Mirror Lake State Park
There is more to the Wisconsin Dells than just water parks. Located just a few miles away from from downtown Wisconsin Dells, Mirror Lake State Park is the perfect pet-friendly escape. With 2,200 acres there is plenty to do here with camping, boat rentals, hiking and biking trails all onsite.
Map of Mirror Lake State Park
Mirror Lake State Park is open year-round. If you plan to visit here in the winter, they also have a winter map available on on the Wisconsin DNR website. If you plan to go cross country skiing or snowshoeing the winter map clearly indicates what trails are available for that. The map above is the summer map.
Echo Rock
Echo Rock is one of the most iconic landmarks at Mirror Lake State Park. There are a few parking spaces available in the Cliffwood Campground, from there the trail leading up to Echo Rock is only .3 miles and it is wheel chair accessible.
There are also a network of trails that you can take to get here from the campgrounds or the Ishnala Supper Club.
We brought our Eco, our Australian Cattle Dog (mix) with. She loves camping and is always first to see the lookout or first to the water! She is 11 years old now so when we go hiking with her we like to stick to easy trails that do not have too many stairs. All of the trails we hiked during this trip were perfect for her: easy on the knees with plenty of naps at camp in between. You will find that most of the trails at Mirror Lake State Park are easy or moderate.
All throughout Mirror Lake State Park you will see beautiful old growth pine trees. The tree pictured below was one of the prominent features at Echo Rock.
Ishnala Supper Club
The Ishnala Supper Club is one of the Wisconsin Dells most famous landmarks, featuring fine dining for over 70 years (and world renowned for their Old Fashioned beverage). This is the view of the Ishnala Supper Club from Echo Rock. You can walk to the restaurant from Mirror Lake’s Cliffwood Campground, the trail there is .3 miles and is wheel chair accessible. Or the main entrance to the restaurant is off of Ishnala Road.
Camping at Mirror Lake State Park
Mirror Lake State Park has 151 family friendly campsites in three separate campgrounds, plus 7 group sites. All of the camgrounds are accesible from the main entrance off of Fern Dell Road.
Each site has a fire pit, picnic table and a sand base for your tent (awesome!). There are also electric and non-electric options available. Showers are available onsite (each of the three separate campgrounds has its own bathrroom/shower building).
The Seth Peterson Cottage designed by Frank Lloyd Wright is also available for rent nearby, it is located just east of the Mirror Lake State Park headquarters on Fern Dell Road.
We camped at Mirror Lake the weekend after Labor Day weekend (Saturday through Monday). We noticed that the campgrounds were mostly filled with families with small children over the weekend. Then Sunday into Monday morning, the campgrounds were almost completely empty so we got to experience it when it was very busy and without a crowd.
Planning Ahead
Reservations at Mirror Lake State Park are required year-round and can be made on the same day and up to 11 months in advance. I reserved our campsite about 5 months in advance, at that time a lot of the spaces were already full.
If you are looking for a quiet weekend away, there are definitely ways to plan to avoid the crowds, which is what we did. Since it was after Labor Day, it was already after the busy season. We woke up early to watch the sunrise at the beach and avoided the crowds by hiking the main attractions (like Echo Bluff) early in the morning or late afternoon.
Bluff Canyon Trail and Lakeview Ridge Trail
Bluff Canyon Trail and Lakeview Ridge Trail were both on the opposite side of Mirror Lake from the main entrance and campgrounds.
We passed up the entrance to the trail at first because there were not any signs to get there from the road. As we hiked, we quickly realized that these trails were not as widely utilized as the trails on the other side of the park because they were so narrow, but also so beautiful!
We specifically hiked the Bluff Canyon Trail loop which was a total of 2.1 miles.
You can see just how narrow the trail can be. There were so many of pine trees, oak trees and ferns. I noticed the closer we got to the bluff that overlooked Mirror Lake there were more old growth trees than at the start of the trail that was closer to the road.
We noticed along the edge of the bluff there were small trails that were made from people walking through areas that were not part of the trail. To stay on the trail we made sure to look for the green trail indicators along the way.
As a Mirror Lake newbie, I found it very helpful to carry the park map with me. Especialy when we came to a crossing like this, and the way to the parking lot was both ways. It’s just nice to know where you are going. Had we gone right instead of left we would have added .5 miles to our hike-it was the Lakeview Ridge loop (not a big deal, but I could see how it could make you feel lost out there without the map).
The trails on the other side of Mirror Lake (near the campgrounds) did have maps along the trail at times, this was another indicator that Bluff Canyon and Lakeview Ridge are not as widely utilized.
Eco enjoys her nap after the hike
We definitely wore her out! In all we hiked: Wildwood Pass, Ringling Pass, part of the Northwest Trail, Lakeview Trail, Echo Bluff, Cliffwood Coulee Trail and Bluff Canyon-Trail and Chapel Gorge Trail (which was not part of Mirror Lake State Park) over two days. Nothing beat the smile on her face driving there and home! So happy!
Devil’s Lake State Park
The adventure did not end at Mirror Lake State Park. We made sure to stop at Devil’s Lake State Park on the way home (near Chicago). We arrived there around 7:30am and nearly had the place to ourselves! It was so foggy reminded me of the Pacific Northwest. It was a great reminder that bad weather days, are not so bad, and actually they might be my favorite. The light mist in the air felt so good. We may not have been able to see a clear view of Devil’s Lake but it was a VIBE just being there.
I hope you enjoyed this blog. We really enjoyed the adventure!
It has been almost 20 years since my last time at Devil’s Lake State Park (first time at Mirror Lake) and I already can’t wait to come back again. It’s not too far from home (3 hours total). I think too often we get caught up in the hustle and bustle of daily life that we forget to get out there! This was also our first trip in 20 years where we did not pack our disc golf bags, which was really unbelievable. With just a few days of time off it was nice to focus on the little things, hike, eat delicious food and sleep. You know, the kind of things that are just good for the soul.
C2 Juicery
We stopped by C2 Juicery after Devil’s Lake. It was delicious! Their smoothies are amazing and I had a BLTA wrap that was so fresh and crisp (from the bacon to the letttuce). Chris had an almond crossant and said it was the best one he ever had (ALL TOASTY)! We highly recommend you check them out.
