Black Hawk Ridge is an 835-acre area encompassing a high, steep linear ridge with a flat to gently rolling area on top. The historic Wisconsin Heights Battlefield site lies off the northern end of the ridge. Black Hawk Ridge has long been a popular destination for hiking, horseback riding and day use activities on the ridge top. There are over 11 miles of trail, with about 8 miles designated as equestrian trails also open for hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing use. The battlefield trail leads from the battlefield, past an effigy mound group, and on to the top of the bluff. The ridge top trails lay roughly at equal elevation and vary from eight to ten feet in width. The trail network is primarily accessed from three parking lots located on STH 78 . (Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources)
Mountain bikes are not allowed on any trails. ATVs or other off-road vehicles are prohibited.
WDNR Property Manager, 608-588-7723
Local Knowledge:
The Black Hawk Ridge property also includes the John and Margarethe Kemp Cabin listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Erected about 1863 by German immigrant John Kemp, the small log structure is a rare historic resource, a log cabin that sits on its original site with little development around it. As such, visitors can see not only an authentic pioneer log cabin, featuring log construction with most of its historic features intact, but also they can see it from a similar perspective as its original owners did. They can see the land as it might have been and experience the isolation of a farmstead set back almost a mile from the road. Few log cabins in Wisconsin have such integrity to their sites. (Wisconsin Historical Society)
