)

I had a very good day until my Cub Cadet started bucking and choking and sputtering!   Oh NO!  I broke it!

But the good thing is having a wonderful husband at the Facilities Maintenance shop!  I gave him a quick call on the cell to be sure he was up there, and got my little ailing cart up the hill.... slowly....

He preformed a spark plug change, an oil change and cleaned the air filter and sure nuff.... I was good to go again!  It purred like a little Cubby should!

I went about my task list of sites to check on, clean the pit if needed and pick up any trash I see laying around.  Also we have some green survey cards to leave on each post for the upcoming camper to take and hopefully fill out.  It even gives one of the smart phone grids called a "QR matrix"  to lead them to the survey site.   (I hope they say we have nice clean campsites???)

After my lunch break (and watching an hour of Young & The Restless)  I was planning on going out again to catch up some of the non-electric sites in the other loop.  Little Dukie looked sad to see me leave, so I took him along!   That is one Happy Camphost Doggie, for sure!

He has ridden on our four wheeler ATV's before and I think I even had him on our snowmobiles, so this was not too scary for him.  He sat like a king and watched me go from site to site.   At #4 he had four little children all come to pet him and admire him.  He was quite proud.

When I got back to our site, the neighbors on #56 were heading back to their home near Madison.  The two little girls came over to give me a present!   They made me a bracelet from tiny rubber bands!  They said it was from a kit with a tiny loom device they bought in New Jersey.  Wow... what a wonderful gift to me.  They chose colors that matched our motorhome they said. Awwwwww.

Not too much other events for the day....  so far in cleaning sites I have found half a jug of tiki torch fuel that works great to start campfires.  Then on one site I found a nickel, and another a dime.  A rubber bouncy ball, a tiny plastic dinosaur and a frilly pom pom from a little kid's trike handle.

(do I mention the burned diapers, squished and burned beer cans 

and other assorted weird stuff in the campfire pits?)

One thing I did find that I didn't even know they MADE any more ... was some Jiffy Pop pans and handles in a campfire pit!

Remember these? 

 I think I am gonna have to look for some of these in the store, eh?

OH OH... .I just found out that I did a BOO BOO!   After supper, Steve and I went and cleaned out a few more campsites of people who vacated today at 3pm.  So he dropped me off at the top of the road while he drove my Cub Cadet to dump the ash cans.  As I came down the hill, I saw a tag on the post of site #56 where my little girls  (who gifted me with the bracelet) had been camping.  I saw their tag still on the post, so as I walked by, I grabbed it off and tossed it in the trash.  Fine.  Right?  WRONG!    Turns out it was a NEW tag put there by NEW people who had paid for the site and were coming back in with their motorhome in a bit.  OH NO... their tag was missing!  LOL   So about the same time, Ranger Linda (also the manager) was driving by and they had to plead their case as to why there wasn't a tag on their post!    Meekly.... I admitted it was little ole me.  Just cleaning up "too clean" I guess???   Next time I better read the tag before I rip it off the post.   

(I am thinking of getting new glasses some time this week.... hmmmm ya think?) 

Oh, another project that I worked on was painting rocks, yes painting rocks!   Just like Gomer Pyle in the Marines.   They had been painted before but were all faded, mossy and dull.  So Steve found a bucket of paint and a brush up in the maintenance shop and let me go hog wild!   Now we have a nice entry to our site, inviting people to come on in and see the hosts.

Well, we are sitting here this evening in our campsite as I write this.  Some enjoyable visitors stopped by from Canada and we had some good laughs.  Our site is a good gathering place for campers, so if you are in the area, stop on by!  Site 58 at High Cliff State Park!

P.S. as I was proofreading my post before I send it out. Steve heard a little noise at the picnic table right next to us, less than 6 feet away.  A RACCOON!   up on our picnic table on top sniffing around!  (no food left out but he was just making sure)   and Dukie Palooki right here between our chairs didn't even notice him!    All our patio lights on, a battery powered twirling butterfly thingie going right over the table, and both of us sitting here with our laptops on.   What a brave little turd!!!    I chased him off, and he went slowly, not seeming to be too frightened.  We put Duke inside now.  I have the camera and flashlight ready if he comes back.   But since he scoped out our table and saw nothing good to eat, he probably won't bother coming back.