View the Wisconsin Biking Guide - Wisconsin Department of Tourism

4Cave Point Tour
DOOR
JUST THE FACTS
DISTANCE: 40 miles
DIFFICULTY: Easy
TRAILHEAD LOCATION: In Sturgeon
Bay at Sunset Bay Park on County B (N.
3rd Ave.).
ATTRACTIONS: Door County
Maritime Museum, Door County
Historical Society, Miller Art Museum,
Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay
Ship Canal & Lighthouse, Whitefish
Dunes State Park, Cave Point County
Park, Door Peninsula Winery.
CAUTION: The entire route is on public
streets and roads open to shared
bicycle/motor vehicle use.
LEGEND: For a complete listing of all
map icons, see page 2.
OTHER TOURS IN THIS REGION: Go
to www.travelwisconsin.com. In the
search box, key in Shore to Shore Tour,
Czech Heritage Tour, or Two Rivers
Tour.
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Door County Chamber of Commerce
800/527-3529, 920/743-4456
www.doorcounty.com
Cave Point County Park.
12
RJ & LINDA MILLER
COUNTY
There’s no place like Cave Point,
especially when the wind is strong
off the lake. Then you’ll hear Cave
Point before you actually see it. It
may be a cloudless day, but a sound like
thunder will filter through the woods as you
pedal towards the point. Reaching the park
you’ll understand the power of Lake
Michigan as waves pound against the shore
shooting spray high above the bluff’s edge.
Over eons, the waves have hollowed-out
caves in the point increasing both the hydrodynamics
and the noise level. You can feel
the rock shudder beneath your feet.
Cave Point County Park is one destination
on this pleasant tour of the lake-edge
forest and quiet farm roads of Door County.
You won’t find better biking anywhere. And,
you start and finish the tour in the fascinating
ship building city of Sturgeon Bay. You’ll
see every type of vessel there from tugboats,
to sleek sailing yachts, to huge ocean-going
ships.
The trailhead at Sunset Bay Park is right
next to Bay Shipbuilding Company, the only
facility on the Great Lakes that can handle
gigantic 1,000-foot freighters. In fact, Bay
Shipbuilding built many of these monstrous
boats. The enormous steel crane in the shipyard
gives some idea of the scale of the
operation.
Located at the mid-point of the Door
County peninsula, the bay of Sturgeon Bay
was once the channel of the Menomonee
River – before glacial ice sheets carved out
Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Check it out
on a state map; you can easily see the alignment.
In 1882 a mile-long canal was cut
from the bay to Lake Michigan saving ships
from the perilous journey around the tip of
the peninsula called by the French, Porte des
Morts – “Death’s Door” - the term which
gave the county its name. The tour route
takes you along the canal levee where a
stop at Overlook Trail will give you a great
view of the boats plying the channel
between the lake and bay. Where the canal
meets the lake, the Coast Guard’s North
Pierhead Lighthouse is a wonderful photo
opportunity.
Riding north, the route winds through
fragrant lakeside cedars before arriving at
Whitefish Dunes State Park which invites you
to spend some time off the bike on its threemile,
crescent-shaped sand beach. Just
beyond is Cave Point County Park. An excellent
interpretive display will explain the
forces that formed this wonder of nature.