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Get Lost…at Schopf’s Corn Maze

Roxanne Schopf’s biggest responsibility in the autumn season is to get you lost, and if this year’s corn maze at Schopf’s Hilltop Dairy is any indication, she is succeeding at every twist and turn.

Roxanne, who owns and operates Hilltop Dairy with her husband Dennis, is one of the main designers of this year’s popular corn maze, celebrating its 16th rendition with a Sweet Sixteen shout-out to its female cow mascot, Cookie.

“What’s the biggest thing that happens to you when you turn 16 in Wisconsin?” Roxanne asked. “You get your driver’s license! That’s what every kid at age 16, that’s what they’re all about.”

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The 30-acre design includes more than six miles of trails and three different mazes. The smallest of them – just under three-quarters mile – pits a group’s members against one another with The Farm Treasure Hunt. With scratch card in hand, guests must travel to six stations hidden throughout the maze and decipher clues to uncover “buried treasure,” with the winner being the one who finds the most.

The two other mazes form an intricate, European and labyrinth-inspired design that, from a bird’s eye view, pays homage to the vehicular right-of-passage that comes with turning 16, but from the ground, can easily confuse even the best map-reader.

“It’s kind of a lot of the same little design repeated over and over and over and over again,” Roxanne explained. “We haven’t done that very often.

“My job is to get you lost – it’s a maze!” she added. “If all mazes were super easy, why would we call them a maze? We’d call them a walk in the park because everything would be marked.”

Think you'll be able to see the checkpoints from the maze's two bridges? Think again.

Think you’ll be able to see the checkpoints from the maze’s two bridges? Think again.

With 18 checkpoints spread wide and far throughout the entire design, it takes about 90 minutes to complete all three – if you don’t get too confused. Those who find all 18 stations can turn their punch card in for a chance to win an iPod at the end of the season.

As for using the two bridges inside the maze to find your way? With corn pushing seven feet in height, Dennis says good luck.

“People think, ‘Oh, I can get up on the bridge and see where all the checkpoints are!’” Dennis said. “You can’t see the checkpoints. I tell people, ‘You can get up on the bridge but you can’t see the checkpoints from there.’”

The maze is open at least through Nov. 1 but check the Schopf’s Hilltop Dairy Facebook page (“Dairy View Country Store and Corn Maze, Door County”) for updates as cooperative weather may extend it into mid-November.

Schopf’s Hilltop Dairy is located at 5169 County Road I in Sturgeon Bay and is open daily beginning at 10am with maze access closing at 3:30pm. Tickets are $7 per person (children 3 and under are free). For more information, call 920.743.9779 or visit DairyView.com.

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