Wisconsin - Wildcat Mountain State Park - Camping!

During the time of the Covid-19 pandemic, my travel has been drastically different. Last weekend, I took a camping trip to the Wildcat Mountain Wisconsin State Park with a friend of mine. I have never camped in a state park in Wisconsin as an adult, and this was a great weekend getaway and it was easy to social distance.

In late March, after it became obvious that things would be different this summer, I purchased a minivan, and converted it into a rolling tent. I can’t really say that it’s a camper, because it is too small for that, but a rolling tent seems to be a good description. So, my travel this year has been mostly to places I can drive to easily. Maybe later this summer, I will attempt a longer road trip in my rolling tent, but we will see how Covid goes.

Back to the trip. I picked up Tracy, who has 4 boys and needed a weekend away, and we took off late on a Friday afternoon towards the campsite. We stopped for dinner at The Market in Wonewoc, WI. Neither of us had ever heard of this restaurant – OR the town for that matter, but we stopped in and hoped for the best. The restaurant is in one of those old downtown buildings that was re-purposed for this business. Inside, it was huge, and there was a counter on one side for ice cream and such, then a few shelves of groceries, and then in back, a few mismatched 50’s tables. There was only one other table filled, and no one at the counter. There was a window way in the back that opened to the kitchen, where two ladies were working. I asked if we order at the window or just sit. Sit, they said, so we sat. Soon, we were given paper menus, with lots of pasta and pizza options. The pasta options were only $5!! I had to try one. When we got it, it was a small portion of the MOST AMAZING pasta that I have had! I would go back here in a heartbeat!!

We got to the site and set up. I had my rolling tent, but Tracy set up her tent on the site. The site was not what I expected, and my parking space was a bit uphill from where the firepit and picnic table was, but that worked out ok. We started a fire, and settled in. Soon, it started to sprinkle.

I went off to bed, but at 4am, got woken up by a text from Tracy – do I have another tarp? By this time, it was pouring, and I learned that so far, she had not slept. The rain was coming in through the top of her tent onto her face. She took a tarp and it apparently worked.

In the morning, I tried cooking on my camp stove for the first time. And, when I say cooking, I mean “heated up some water for instant coffee”. It worked great. We went on a few hikes in the park that were beautiful! The first one was a quick stroll through the woods to a neat rock outcropping, and the second one was a longer, more strenuous hike up a hill to see an overlook. We had a good time, seeing beautiful flora and fauna, pushing the boundaries a bit, and in general just enjoying nature.

Following those hikes, we explored the nearby town, passed a bunch of Amish buggies, and ended up at a farm that sold several home-made items from the area. I ended up buying a birdhouse that was cute and had been out on the patio of the store.

We came back to camp, cooked dinner and then went for a few more short hikes around the campsite. This time, our evening fire took a bit more encouragement to start, but eventually we got it going, and we had a nice, rain-free evening.

On Sunday, we packed up and headed back home. I unpacked the rolling tent and put the newly purchased birdhouse in the backyard. That’s when I noticed that there were 5 eggs in it. OOPS!!