Peninsula State Park - Fish Creek, Wisconsin

scurvy

New member
We camped for two nights at Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. We weren't able to stay in the same site mid-week, but found one each night that was close to the other. The sites are fairly level and hard packed sandy loam, with 30 amp electrical hookups. Fire rings and picnic tables are standard, and there is good seclusion between sites.

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There are some beautiful hiking trails and rock formations here and also at Newport State Park, about a 30 minute drive across the peninsula, which is a Dark Sky site if you're interested in unencumbered stargazing.

The roads in the park are in fairly good shape with the typical cross-lane cracks we've found so common in State Parks. The dump site is large with 4 lanes and the water is nice and cold. Since you're right by the lake, boats of all varieties are common, as are fishing. They have a beach and several boat ramps.
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The campsite was fairly full of what appeared to be long term campers and the local towns were absolutely packed with tourists (lots of Texas and Iowa plates, oddly) and nobody seemed to be able to understand the social distancing or mask mandate. You also have to buy a Wisconsin entry permit to go into any State Park and the only ones available are 2020 yearly permits, and only online.

While the woods were beautiful, I don't think we would return. I don't get the point of going to Door County if all you do is stay in a state park (it wasn't dramatically different from Rock Cut State Park, which is much closer to home) and I also don't understand going to all the kitchy shops in town where families of eight from out of the region are out and about without masks. And the beer cans littering sites, along with these signs? I like a drink as much as they next guy (maybe more than the next guy) but let's class it up a bit, please, we're in public.

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The park is nice, the woods are beautiful (and full of mosquitoes), the lake cool and refreshing but I would not return to Door County in the summertime.
 
We go all the way up to Hy-Land Court, which is between Sister Bay and Ellison Bay to get away from the crowded areas. We've driven through Peninsula and also found it to be highly utilized. I can't say we would want to stay there, but there are some interesting things to see, like the old lighthouse. We are going up there this weekend and will take pretty much all the food we need, so we don't have to go to town. We love the secludedness of the old part of Hy-Land Court and will spend most of the time there.
 
I saw Hy-Land Court while we were driving over to meet our friends tent camping at Newport State Park, looks very nice and secluded!
 
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