Play in Nature at Peninsula State Park
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After a few weeks in Indiana, it was nice to get back to our home state for camping! We zipped to the Door County Peninsula for a week and played in Door County! Peninsula State Park is the most popular state park in Wisconsin, with great reason.
The state park in the heart of famous Door County offers over 460 family campsites scattered over 5 campgrounds. Peninsula State Park has over 3,700 acres with eight miles of Green Bay shoreline, making it the third-largest state park in Wisconsin. It is a great place to visit if you like to find perfection in the imperfections of nature.
When taking a group there are three reservable areas strictly for tent camping. There is a camping host for any questions or concerns you may have throughout your camping trip.
The camping sites are not all electrical hookups so you’ll need to pick up some firewood if you plan to cook. As usual, outside firewood is prohibited inside the park, firewood is available at the wood yard and some local businesses.
Moving firewood into the park has the potential to carry diseases or tree pests that are harmful to the park. Plan ahead though, the in-park wood sale is only 4 to 7 pm each day.
North Nicolet Bay campground has amenities like hot water, a shower, and a flushable toilet system. You’ll find additional showers at the beach area. Peninsula has only one sand swimming beach which Nicolet Bay is a part of. Nicolet Bay has a playground, two volleyball courts, and a camp store.
The campground offers a boat launch and the camp store offers boat and bike rentals. This is where we parked our pop-up, close to the pit toilets. That is why each morning, while the chickadees were sharing their morning song, Miss Sarah and I would briskly walk a few rows over to the flush toilets.
Both bathrooms need a little updating with all the cracked tiles, etc and only one of the two showers in the ladies’ room was working.
All areas have nice roads between the sites and are perfect if you bring that bucket of chalk for the littles!
South Nicolet Bay campgrounds have 140 campsites with over 50 campsites having power, 25 of which are not reservable. The area has two amenities for hot water, flush facilities, and showers for campers.
It didn’t matter where we were, we had a poor signal for making calls – see the Mr standing on the picnic table for the nightly call with his dad, LOL!
At Tennison Bay 97 campsites out of the 144 are electric with all sites being reservable, The campgrounds on this site are safe for campers with disabilities. There is no swimming at Tennison Bay but the nearest beach is at Nicolet Bay which is a mile away from Tennison Bay. During the winter a portion of Tennison bay campgrounds is kept open for winter camping with electrical hookups.
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Weborg Point is an all-electrical campground but this site doesn’t have a campground host. The site offers a hot shower and a building with flushable toilets. A concrete fishing pier is located west of the campground you can relax and do a little fishing or you can catch dinner for the night.
Weickers Point located north of the campground has a reservable shelter, the shelter is enclosed on all sides but has no electrical service, with a fireplace, and fluorescent lighting making it perfect for a group function or a family reunion.
Peninsula State Park has the White Cedaar Nature Center – with a ton of programs for the littles! It is slated to be added on to – and with good reason! The program we dropped in on was packed!
The Nicolet Beach made for a great way to relax in the afternoon. It twas Miss Sarah’s favorite place to cool off – she even went full-on with the swimsuit a few times instead of with her short and t-shirt!
Peninsula State Park has coastal wetlands, forests, bluff’s, and meadows with breathtaking colors from July to August, that makes it a great park to view local wildlife. A nature center with nature programs you can check out until you’re ready to head back to camp.
The state park is home to over 120 different bird species like Orioles and beautiful Red-Winged blackbirds. You might catch a glimpse of a raccoon but beware he may want to dig through the cooler for snacks to call his own, let the lullaby of a barred owl sing you to sleep; these owls can be found in the Tennison campgrounds.
Other wildlife that may make an appearance are rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, skunks, and porcupines so it’s a good idea not to leave food outside of your tent or in the campsite.
Places To Stay Nearby
Other camping posts you may enjoy:
- Embrace Nature at Fort Defiance State Park
- Charlestown State Park: A Breath Of Fresh Air
- Recharge at Salamonie Lake State Campground
- Chillax at Mounds State Campground in Indiana
- Experience History and Nature at Wyalusing State Park
- Scheffel’s Hideaway Campground Makes You Feel Like Family
- Family Fun at Indian Trails Campground