Surf-n-Turf

Surf-n-Turf Epic Midwest Adventures by Land and Water.

Curated hikes you (and your dog) can enjoy in Wisconsin, The UP, and Minnesota's fabulous North Shore plus summer boating destinations on Lake Michigan.

Mirror Lake is a great little paddle.. drinks and appetizers at Ishnala is a fun midpoint refuel stop too!
08/23/2026

Mirror Lake is a great little paddle.. drinks and appetizers at Ishnala is a fun midpoint refuel stop too!

Where Eagles fly...
07/19/2026

Where Eagles fly...

Bar-hopping... I mean sandbar hopping on the Wisconsin River!We gave our new Fastcat 12 a break in cruise on the Wiscon...
07/12/2026

Bar-hopping... I mean sandbar hopping on the Wisconsin River!

We gave our new Fastcat 12 a break in cruise on the Wisconsin River on Saturday.

We wanted something packable we can take in our new Global Expedition Vehicle (should take delivery of in a week or two... stay tuned for future post).

We also want to be able to explore new and shallow bodies of water we've never been able to access before.

Samson isn't chill enough yet for the Kayaks, but this Sea Eagle is exceptionally stable and he can walk all around at his puppy-pleasure. Paired with the NT600 we have an easy 10 to 20 miles of range doing 5-7 mph in whisper quiet serenity. The boat will easily do 10 mph at full power, but we wanted to chill and enjoy the views.

We started at the end of 60th Street where it meets the Wisconsin River about halfway between the Wisconsin Dells and Castle Rock Lake Dam.

It was the first time inflating and rigging up the boat and motor. Took us about an hour. Im confident I can get that down under 1/2 hour in the future.

Looking forward to many more water adventures especially since we can even take this boat on lakes like Devils Lake which don't allow gas motors.

Point Creek is the newest addition to the Manitowoc County Park System and its a gem!We originally intended to hike anot...
07/05/2026

Point Creek is the newest addition to the Manitowoc County Park System and its a gem!

We originally intended to hike another lakeside park but it was very busy being Independence Day so we found this new conservation area with only a couple cars in the small parking area.

A mulched path took us straight the bluff overlooking Lake Michigan for a ridiculously steep descent down to the water's edge. Its so steep someone put a well anchored safety rope to assist in getting up and down and it is truly needed. You probably can't get back up without the rope assist.

Once we descended to the beach it is a gorgeous private section of Lake Michigan. We walked about a mile north (staying on the wet part of the beach as you would be on private property once you get over the 'high water' mark). Samson had a blast running down the waves breaking over the sandy shore (with a few boulders here and there).

We then headed south and instead of ascending where we came down we walked the beach to Point Creek where it spills into Lake Michigan. There an easy sloping path takes you back atop the bluff and offers great views from a half-dozen scenic overlooks as we made our way back to join the same path that took us back to the parking lot.

Hike was 2.1 miles and took about 1hr 40 minutes with lots of pictures stops and play-time for Samson.

Definitely worth a stop if you are in the area. Its just north of Cleveland, WI. We finished the day with a short drive south to Sheboygan (with a pass-through Whistling Straits).

We felt like we stole a day from mother nature since it was overcast and rainy in Milwaukee most of the day. That said Sheboygan is a magnificent clean and interesting city and a far better place to spend Independence Day anyway.

Not all adventures go as planned... but they are still adventures!!We have tried to acclimate Samson to kayaking/canoei...
06/30/2026

Not all adventures go as planned... but they are still adventures!!

We have tried to acclimate Samson to kayaking/canoeing with a few 10 minute paddles on small lakes and ponds.

Saturday we planned to do his first 'real' paddle from the Two Rivers boat launch where the Lemonweir river meets the Wisconsin River, down to the 60th Street beach/canoeing launch.

Unfortunately Samson wasn't having it. Jumped out right away and the current swiftly carried him around the corner to the sand bar. We hung out there for a short while, trying to get him to chill. But not meant to be.

Headed back to the put-in spot and pulled out.

Maybe next time!

Looking good Milwaukee!
06/06/2026

Looking good Milwaukee!

First day of boating (aka "surf") season on the Milwaukee Harbor and Lake Michigan. Samson was living his best puppy li...
05/12/2026

First day of boating (aka "surf") season on the Milwaukee Harbor and Lake Michigan. Samson was living his best puppy life on his 'birthday eve'.. Turned 1 year old yesterday.

Checked out the new cruise ship dock being constructed near the Lake Express Ferry Terminal, then caught the Lake Express coming in from Michigan + a big freighter anchored out on the lake.





As Kim and I have always said "Point Beach never disappoints!"We've made many trips to Point Beach. Most of them in the...
05/03/2026

As Kim and I have always said "Point Beach never disappoints!"

We've made many trips to Point Beach. Most of them in the winter with snow present.

Boat season was supposed to start on Saturday but the forecast (which turned out to be wrong) was for mid 40's and mostly cloudy on Milwaukee Harbor so we opted to hike Point Beach instead. We made a good choice!

There are numerous routes we've done at Point beach and I decided to try to put together a "best of Point Beach" route for Samson's first visit to this gem.

We parked on the generous wide paved shoulder at about 8211 County Rd O in Two Rivers (just before the monument sign for Point Beach State Park) and headed east on the light foot path. Followed a couple different trails across the 'ridges' and then joined the Ice Age Trail. We followed that up to the "Ice Age Campsite" marked on google maps and then crossed over the dunes to the beach and headed south on the beach. Sometimes walking the beach, sometimes on the sand dunes until we got to Molash Creek. There is a really cool footpath that skirts the edge of Molash Creek before joining the Ice Age Trial taking you to the intersection of Viceroy Road and Cty Road O. We then followed the crushed limestone bike trail back north to our starting point.

A 6.2 mile route that took us 2hrs 43min and got us back to the truck just in time to catch the Kentucky Derby.

Other pictures are from a quick drive into the state park where we saw the lighthouse and drove up to the various picnic areas right on the lake near the campsites.

A great day with virtually no one on the trails (lots of campers in the state park) but parking lots were virtually empty just how we like it.

Definitely put Point Beach on your list and send me a message or leave a comment if you'd like the GPS route map.



A 2-fer at Devils Lake!Since boating season starts next week (hopefully) we wanted a good finale to hiking season and de...
04/26/2026

A 2-fer at Devils Lake!

Since boating season starts next week (hopefully) we wanted a good finale to hiking season and decided to visit Devil's Lake State Park.

Knowing the park would be packed on a 65 degree April Saturday we started the day bushwacking a remote part of the South Bluff.

Our afternoon start to the day made for a quick and easy trip across Lake Wisconsin on the Merrimac Ferry. We made it on the first load. Driving through the park around 3pm it was as crowded as we expected. Parking lots pretty stuffed.

We headed around the south end of the lake and up the winding hill to Burma Road (dead-end gravel/dirt road that heads south from S. Shore Road on the west side of the lake/park.

There were a couple turkey hunters just leaving so we chatted with them for a bit and then headed east into the mid/south portion of the South Bluff. We encountered some great typical Baraboo Quartzite rocky outcroppings.

We have had GREAT luck with shed hunting in the Baraboo hills both on the South Bluff and Baxter's Hollow and were hoping for the same on this hike. Also hoping to find a few openings in the forest canopy to perhaps get a view south of Sauk Prairie.

Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to make it to the rock pile areas I saw on the GIS imagery maps where I though perhaps there could be some scenic views.

Samson's amazing nose was on point again. He didn't find a shed but he did find a deer skull and bones we never would have found on our own. (Good Boy Sammy!!!) His shed-hunting training is definitely going well.

Ticks were definitely out in full force and the hike was slightly less interesting than I was hoping for but still a great time.

We added a 2nd hike to the day meeting family on the West side of the park and hiking the fire-lane/emergency access lane from S Shore Road into the best vistas on the West Bluff which NEVER disappoints.

Finished the day at the south parking area as all the crowds of the day had departed with burgers on the grill and views of the sunset over the lake.






We usually avoid places like this!! Cox Hollow Lake at Governor Dodge State Park! - Pine Cliff Trail"State Park" is usua...
04/19/2026

We usually avoid places like this!! Cox Hollow Lake at Governor Dodge State Park! - Pine Cliff Trail

"State Park" is usually translated to "big crowds" in our hiking lexicon... Its also getting late on the spring when crowds start to come out. The Pine Cliff Trail at Gov. Dodge State Park has been on my list for a while but being a 2 hour drive from Waukesha County we needed to save it for the longer days of daylight savings.

Fortunately for us, this past Saturday delivered the perfect combination of long daylight plus a mid/low 40 degree very breezy forecast PLUS sun!

Given the blustery day and temperature drop from the previous weekends we thought that would keep people way and we were right! The park wasn't empty, but it was close to! We hiked all the way around Cox Hollow Lake on the Pine Cliff Trail. Views were spectacular. Trails were a little wet and muddy (and washed out) in spots from the deluge of rain the previous week/night but nothing we couldn't navigate.

We didn't encounter a single person on the trail section of our 4.4 mile route with a few little spur trails with awesome views along with a little rock scrambling/bouldering. We did chat with a few fisherman on the Cox Hollow Lake Dam and there was a few people (one taking a cold plunge) at the beach.

Lots of elevation changes, hardwood forest, pine forest, and a low-land marsh.

We did complete our loop with a road-walk from the Cox Hollow Beach back to the Pine Cliff Trailhead parking area (near Enee Point)

We finished the day over by Twin Valley Lake (the other lake in Gov. Dodge State park) trying out our new Sea Eagle TC16 inflatable canoe (which we are super pleased with) A 16 foot canoe that inflates to a high pressure very stable craft but yet deflates and folds down to fit in the trunk of a car (or in our case the back of a truck/Storyteller Overland Beast)

There are many more miles of trails to explore in Gov. Dodge State Park and we will definitely be returning in the future!






Address

Denzer, WI
53951

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Surf-n-Turf posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category