Our State Park Lakes

Eli Major, park naturalist, at Ogle lake.

~story and photos by Jeff Tryon

There is a multitude of outdoor entertainment options for visitors to the Brown County State Park, but two of the nicest places to unwind, interact with nature, and do a little hiking or fishing are the park’s two picturesque lakes: Strahl Lake and Ogle Lake.

Park Naturalist Eli Major said hiking is the most popular attraction at the lakes, although the fishing is pretty good too.

“We typically have over a million annual visitors to the park each year and our two most popular trails are around the lakes,” Major said. “Trail 7 around Ogle Lake is the most popular, followed by Trail 6 around Strahl Lake.”

Trail 7 is a great mile-and-a-half loop trail which goes around Ogle Lake, with a nice view of the lake from all points along the trail. The south side of the loop is fairly steep and rigorous, but there are several stairways to help you along.

There is an observation platform about halfway, at the back end of the lake opposite the dam/parking lot, which makes for a comfy rest stop to observe wildlife or snap a scenic photo.

On the east side, Trail 7 connects with Trail 4 and takes you into the Ogle Hollow Nature Preserve. Trail 4 connects with Trail 5 on the northeast side of the ridge, and it takes you up to the Rally Campground.

“So, you can actually hike about a two-mile loop by using trails 4 and 5 together,” Major said. “I highly recommend that anybody who wants to do that take Trail 5 down and Trail 4 up, because Trail 5 is a straight line down the ridge and Trail 4 has switchbacks, so it’s a little bit easier to ascend.”

Also connecting with Trail 7 is Trail 11, the “Vollmer Trail.”

“It’s named after Bob Vollmer, who had quite a storied career as a surveyor at DNR,” Major said. “Trail 11 is our best wilderness trail. It takes you way out in the middle of nowhere down into a couple of secluded valleys and ridgetops.”

You can enjoy fishing for bass, bluegill and others on both of these pristine forest lakes. A state fishing license, available at the park office, is required.

Major said the fishing is “pretty good.”

“We do keep it stocked with standard small lake fish: bass, bluegill, channel catfish, redear, crappie, sunfish, and a few others.”

There is a publicly accessible fishing report available through the Division of Fish and Wildlife on the DNR website.

“Most of the north shore has a nice gentle slope into the lake, so shore fishing is very popular on that side,” he said.

Several years ago, the Friends of Brown County State Park installed some docks and piers and benches along the north shore.

“It’s a 17-acre lake, so there’s going to be some big fish,” Major said. “I wouldn’t say a ton of them, but it certainly does allow for some big ones. I have heard anecdotally of channel catfish in the 15-inch range and bass in the 11-to-12-inch range.”

Ogle Lake is the only choice for folks interested in kayaking or canoeing. Boats need a DNR Lake Permit which is $5 a year.

“At this point, Ogle Lake is strictly for wildlife and recreation, Major said. “That’s probably about the biggest change I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”

The older, smaller Strahl Lake was built in 1928, a year before the state park opened.

When visiting Strahl Lake, it is best to park below the dam where there are restrooms, a shelter house with playground, and a waterfall created by the overflow of the dam. A heartstimulating staircase takes you up to lake level.

Trail 6 around Strahl Lake is mostly flat, and always displays various wildlife from birds to turtles and small woodland creatures.

There may be a little muck down at the far end of the lake, especially if there’s been a lot of rain, but there are a couple of nice boardwalks to help you over the backwater.

If you’re feeling particularly athletic, or wanting to run some of that boundless energy out of the kiddoes, there’s a trail that branches off at the back of Strahl Lake, opposite the dam, that goes straight up an enormous hill to the Nature Center. I think they count this as a part of Trail 6, but you don’t have to do that part.

Wildlife abounds throughout the park and visitors are likely to see or encounter a whole range of species that are adapted to life in the forest and forest fringe, including white-tailed deer, raccoons, gray squirrels; and songbirds like robins, nuthatches, bluejays, cardinals, and crows. Sightings of wild turkeys are common.

On your hike around Ogle Lake, you may observe an active beaver colony.

“If you go to that extreme east side of the lake, where Trail 7 and Trail 4 meet, there is a marsh there that is maintained by the beavers,” Major said. “If you look carefully when you’re hiking on that side of the lake, you can see where they have a small dam, and the water level is elevated.

“They take a big tree down every now and then, but it’s not particularly problematic,” he said. “They just do what beavers do. They’re not really trying to fell large trees anymore, because they have the water level where they want it.”

But you haven’t really truly appreciated the state park lakes until you’ve seen them by moonlight.

Every month, Major leads a full moon hike, typically around Ogle Lake or Strahl Lake.

“The lake trails don’t have any big hills, which can be problematic for some people in the dark. Also, those are the clearest views [of the sky] in the park, because of the water.

“I like to do that hike on Ogle Lake because I have it timed so that we get back to the dam and people can see the moon rising over the water. We’ve managed to take some pretty incredible photos there before.”