Between Green Bay And Oshkosh Is Wisconsin's Idyllic Nature Escape With Wetland Trails And Unique Wildlife

Travelers looking for a scenic hike in Wisconsin don't need to venture deep into the wilderness to find one. Heckrodt Wetland Reserve offers a patch of urban wilderness in the Fox Cities region, a valley of charming Wisconsin towns between Green Bay and Oshkosh. In the reserve, visitors can follow roughly 2.5 miles of boardwalk-connected trails through a medley of wetlands, prairie, marsh, and forest. An observation deck overlooks a pond, where you can scan for turtles and waterfowl, while the reserve's nature center adds an indoor introduction to the landscape, where you can see live local fish, crayfish, and snakes. There's lots to do for families, too, with an outdoor play space and dozens of scavenger hunts for kids.

On each of Heckrodt's trails, you get a new tableau. In the forested wetland, you'll see stately silver and red maples and swamp white oaks in a preserved vestige of native habitat that once blanketed the region. At Lopas Pond, cattails fringe the open water, where fish dart beneath. The reserve's prairie meadow, developed over a landfill, teems with monarch butterflies, while upland forests provide some shade.

Wildlife watching is a major part of Heckrodt's appeal. "Plenty of critters to spy and watch, birds always whizzing by, and overall just a wonderful place," one Google Maps reviewer wrote. More than 160 bird species have been recorded at the reserve, including wood ducks, great blue herons, sandhill cranes, and barred owls. White-tailed deer are frequent sights, while more elusive residents to look out for include mink and river otters.

Heckrodt's trail system has interconnected routes that let visitors make a shorter stroll or combine loops for a longer hike. The nearly 2-mile Heckrodt Trail listed on AllTrails covers a bit of each of Heckrodt's color-coded paths. It's rated "Easy," with no elevation gain, passing through each of the reserve's habitats. The half-mile Red Trail marked on Heckrodt's Trail Map is a short but interactive option, with stops at a solar pergola, viewing towers, an outdoor classroom, and a honeybee yard. Past visitors have described the trail network as wide and well-maintained: "Wide paths are good for strollers and bikes," a Google Maps reviewer noted. Another plus is that close to 4,000 feet of elevated boardwalks make it possible to move through the wetlands without slogging through muck.

Several interpretive spots on the trails let visitors and their children get a closer look at the environment. At the Wetland Education Station, a binocular viewer helps you observe birds. The Wetland Discovery Area, part of the reserve's Nature Rain Garden, has a reverse periscope that lowers your perspective down to a frog's level. At Lopas Pond Dock, there's a turtle-basking platform and an "eye-spy" activity with binoculars. When you're ready to come inside, the Nature Center has an interpretive gallery, a solarium, and aquariums housing more animals.

Admission to both the trails and the Nature Center is free, although the Nature Center has limited hours while the trails are open daily. You'll find the reserve in Menasha, a lakeside gem with a vibrant downtown, about a 15-minute drive from the Appleton International Airport. You could also drive to the reserve from Oshkosh, an underrated Wisconsin city with lakefront quirks, in about 25 minutes or Green Bay in around 40 minutes.