A painted turtle resting in duckweed-covered water on the Egret Trail at Horicon Marsh, its dark shell edged in red and yellow stripes on its head and neck.
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A Warm Day at Horicon Marsh: Walking the Redhead and Egret Trails

ByJamie Dolan

I took a drive down to Horicon Marsh last week. If you’ve never been, it’s the big cattail marsh southeast of Fond du Lac, and it’s usually called the largest freshwater cattail marsh in the country. It’s split in two. The northern two-thirds is the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge, run by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, and the southern part is a state wildlife area. I spent my day up on the north end, off Highway 49, where there’s a three-mile auto tour loop you can drive slow with the windows down and a handful of hiking trails that spur off the middle of it.

It was about 83 degrees, one of those clear, easy August afternoons where the sky does most of the work. I’ve photographed this marsh before, including a double rainbow that stretched clear across it a few years back, but I’d not walked the trails recently, This time I did. I ended up on three of them over the course of the day, plus one nice stop for ice cream on the way home.

The Redhead Trail

The first trail I walked was the Redhead Trail. It’s about a mile, a mowed grass path that starts from the parking lot in the middle of the auto tour and ties into a couple of the other trails if you want to keep going. It’s mostly grass underfoot with a few gentle inclines, nothing hard, but it’s the kind of walking where you’ll feel the hill a little on a warm day. The first thing you come to is the open field, and it was full.

A wide prairie field at Horicon Marsh full of green growth and scattered pink wildflowers under a blue sky with a few clouds.
The field at the start of the Redhead Trail, full of late-summer growth.

The edges of the trail are where the little stuff is this time of year. There was a pair of white morning glories open in the grass, the wild kind that climbs through everything, and right next to them a dogwood shrub whose leaves had already started going red, with clusters of pale berries hanging on the red stems.

Two white trumpet-shaped wild morning glory flowers open among green grass and leaves along the trail edge.
Wild morning glory open in the grass along the trail.
A dogwood shrub with leaves turning deep red and clusters of pale blue-white berries on red stems.
A dogwood already turning red, with pale berries on the red stems.

Here’s the path itself, so you can see what I mean about the grass. A mowed lane cut through the brush, easy to follow.

The mowed grass Redhead Trail cutting a green lane between tall shrubs and brush under a blue sky.
The Redhead Trail. Mowed grass, easy to follow, a few gentle rises.

A lot of the plants along here have already gone to seed. There were big flat-topped seed heads standing everywhere, dried to brown, the flowers long gone.

Dried brown seed heads on tall stalks, flat clusters of oval seeds against green foliage.
Seed heads dried to brown, standing over the green.
Close-up of dried brown seed heads on dark stems, each cluster made of flat oval seeds.
A closer look at the same seed heads.
A spray of pale, papery dried seed umbels backlit against dark green leaves.
Another plant gone to seed, all pale and papery now.

Not everything was finished, though. A big vine had climbed up over the brush and thrown out those frothy white flower spikes it gets in late summer, the wild cucumber. And there was plenty of yellow still going, both the tall prairie kind with the leafy green collars under the flower and some woodland sunflowers back in the shade.

A wild cucumber vine covered in frothy greenish-white flower spikes, climbing over brush at the trail edge.
Wild cucumber vine, covered in its frothy white flowers.
Yellow prairie flowers with pointed petals and leafy green bracts under each bloom, among tall grass.
A yellow prairie flower with those leafy green collars under the blooms.
Golden-yellow woodland sunflowers on tall stems catching sunlight against a dark shaded background.
Woodland sunflowers catching the light back in the shade.

There was also a good bit of purple loosestrife, those tall magenta spikes. It’s a good-looking plant, I’ll give it that, but it’s an invasive one in wetlands like this, the kind that crowds out the native marsh plants if nobody keeps it in check.

A tall spike of bright magenta purple loosestrife flowers rising against green leaves.
Purple loosestrife. Pretty, but an invasive in a marsh like this.

You start to see the season turning if you look for it. Some of the leaves along the trail were already going yellow, and out in the open there was a big stand of that tall prairie grass, big bluestem, with its little turkey-foot seed heads up against the sky.

Broad green leaves turning yellow, backlit by the sun in the woods along the trail.
Leaves already starting to turn, lit up from behind.
Tall big bluestem prairie grass with forked seed heads standing against a clear blue sky.
Big bluestem, the tall prairie grass, up against the sky.

The far end of this stretch was an elderberry bush, a big one, loaded with dark berry clusters. That was about where the first hour of my walk wrapped up.

A large elderberry bush heavy with clusters of small dark purple berries against a blue sky.
The elderberry bush at the end of the loop, loaded down.
Close view of dark purple elderberries hanging in dense clusters among green leaves.
The elderberries up close.
A prairie field glowing with bright yellow goldenrod mixed with broad blue-green milkweed leaves.
And a whole field going gold with goldenrod on the way back.

The Egret Trail and its floating boardwalk

From there I walked over to the Egret Trail, which is the one I’d really come to see. It’s also about a mile, and it’s a completely different animal from the Redhead. Instead of grass and hills, you’re out on a boardwalk that floats right on the water, low to the surface, so you feel like you’re standing out in the middle of the marsh. It loops back through a patch of oak woods to get you home. The walking surface is hard and flat, the boards and the packed path, with hardly any grade to it, so if you’ve got somebody in a stroller or you just want the easiest of the walks out here, this is the one I’d point you to.

Open marsh water at Horicon seen from the floating boardwalk, with patches of green sedge and floating vegetation stretching to the horizon.
Out on the floating boardwalk, right down at the water’s level.

Look out across the cattails and you can see the low hills on the far side, with a line of wind turbines turning slow along the ridge.

A wide field of green cattails at Horicon Marsh with distant wooded hills and a row of wind turbines on the horizon.
Cattails to the horizon, with wind turbines out on the far ridge.

A pair of swallows were sitting out on some bare branches, letting me get fairly close. That rusty throat gives them away.

Two swallows perched on bare branches in front of green leaves, one showing a rusty orange throat.
A pair of swallows out on the branches.

Where the trail ducks back into the oak woods, somebody had leaned a big pile of branches up into a teepee. You see these in the woods now and then, and they always make me smile. A little bit of work somebody did just because.

A teepee built from leaned dead branches standing among green trees in the oak woods along the Egret Trail.
A stick teepee somebody built back in the oak woods.

The woods had their own little finds. A cluster of deep blue berries on one plant, a shrub that had gone gold ahead of the rest, and a few leaves that had already curled up and dried right on the branch.

A cluster of deep blue wild berries on a woodland plant with broad green leaves.
A cluster of blue berries in the woods.
An understory shrub with leaves turning yellow-gold next to a large tree trunk in the woods.
One shrub gone gold well ahead of the rest.
Curled, dried brown leaves hanging on a branch among yellowing green leaves.
A couple of leaves curled up and dried right on the branch.

Here’s the sign at the trailhead, which I shot on my way out. This is the federal refuge, the north end of the marsh, and the arrow points you to the auto tour and the trails.

A blue Horicon National Wildlife Refuge sign with a painted duck illustration reading Auto Tour and Hiking Trails, standing in mowed grass.
The Horicon National Wildlife Refuge sign at the trailhead.

Lunch, then a little of the Wild Goose Trail

By now it was the middle of the day, so I drove up to a pond, sat and had a little lunch I’d grabbed at the grocery store, and made a stop at a gas station for a smoothie. Then I drove over and walked a short piece of the Wild Goose State Trail, which runs right along the west edge of the marsh. It’s a 34-mile crushed-stone rail-trail on an old railroad bed, flat and straight, the kind you can walk or bike for as long as you feel like and then turn around.

The walk over to it was as good as the trail, honestly. There was a big patch of black-eyed Susans going strong, some tall yellow prairie flowers I got right up close to, and a wide-open stretch of prairie with the yellow flowers standing up over the grass and a tree line off in the distance.

A large patch of black-eyed Susans, yellow petals with dark brown centers, growing in tall green summer growth.
A big patch of black-eyed Susans on the way to the trail.
Close-up of a tall yellow prairie flower with narrow ray petals and a rounded center, on a thick green stem.
One of the tall yellow prairie flowers up close.
Another close view of a yellow prairie flower with a spiky yellow center and long pointed petals against a green field.
The same flower from another angle.
A wide-open tallgrass prairie with tall yellow flowers standing above the grass, a tree line in the distance under a blue sky.
Open prairie, yellow flowers standing up over the grass.

A dead tree stood off by itself out in the grass, bare and silver, the kind of thing that catches your eye in a field. And there was a purple coneflower right along the way, the big drooping pink petals and that spiky orange center.

A bare, silver-gray dead tree standing alone in a green prairie under a deep blue sky.
A lone dead tree standing out in the prairie.
A purple coneflower with drooping pink-purple petals and a spiky orange center cone, among green foliage.
A purple coneflower along the way.

And here’s the Wild Goose Trail itself. Straight, shaded, and quiet, running off under the trees.

The straight crushed-stone Wild Goose State Trail running off into an arch of green trees with dappled sunlight on the path.
The Wild Goose State Trail, straight and shaded on the old rail bed.

Back on the Redhead, and one more look at the marsh

After that I looped back onto the Redhead Trail again to finish out the stretch I’d started the day on. The light had shifted a little and there were different things to see. A branch of oak leaves had died and gone brown while everything around it stayed green, there was goldenrod coming into its own, and a sumac had started turning red, which is always the first real sign that fall’s coming.

A branch of brown, dried oak leaves hanging down against a background of green summer foliage.
A branch of oak leaves gone brown early, right in the middle of all the green.
A yellow plume of goldenrod flowers among large green leaves.
Goldenrod coming on strong.
Sumac leaves turning bright red on a branch, with green leaflets and small berry clusters below.
Sumac starting to turn. The first real sign of fall out here.

There was a gray-headed coneflower too, the one with the yellow petals that hang straight down off a tall gray center, and a young oak with its leaves lit up green in the sun.

Gray-headed coneflowers with drooping yellow petals hanging from tall grayish-brown cone centers, in a green field.
Gray-headed coneflower, petals hanging straight down.
Green lobed oak leaves on a young oak lit up by sunlight against the shaded woods.
A young oak lit up green in the afternoon sun.

To end the day I went back out on the Egret boardwalk one more time, just for another look at the water, and I’m glad I did. A painted turtle was making its way across the duckweed, in no particular hurry, red edging on the shell and those bright yellow stripes down the neck. That was my last shot of the day, and about as good a one to end on as I could ask for.

A painted turtle crawling across bright green duckweed on the marsh water, its dark shell edged in red and yellow stripes on its head and neck.
A painted turtle crossing the duckweed, the last shot of the day.

Ice cream in Brownsville on the way home

Driving home, I went out through Brownsville and stopped at a little spot called Triple Scoop Ice Cream & Sweets. It’s a cute place, ice cream and homemade candies, and they carry Chocolate Shoppe ice cream out of Madison, which is good stuff. I had the butter pecan. Then they talked me into a little sundae with butterscotch, pecans, and whipped cream on top, which felt a touch excessive after the butter pecan, but it was delicious, so no regrets. I grabbed one of their homemade caramels on the way out too, and that thing was extremely good.

That was the whole day. A drive down, three trails, a marsh full of late-summer color, one very relaxed turtle, and ice cream to close it out.

If you want to go

The nice thing about Horicon is that you can take it in whatever size you want. The Redhead and the Egret trails are each about a mile, and the Wild Goose runs 34, so you don’t have to commit to a set distance. I didn’t do any of them start to finish. I walked pieces, turned around when it made sense, and doubled back on the parts I liked. If you want the easiest walking, the Egret boardwalk is hard and flat with almost no hills, closer to stroller territory. If you want a little more of a workout and a lot of open field, the Redhead’s grass and gentle rises will give it to you. Either way, go slow and watch the edges. That’s where most of it is.

If you like these local walks, I recently wrote up a quiet afternoon on the Lime Kiln Trail at High Cliff and a walk through Heckrodt Wetland Reserve over in Menasha.

Have you been there? I'd love to hear your favorite spot.

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