DOOR COUNTY - Wisconsin - page 248

it's one of the last remaining stretches of undeveloped Lake Michigan coastline in the Door
Peninsula. You'll find threatened or endangered species everywhere. More than a million
(of the local population estimate of up to 1.5 million) whitefish spawn in these waters.
ROWLEYS BAY
Out of Baileys Harbor, WIS 57 swoops back toward Sister Bay to WIS 42. The next
lakeside community, Rowleys Bay, is mostly a massive and well-established resort and
nearbycampground, Rowleys Bay Resort (1041Hwy.ZZ,920/854-2385or888/250-7666,
www.rowleysbay.com , May-Oct., $119-319 lodge/cottages). First of all, many still call it
“Wagon Trail,” which for years and years was what it was called. Originally a bare-bones
fishing encampment and later a rustic lodge, the city-state has transmogrified into what is
certainlythemostcomprehensiveoperationontheupperDoorPeninsula.Fromrustic-look-
ing lodge rooms to posh suites and cottages of all sorts, somehow the place does it all and
does it well. Two- and three-bedroom rustically upscale vacation villas are set on wooded
or waterfront sites; some can house a dozen folks comfortably, and all have whirlpools and
fireplaces.
The contiguous, more or less, campground (920/854-4818,
www.wagontrailcampground.com , from $37 for tents), spread throughout 200 acres along
the bay, is really quite fastidious and professionally run. (It also offers cabins and even
yurts.) Reservations are recommended.
Several miles of trails wend through the resort's acreage; one leads to Sand Bay Beach
Park on Rowleys Bay, another to the Mink River Estuary. On the bay, the resort's marina
offers bicycles, canoes, kayaks, paddleboats, charter fishing boats, and scenic excursions.
Thereasonmostfolksshowupattheresort,though,is M Grandma's Swedish Bakery,
amagnetforsweettoothsfromaroundthecountryhungryfor10kindsofhomemadebread,
cardamom coffee cake, cherry pie, Old World-style bread pudding, and scads of muffins,
cookies, and pastries. The specialty is Swedish sweets— limpa and skorpa (thinly sliced
pecan rolls sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and dried in the oven).
Mink River Estuary
Stretching southeast from Ellison Bay to the edge of Newport State Park, the Mink River
Estuary acts, by grace of The Nature Conservancy, to protect the river system as it emp-
ties into the bay through marsh and estuary. Primarily a crucial ornithological migratory
site, the waters also act as a conduit for spawning fish. The topography of the 1,500 acres
is astonishingly diverse and untouched; two threatened plant species—the dune thistle and