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High Cliff State Park is a 1,187-acre (480 ha) Wisconsin state park near Sherwood, Wisconsin. It is the only state-owned recreation area located on Lake Winnebago.[2] The park got its name from cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment, a land formation east of the shore of Lake Winnebago that stretches north through northeast Wisconsin, Upper Michigan, and Ontario to Niagara Falls and New York State.[2]

A new Master Plan for the park created in 2013 aims to nearly double the size of the park, to add new amenities, and expand conservation efforts.[3]

Activities and amenities

  • Trails: Hiking trails include the .6-mile (0.97 km) limestone-surfaced Indian Mound Trail. The north shoreline of Lake Winnebago can be seen from a 40-foot-tall (12 m) observation tower at the top of the escarpment. Various trails are available for biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, and snowmobiling.[4]
  • The park also offers camping, picnicking, boating, swimming, fishing, and hunting.[4]
  • A statue of Red Bird, the Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) leader, overlooks the northeast end of Lake Winnebago.[5]

Effigy mounds

The effigy mounds at the top of the escarpment have led to a small part of the park being added to the National Register of Historic Places, listed as High Cliff Mounds.[1] A trail meanders through six long-tailed mounds and several conical mounds.[6] Out of the original 30 effigy mounds in High Cliff, only nine remain, among them a panther mound that reaches 285 feet in length, as well as mounds presenting a bird and one that was most likely a bear.[6][7] The mounds are consistent with other mound groups found at the peak of the Niagara Escarpment along the eastern shore of Lake Winnebago, including the Calumet County Park Group.[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. ^ a b "High Cliff State Park". Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. July 19, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  3. ^ Wisconsin DNR. "High Cliff State Park 2013 Master Plan" (PDF).
  4. ^ a b "High Cliff State Park: Activities and recreation". Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. July 19, 2013. Retrieved September 2, 2013.
  5. ^ Red Bird statue, other views
  6. ^ a b c Birmingham, Robert A.; Eisenberg, Leslie E. (2000). Indian Mounds of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 194. ISBN 0-299-16874-3. Retrieved September 29, 2008. calumet county park mounds.
  7. ^ "High Cliff Effigy Mounds" (PDF). Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Archived from the original (PDf) on March 5, 2022. Retrieved March 5, 2022.

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