Madison, Wisconsin offers year-round outdoor activities around its lakes and over 200 parks. Yellowstone Lake State Park offers fishing and winter sports, while Tenney Park has swimming and skating. Villas Park has birding, tennis, and swimming. Cave of the Mounds offers unique activities like fossil digging and gemstone searching. Blackhawk Ridge has hiking and Blackhawk Lake Recreation Area has boating, fishing, and camping.
Madison is the capital of Wisconsin. Many of the outdoor activities in Madison take place around lakes such as Monona, Mendota, Yellowstone, Blackhawk and Wingra. There are over 200 parks in and around Madison, most of which surround the lakes, and outdoor activities are often available year-round.
Yellowstone Lake State Park has a few year-round campsites, and many people enjoy fishing at this park. Along with the regular lake fishing for walleye, crappies, muskies, northerners, and bluegills, ice fishing is often done here in the winter months. Cross-country skiing and snowmobiling are other popular winter outdoor sports. The park is known for offering summer nature programs and hiking trails of varying degrees of difficulty.
Tenney Park on Lake Mendota also offers year-round outdoor activities. The beaches offer swimming areas in the summer and outdoor skating on the lagoon is usually permitted in the winter. Tenney Park is also known for its pleasant landscaping and walking, biking and rollerblading.
Villas Park, one of Madison’s oldest parks, is known for birding species like blue herons. It also has areas for tennis and baseball. Fishing and swimming in Lake Wingra are popular water activities in the park. Lake jogging is another popular activity here.
Cave of the Mounds in Dane County offers some outdoor activities unique to Madison, like digging for fossils and searching for gemstones. The cave was opened from a mining quarry in 1939 and beautiful crystallized rock formations were found inside. Cave of the Mounds is a National Natural Landmark and is considered important to the geography of the area.
Blackhawk Ridge offers hiking trails overlooking the Wisconsin River Valley. The Blackhawk Lake Recreation Area has boating, fishing and camping facilities. Largemouth bass, largemouth bass, and walleye are some of the common fish found in Blackhawk Lake. Other activities available in this recreation area include seasonal sports like beach volleyball and cross-country skiing.
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