Category: Outdoor
Getting outside in Door County is a must! While you can always explore a trail or lake shore on your own, the calendar is dotted with guided hikes, wildlife tours, bird watching treks, and cross-country skiing meetups. Find a group bicycle ride, a naturalist session, or paddleboard tour and explore Door County’s natural wonders.
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Unique County Habitats Support Endangered Species
Have you looked closely at slabs of exposed limestone, stacks of rock talus, piles of sand, swaths of sandy-gravely soil along the lakeshore, stretches of thin patches of soil over flat beds of limestone/dolomite, wide expanses of thick perpendicular tree branches, and into centimeters of water in cool slow moving streams? These features in Door […]
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Rod “Chief” Billerbeck A Legendary Presence in Northern Door
The numbers are the first thing you notice, and how could you not? They pop off the page at you: 41 yeas as head baseball coach, 377 wins – a state record when he retired, 25 league or conference titles, and one state championship. I began the task of writing about the man responsible for […]
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Fall on a Bicycle in Door County: Routes, Trails, and Rides
Fall in Door County can be characterized by sunny days, cool evenings, bountiful apple orchards, fun festivals, incredible leaf colors and a general feeling of relaxation in the air. The best way to experience this change of season is on a bicycle. Whether you are an avid bike rider, a weekend warrior, or you haven’t […]
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Preserving the Door’s Landscape
As Door County residents and visitors, we are drawn to the area’s natural beauty. Fortunately, we have many public and private organizations, not to mention individual landowners, working to ensure that Door County’s beauty and environmental diversity are preserved for future generations. To date, Door County contains more than 38,500 individual tax parcels, over 22,000 […]
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The Risky Careers of Christmas Schooner Captains
When the late summer storms on the Great Lakes began to stir, and the gales of November rattled the very souls of the schooners, the lake captains saw their transport business diminish. But there came a realization of a new seasonal run — Christmas trees! Christmas trees for those cities and communities where pine forests […]
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Those of us who have chosen Door County as our home for at least part of the year have done so because of the natural beauty and natural landscapes. We love the wild places, and we especially love the wooded areas. Many of the homes in the county are located on wooded lots or have […]
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On Your Plate: Ultimate Picknicking
Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough, A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse — and Thou Beside me singing in the Wilderness — And Wilderness is Paradise now. -from the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam With miles of beaches and coastline, sixteen county parks, and five state parks, Door County may be […]
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March maple syrup, spring asparagus, vine-ripened summer tomatoes, sweet corn, fall squash…the farm markets of Door County are harvesting the bountiful crops for every season. There are dozens of “off the farm” and “on the farm” markets in Door County, and they offer both specialized crops and the entire gamut of vegetables and fruits. All […]
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The Basics: An Introduction to the Fundamentals of Sailing
It was 9:00 in the morning and the couple I was scheduled to give a lesson to that day had just arrived. “Ready to sail?” I asked. With a familiar mixture of excitement and nervousness, they both nodded. I handed them life jackets, we boarded the 15-foot sailing dinghy, and within moments we were sailing […]
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In Stride: A runner keeps pace with the peninsula’s terrain
I consider myself a fortunate person to be able to witness the dawn of a new day on the peninsula from 75 feet above Eagle Bluff in almost total silence. While getting up at 5:30 in the morning to go for a run isn’t for everyone, the serenity infused by the view from Eagle Tower […]
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Kayaking in the Door: A paddler’s perspective
The morning sun has just peaked over the tree line, the water is golden glass, and the air is suspended in silent haze. My kayak is resting on the car rack, paddle between the seats, and the PFD, skirt, bilge pump, and paddle float are tucked in the trunk. I assemble my gear, take a […]
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Those families with a long history of fishing are known well on the peninsula. Names like Teskie, Weborg, Hickey, Henriksen, Saunders, Johnson, and a number of others have kept the commercial fishing business alive through the many fickle seasons such a lifestyle brings. Door County commercial fisheries now ship whitefish and chubs to markets in […]
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What I remember most about the trips is the sense of awe I felt. The open sea, the waves, and the weight of the wind against the sails enchanted me as we were pulled toward some unseen shore. With it, of course, came stress. I can vividly recall my mother’s face turning white during a […]
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What’s outside in Door County? The answer to this question has inspired millions of visitors, hundreds of ecologists, several conservation organizations, and a few famous naturalists to explore the county’s beautiful hiking trails and to preserve as many natural areas as possible. The county offers many beautiful landscapes and ecosystems including lush green forests, graceful […]