Mike Merg
The north side generally receives low marks for being a “walkable neighborhood.” If you want to walk to a coffee shop that might be true, and it’s definitely true if you want to walk to a bookstore or a theater. But for quick, uncrowded access to nature, it’s exceedingly walkable. Nature is woven into the fabric of the north side.
This stroll hits six formal and informal natural areas for a 4.75-mile suburban exploration; a longer loop is easily created by adding a side trek to Jackson’s Landing for an eight-mile workout.
Begin at the intersection of Harper Road and Troy Drive. There’s a Little Free Library on the corner, built to resemble some of the characteristic buildings at the adjacent Mendota Mental Health Center. On the opposite side of Troy, look for a gravel path that leads into the woods near 452 Troy Drive and head in. To your left, an informal twist of wood-chipped trail was preserved when neighbors rallied against the construction of a proposed storage facility for the State Historical Society and the Wisconsin Veterans Museum there in 2011. Look for a council ring of log benches. But that’s a detour; continue on the gravel farm driveway and head north to Troy Gardens prairie.
The 10-acre restored tallgrass prairie, on your right as the gravel ends, is part of Troy Gardens co-housing, community garden and urban farm. Flora thrives, with coneflowers, vervain and spiderwort prominent. In fall the grass is tall enough to hide all traces of the surrounding neighborhood. Metal markers by Madison artist Michael Burns are scattered throughout the prairie, and in its center, there’s a sunken-rock council ring (yes, another council ring) by landscape designer Steve Ziegler. The orderly rows of Troy Community Farm are to the east.
After exploring the several trail loops, emerge onto the grounds of the Central Wisconsin Center and head north to the intersection of Knutson Drive and Westport Road. Continue north on Westport. This block is the longest on-road segment, but this feels more like a country lane than the suburbs. Those taking the shorter hike will turn left here, onto Green Avenue.
The 3.5-mile side trip to Jackson’s Landing starts here. Continue on Westport Road, where the shoulder widens and marsh lines both sides of this popular jogging and dog-walking stretch. Birds abound. You'll likely see folks fishing on the bridge over the Yahara River here as it enters Lake Mendota. A left on Blue Bill Parkway and a right on Edinburgh will bring you to Jackson’s Landing, a natural area tucked behind the Westshire Village at the Lake senior housing development.
Mike Merg
Jackson’s Landing, a town of Westport park, was completed in 2013. Trails wind through a woods that has been largely cleared of invasives; interpretive signs will tell you what plants you’re looking at.
Named after the Jackson family, which owned the land starting in the 1930s, the park was once home to a cabin where doctors from the Jackson Clinic would come to play cards and grill out on Friday nights, according to the town of Westport’s Jim Stephenson. The family also maintained large gardens here, says Stephenson. Acres of marsh between the trails and Lake Mendota make this an excellent birding spot. You’re likely to see sandhill cranes stalking the reeds here.
Refreshment spots on the edge of Jackson’s Landing are the Willows Tavern, 5485 Willow Road, and Athens Grill, 5430 Willow Road. Then retrace your route back to the intersection of Westport and Green.
From Green, a quick right on Beilfuss Drive takes you to Westport Meadows Park, a grassy playground that serves as an entrance to the .6 miles of wooded trails of the Cherokee Marsh – Mendota Unit. Heading south, the trail splits — both branches will take the hiker to Sauthoff Road, but taking the left branch leads directly to an entrance to Meadow Ridge Conservation Park.
A gravel path crosses the 9.87 acre park, but look for a side path to the left that loops up atop a sandstone bluff, populated with bee balm, an Indian effigy mound and a view that overlooks Lake Mendota. (This detour joins back up with the main path.)
At the Meadow Ridge playground, take Meadow Valley Drive south to the grounds of the Mendota Mental Health Center, where following Main Drive across the grounds brings the walker to Cinder Lane. Heading down Cinder toward the lake, a grassy area on the right showcases a large panther mound. (A quick detour to the left, behind cottages “A” and “B,” is the largest eagle effigy mound in the state.)
Cinder Lane leads to Governor’s Island, the north side’s version of Picnic Point. It’s not an island but a peninsula, with several easy beachy access points to the lake — but also, in a quirk of geology, high bluffs. Usually someone’s fishing from well-worn perches on the bluffs. After completing the Governor’s Island loop, follow the shoreline path (first gravel, than cinder) east back to Harper Road — and your starting point.
[Editor's note: This article has been updated July 2022 to omit mention of several closed restaurants.]
