By state · WI

National Parks in Wisconsin.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Wisconsin's NPS flagship is Apostle Islands National Lakeshore (21 islands on Lake Superior, ferry- or kayak-only to most), plus Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway (jointly with Minnesota), the Ice Age National Scenic Trail (1,200 miles across the state), the North Country National Scenic Trail, and Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail segments. Minneapolis-Saint Paul (MSP, Minnesota), Duluth (DLH, Minnesota), and Milwaukee (MKE) anchor different parts of the network. Apostle Islands' practical visiting window is mid-May through October: ferries operate seasonally, ice caves form in cold winters but require lake conditions that aren't reliable year to year (the official NPS Apostle Islands page tracks ice-cave accessibility). Saint Croix Riverway is a paddle-and-camp summer destination. The state's NPS footprint is heavily water-and-trail rather than mountain or desert.

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NPS source records in Wisconsin.

Wisconsin has 4 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 2 National Scenic Trails · 1 National Lakeshore · 1 National Scenic Riverway. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 1,116,027 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway at about 825K annual visits.

Every National Park Service site in Wisconsin, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group.
National Park Service sites in Wisconsin, mapped Interactive map of Wisconsin showing the location of 4 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map.

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway National Scenic RiverwaySACN 825,051 July
Apostle Islands National Lakeshore National LakeshoreAPIS 261,558 July
Ice Age National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailIATR 29,418 July
North Country National Scenic Trail National Scenic TrailNOCO — —

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

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Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-08-28