Lizard Mound State Park (Blog Hike #1024)

Trails: (unnamed)
Hike Location: Lizard Mound State Park
Geographic Location: northeast of West Bend, WI (43.46402, -88.14055)
Length: 1.1 miles
Difficulty: 1/10 (Easy)
Date Hiked: September 2024
Overview: A short, flat loop past many effigy mounds including the famous Lizard Mound.
Park Information: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/lizardmound
Hike Route Map: https://www.mappedometer.com/?maproute=972355
Photo Highlight:

Short Video: (coming July 15)

Directions to the trailhead: From West Bend, take SR 144 north 3.7 miles to CR A.  Turn right on CR A.  The park entrance is 0.4 miles ahead on the right.  Turn right to enter the park, and park in the only parking lot.

The hike: Hundreds of years before the first European explorers arrived in America, the Mound Builder peoples lived a nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle across what is now the eastern United States.  The Mound Builders lived in societies that were highly organized for their era, and they built their characteristic mounds at numerous sites, many of which are protected today as state or national parks.  Wisconsin lies on the northern end of the Mound Builders' geographical range, and the Lizard Mound site is one of the best places in Wisconsin to view the Mound Builders' legacy.

            The historical value of the Lizard Mound site lies not so much in the size of the mounds as in their variety and quantity: at least 60 mounds of various shapes have been identified at this site.  The exact date and builders of the mounds remain unknown, but most experts think they were constructed between 650 and 1300 AD.  Some of the mounds were destroyed by farming before Washington County established the site as a county park in 1950: only 47 of the original 60+ mounds remain today.  The State of Wisconsin acquired the site in 1986, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

            True to a park established to preserve history, tiny 22-acre Lizard Mound State Park has limited amenities.  The park offers only a parking lot, some picnic tables, and a small interpretive center that gives you information about the mounds.  A limited system of unnamed and unmarked trails provides access to the mounds, and the hike described here takes you on a winding route designed to maximize your distance and your mound viewing.

Interpretive center

            Start by heading to the interpretive center.  To get there from the main parking lot, walk back out the park entrance road and angle left to reach the small picnic shelter-looking building.  Although many questions about these mounds remain unanswered, numerous signs give general information about effigy and burial mounds as well as specific information about this site.

Heading toward the mounds

            Armed with some knowledge about the mounds, next head for the mounds themselves by exiting the interpretive center to the south and walking between 2 ornamental metal fixtures that bear lizard-like shapes.  The first part of this hike goes through a sunny grassy area that is dotted with trees.  In general you want to turn right at each trail intersection to take the longest possible route through the mounds.

Passing a mound

            Quickly it becomes apparent that these mounds come in many shapes and sizes.  The first mound you pass on the left is a T-shaped mound that resembles a bird when viewed from above, while the next one is an elongated mound many experts think was meant to resemble a panther.  More ordinary conical and linear mounds are also passed.

Large panther mound

            At 0.3 miles, you pass a large panther mound that I originally thought was this site's signature lizard mound, but in fact the lizard mound sits just beyond and is signed.  This site has several panther, bird, conical, and linear mounds, but it only has 1 lizard mound.  You approach the lizard at its head, and the best vantage point looks over the lizard's front and back legs down its elongated tail.  A bench encourages you to sit, rest, and admire the unusually-shaped mound.

Lizard mound, looking toward the head

Lizard mound, looking toward the tail

            Past the lizard mound, the trail passes between a pair of panther mounds and enters a more heavily wooded area, where it will remain for the rest of the hike.  This area could be very buggy in the spring and summer, but bugs were not a problem when I hiked here in mid-September.  Many more conical and linear mounds are passed, and while no mound on this site is more than a couple feet high, all of them are interesting.

Conical mound in the woods

            The trail takes a serpentine course through the wooded eastern part of the park, and the persistently flat terrain might make you feel like you are hiking in circles.  Keep turning right at each trail intersection and keep following the trail.  Just shy of 1 mile, you reach an old hand water pump that probably dates to this land's agricultural days.  The main parking lot sits just to the right, thus signaling the end of the hike.