Peninsula State Park

One of the five (!) State Parks located in Door County, Peninsula State Park is also the largest, located in Fish Creek. You can explore it in all seasons and there is an observation tower giving you a nice view of Nicolet Bay and Horseshoe Island (sometimes closed in the winter, depending on the weather). As this is a State Park, there is a fee to enter with your car you can purchase a day pass if you don’t have an annual pass.

The many trails (hiking, mountain biking, skiing and snowshoeing) make it a popular park. Here is are a couple of options for exploring:

1. The Sentinel Trail (2.6 miles)

2. Hemlock/Skyline/Sunset loop (4 miles)

Sentinel Trail

Starting right at the Eagle Observation Tower, the Sentinel Trail is a lollipop trail with a 0.3 stick and a 2-mile loop. It is an easy trail that can be hiked in the summer and snowshoed in the winter… and ran all year-round! The snow is often packed by snowshoers in the winter, which is nice. There’s isn’t much elevation change as you follow the winding trail through the beautiful forest.

The trail crosses the Eagle Trail early on and the Lone Pine Trail later on, both of which will take you down closer to the lake, to the Minnehaha Trail. You can use these to do a loop that is longer… and would be harder because of the elevation change.

To see a video of this trail run done in March (with still quite a bit of snow), click here!

Hemlock/Skyline/Sunset Loop

For a four-mile loop of moderate difficulty, start at the first parking lot past the visitor center and combine the Sunset route with the Hemlock Trail and the Skyline Trail before finishing back on the Sunset Route.

This Lollipop loop gives you a little bit of everything, with some climbs on the Hemlock Trail (and a nice view of the lake from Sven’s Bluff!), some level segments, and nice views of the lake from low on the Sunset Route.

The first parking lot is conveniently located near the Visitor Center, where you can use the bathroom when open. Be aware that the Sunset Route is also a bike trail.

This route starts so close to the entrance of the park that you could potentially park in town and not in the park.

To see a map of all the trails in the park, click here.

And if you need ideas on where to eat after your nature adventure, check out my recommendations here!