I grew up minutes from Horicon Marsh and mostly took it for granted. These days, one of my favorite ways to enjoy it is walking the storybook trail with my kids.
Near my childhood home was a big hill we called Tommy’s Hill, after the farmer who previously owned the land. Sometimes I’d walk to the top just to look out over the marsh. It was one of my favorite views.
But appreciating the view wasn’t quite the same as appreciating the place itself. The marsh was always there. Most days, I thought more about having to drive around it to get anywhere west of us than about spending time there.
After living away for 15 years and coming back, I gained a whole new appreciation for having somewhere like this so close to home.
Getting there is part of the outing
We usually start at the Wisconsin DNR’s Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center and take the floating boardwalk from its parking lot to Indermuehle Island, where the storybook trail begins. There are other ways to reach the island, but the boardwalk is my favorite. I love being able to walk out over the water and see what’s happening among the cattails.
We stop to watch turtles on logs and look for ducks. There’s wind in our hair, birds calling, and usually something worth stopping to look at before we’ve even reached the first page.
As I write this, my son is seven and my daughter is three, and they have very different ideas about how this walk should go.
My daughter usually wants to be carried. My son wants to race ahead—and race me. So while I appreciate the fresh air and scenery, I’m not necessarily taking a leisurely stroll.
A story, one stop at a time
The storybook trail is a partnership with the Horicon Public Library, which changes the featured story monthly. Pages are displayed in holders spaced along the island’s loop, and you walk from one to the next, reading your way through the book.
My son is learning to read and has started reading some of the pages himself. Hearing him work out the words makes me endlessly proud.
We don’t spend the whole walk reading, though. We look for wild mushrooms and watch for wildlife such as chipmunks, frogs, and squirrels.
Sometimes the story is the main attraction. Sometimes the animals are.
If you’re nowhere near Horicon Marsh, this might still be an outing to look for closer to home. Storybook walks aren’t unique to our area—the StoryWalk program has spread across the country. Try checking with a nearby library or parks department to see whether there’s one you could visit.
The books give us a reason to return
The books we’ve encountered have generally been nature-themed and seasonal. We’ve read about how snowflakes form, how animals settle in for winter, and how trees provide habitat both while they’re growing and after they fall.
One particularly memorable story followed a father and child going out in the middle of winter to call for owls.
My personal favorite followed an oak tree at 25-year intervals, beginning as a sapling in 1775. By 2000, it stood in a residential backyard, where a storm damaged it.
I love history, so that one stayed with me. I liked following the same tree through all those years and thinking about how much had changed around it. All the while, it was providing acorns, habitat for animals, and a place for kids to play.
A September stop to listen
On our September outing, we encountered a whole flock of snowy egrets behind a stand of trees. We couldn’t see them clearly, but we could definitely hear them calling to each other.
We stood there for a couple of minutes, just listening. Then we continued our walk.
Planning a visit to the Horicon Marsh Storybook Trail
The Horicon Marsh Education and Visitor Center is at N7725 Highway 28 in Horicon, Wisconsin.
Here’s what our usual outing looks like:
- Route: From the parking lot, across the floating boardwalk to the island, around the storybook trail loop, and back to the car.
- Distance: Approximately 1.3 miles on our usual route, including the walk to and from the island.
- Terrain: Mostly flat, with one hill.
- Our pace: We stop to read the pages, watch wildlife, and investigate whatever catches our attention. This isn’t a walk we hurry through, though we do sometimes race from page to page (naturally).
For official visitor information, visit the Wisconsin DNR’s Horicon Marsh page.
Sometimes we stay after the story ends
Finishing the book doesn’t always mean we’re ready to leave. Sometimes we go into the building and visit Marshall the resident snapping turtle. Sometimes we go into the children’s section and play nature-themed games, or read more books, or complete a puzzle.
On our most recent visit, we lingered to watch cranes in the marsh and geese flying overhead. We’d finished what we came to do, but there was no reason to hurry back to the car.
That’s much the same approach we take on our outings to Pike Lake, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and Lake Michigan. We choose somewhere to go, but leave room to stop and see what catches our attention.
Even on road trips with the kids, we find plenty to talk about by looking out the windows—landforms, bridges, roads, and bits of local history. I enjoy those conversations, too, especially when history, science, and engineering is involved.
Here at the marsh, the storybook trail gives us a starting point. What else we find depends on the day.
We don’t have to plan anything elaborate to enjoy an afternoon there.
I didn’t appreciate having Horicon Marsh so close when I was growing up. I’m glad I get to enjoy it with my kids now.
What’s a place near your home that you appreciate more now than you used to?
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