About Bicycles Online > Bicycle Touring and Trails > Peninsula State Park Trail

The Peninsula State Park Trails
Door County

Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin has some really nice biking and hiking trails. The main biking trail in the park is the Sunset Trail which loops around the peninsula and is also called the Nicolet Bay Trail on the eastern side of the peninsula.

Sunset Trail and Bench on shore of Peninsula
The Sunset Trail is right along the shore in some locations.		 Lake view near Eagle Bluff Lighthouse
Lake view near the Eagle Bluff Lighthouse 		Wooded part of Peninsula State Park Trail
This is one of the more wooded parts of the trail away from the shores.

Trail Info

Submitted by Dale Kiffel

Peninsula state park is located on highway 42, in Fish Creek in Wisconsin's Door County peninsula on the shores of Lake Michigan.  Many activities

A nice thing about this park is that the bike trail starts outside the park and you can bike in without having to pay.  There are some trails that need trail passes and some mountain bike only trails.

If you would like to rent a bicycle, I would not suggest the store on the edge of the park, but rather the full service bicycle store 1 block down. 

The trail itself was hard packed crushed limestone for the most part and was ridable even after a moderate overnight rain.  There's asphalt on the steeper grades and near the trail crossings for safety and to prevent erosion.  The last 1/3 of the trail was on the road and was all asphalt.  The trail is well  marked with direction arrows, caution, and stop signs.  These should be well heeded due to the amount of hikers and slow bikers.  It also has location maps throughout.

There are various trails on the path, but each trail runs right into the next so its basically all part of the same path.  It's only about 10 miles for the loop, but there are enough sites to keep it interesting and the park is so nice you might want to go around again.

There are a lot of gorgeous wooded trails, some riding above the main road with peeks of Lake Michigan through the trees.  Others go along the beach where you can take a break or have lunch. There is a lighthouse, a nature center, and a small store along the way.  Wild deer and turkeys cross your path as you ride.  They are accustomed to people and do not balk when
approached.

I thoroughly enjoyed this park.  The only downsides are that it is too short and it is probably over crowded in the peak travel periods.

 

Our Rides on the Peninsula State Park Trails

We rode the Peninsula State Park Sunset Trail and took most of the photos for this article (below) in June of 2018. This is a very scenic trail. Most of it is very wooded but there are excellent views of the bays off of Lake Michigan in many areas.

The main trail is called "Sunset Trail" and there is also a "Sunset Beach" in Fish Creek. There is a reason why you see the word "Sunset" in the names of places around here. The sunsets are beautiful here. Which is also why I included the Door County Sunset Photo page below.

Door County Sunset with Reflections
Door County Sunset with Water catching sunlight		 Sunset at Sunset Beach Park
Sunset at Sunset Beach in Fish Creek		 Hardy Gallery at Sunset
Hardy Gallery on Anderson Pier at Sunset

 

The Peninsula State Park Trail Maps

I am including the Google Maps version of the trail, so you can get right to it without having to search and zoom in. In addition to my GPS map on the Garmin Connect SIte, I have also included some Google Trail Views (aka Street Views) that I generated and the original JPG map (that was included in the 2003 version of this article).

Each map has different features that can be helpful so you can take your pick of which one you like the best.

Here is the Google Maps version of the Sunset Trail.

Here is the GPS Map of Our Ride on the Sunset Trail through the GarminConnect site.

Note: There are a few issues where the GPS map has straight lines. This is from where I turned off the GPS at the Lighthouse and forgot to turn it back on until I got to Nicolet Bay and at the end where  I did not turn it off right after the ride.

Google Street/Trail Views - I personally generated these Google Street View (Trail View is more accurate) 3D spherical images at various points along the trail so you can see what the trail looks like at these points. After viewing the image, close the image with the X to see the map again.

Street View - Shore west of Tennison Bay Campground

Street View - Hemlock Road South of Bluff Road

Here's the Original Park Map - (from 2003)

 

Peninsula State Park Bike Trail Photos

Here's the photo tour of the Door County Peninsula State Park Trails including the Sunset Trail and the Nicolet Bay Trail. These rides were from June, 2018.

Peninsula State Park Sunset Trail Home < you are here

Sunset Trail Photos 1 ~ Sunset Trail West Shore
Sunset Trail Photos 2 ~ Lighthouse to Nicolet Bay
 Sunset Trail Photos 3 ~ Nicolet Bay and Outdoor Theater

Photos © Copyright Rob Chapman, about-bicycles.com. Photos with * Copyright Dale Kiffel.

The Door County Sunset Photos

Door County has some beautiful sunsets in this area. Although these sunset photos were not taken from the "Sunset Trail", they were taken in the same area in Fish Creek, just south of the park and Ephriam Bay just north of the park. Dale Kiffel took these excellent sunset pics in this area and I just had to include them in this article.

Door County Sunsets near Peninsula State Park

All Photos this section are © Copyright Dale Kiffel.

Peninsula State Park Trail Photos 2003

Here's the photo tour of the Door County Peninsula State Park Trail from September, 2003.

Peninsula State Park Trail Photos 2003.

All Photos this section are © Copyright Dale Kiffel.

 

PSP Sunset Trail Video on YouTube

Here's the video of the Peninsula State Park (PSP) Sunset Trail VIDEO that I posted on YouTube.

Peninsula Sunset Trail Video

 

Articles, Photos and Video by Rob Chapman and Dale Kiffel