Hartman Creek State Park

This well kept secret at the west end of the Chain O'Lakes isn't very large in acreage, but it is packed with almost everything you'd want in a state park.

If you like:
- Hiking. Plenty of trails, including a stretch of the Ice Age Trail.
- Biking. One of the few parks we've been to with dedicated single track mountain bike trails. Beginner, medium and advanced. A sizeable portion of the hiking trails are bikeable, suitable for gravel bikes.
- Horse riding. Dedicated horse trails. We passed by the horse trailer parking, and it appears to be very popular.
- Geocaching. About 3 dozens caches including some very good multis. We logged 13 during a two hour walk.
- Paddling. A couple of small lakes on the property with motor boats banned.
- Quiet. Sites are well spread apart.

What I wish was better: the campground in general. It's well vegetated with lots of shade trees, but in general the sites were shallow and the roads narrow enough to make maneuvering tricky in places. Pay real close attention to your length filters when selecting a site. My 32' rig barely squeezed into the site with enough room for the truck. The sanitary dump could stand to be rebuilt. I wrecked a stab jack making a tight turn on exit. Maybe it was my luck and location in the campground, but I did get enough bandwidth on Verizon data to stream my sporting events over the weekend.

There is a concession stand with paddling and bike rentals as well as some food and supplies. Firewood was $6 per wrapped bundle and it burned well. I did not check the shower buildings, but they appeared from the outside to be of an older vintage.

For reasons we can't figure out, this was only our second time here, the first being way back in our tent camping days two decades ago. We won't wait so long before our next trip. It's a really nice park.

This was the site of our "shakedown trip" with our new Airstream Classic, and we loved it. We found this state park to be conveniently located for us and were pleasantly surprised by the activities available. Excellent biking opportunities on paved paths, fire roads, and some well-maintained single track. Also good hiking on a varied trail network including the "Ice Age Trail". Good site for canoeing, kayaking and watersports. We had cool temps, but the beach looked to be a good summer option as well.