Wisconsin is very similar to Minnesota.  Oddly enough, after living next door to this state for my entire life, I really hadn’t seen the northern portion in any detail.  The state is populated with farms, about a quarter of a mile apart.  Scattered across the farmland are small patches of wooded areas.

The one thing I couldn’t figure out about Wisconsin is why every farm had at least one barn that was in a state of collapsing, or had already collapsed.  The miles flew past on our journey as we watched house after house sit next to a barn that was probably over a hundred years old.  This is clearly a state with a lot of history.

After driving for about three hours from the Twin Cities, we arrived at the county park where Timms Hill is located.  Wisconsin has actually turned their highpoint into a park, which makes it a very nice place to visit.  In fact, while we were there, a couple had just gotten engaged a few minutes before our arrival.

Timms Hill (yes, without an apostrophe) is 1,952 feet above sea level, making this highpoint one of the lower elevations we have visted thus far.  The drive there was relatively flat, with a few small hills when we approached the park.  When we arrived, we were told there was a one-way road that would lead to a parking lot near the top of the hill.  Apparently the road was closed, because there was a gate blocking our entrance.  No problem, we simply parked the car and went on foot from this point forward.

The road wasn’t very long, perhaps a half mile to the parking lot near the top.  We found some snow on the road, which means it was one of the last areas to melt since most of the snow everywhere else was already gone for the spring.

At the parking lot, the county had placed a sign showing the hiking trails in the area.  There was even a small playground for the children.  We were really pleased to see this, since it meant our kids could burn off some energy after being in the car for the past three hours!

On our way to the top, we spotted the tower.  It was easy to see because the leaves had not yet come in for the season.  I cannot imagine how hard this would be to spot if it was summer.  The tower was a solid wood structure, about five or six stories high. Of all the structures we have climbed thus far, this one was the scariest.  Although it was solid with well build railings, we kept our visit to the top very brief. 

However, next to the tower was a taller fire tower (with someone in it!) that was even more scary looking.  Apparently the man in the fire tower was able to drive up since his truck was parked at the base of the wooden tower.

The view, as usual for those sites with a tower, was fantastic.  Even for being such a low highpoint, this one was impressive.

We found the geological marker under the fire tower next to the wooden tower and took our usual picture.

The walk back to the car took about ten minutes, mostly on the paved road.  All things considered, Wisconsin was a really fun highpoint to visit.