Richard Bong State Recreation Area

Campground Details

Open: Open all year
Number of Sites: 217
Number of Sites with Electric: 54

Once designated to be a jet fighter base, Richard Bong State Recreation Area is fittingly named after Major Richard I. Bong, a Poplar, Wisconsin, native who was America's leading air ace during World War II. The project was abandoned three days before concrete was to be poured for a 12,500-foot runway. Local citizens had the foresight to protect this open space for future generations. In 1974 the state bought the land and it became the state's first recreation area.

The recreation area encompasses 4,515 acres of rolling grassland, savanna, wetlands and scattered woodland. Most of it is in Wisconsin's Southern Lake Michigan Coastal Ecological Landscape; a bit at the western edge is in the Southeast Glacial Plains.

There are two family (regular) campgrounds with a total of 217 campsites, 54 of them with electric hookups. Six group campsites can accommodate 225 campers. The recreation area also has a cabin designed specifically for people with disabilities.

Richard Bong State Recreation Area is open year-round and has 41.1 miles of trails for hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, horseback riding, snowshoeing, and ATV and dirt bike riding.

 

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