Kettles Trail

Kettles Trail is a 3.0-mile round trip from W Baatz Road, with an out-and-back approach, a small northern loop and two short overlook spurs. It moves from an open-field kettle view into wooded hollows, past ponds and a bog. Choose it for the Lakeshore’s glacial interior instead of another dune climb. Allow about two hours: the opening is easy, while the rest has repeated moderate climbs and dips. The park lists three miles including the bog spur; a detailed walking description comes out closer to 3.4 when it counts more backtracking, so leave extra time if you explore every branch.

The first 1,000 feet cross an open field on compacted crushed stone to a kettle overlook. That opening is universally accessible; the full hike is not. Beyond it, the route drops into woodland. Take the bog spur out and back: it climbs steadily to an old two-track, then descends to Bog Edge Overlook. Return to the junction and continue to the northern loop. The counterclockwise side passes a small kettle pond on an old track, then climbs on a signed footpath around a larger kettle. At the later two-track junction, bear left for the return; right leads toward Lanham Road. You retrace the shared approach to Baatz Road.

Kettles formed when blocks of glacial ice broke away, were buried in sediment and later melted, leaving steep-sided hollows. Some hold ponds; others became wetlands. Bow Lakes contains a cluster of these depressions, so the little pond on the northern loop is part of the trail’s story, not just scenery. The park added this tract to the Lakeshore in 1982, and the trail opened in 2019 after years of planning around its fragile habitat.

Bog Edge is the payoff for the side trip: a view across a rain-fed, acidic basin where sphagnum moss, Labrador tea, bog cranberry, sundews and pitcher plants can grow. Stay on the trail around this sensitive wetland. For a photograph, use the overhanging trees to frame the still water and its reflections; a tight water-and-leaves view says more than a generic forest shot.