Wilderness Ridge

State Natural Area (No. 24)

Location: Within Point Beach State Forest, Manitowoc County. T20N-R25E, Section 16. 8 acres.

Access: From the intersection of Highways 147 and 42 in Two Rivers, go east on 47 0.65 mile, then north on County O (Sandy Bay Road) 4.5 miles to the State Forest entrance. The site is south of the headquarters with access via the Ridges hiking trail. A STATE PARK STICKER IS REQUIRED.

Description: Wilderness Ridge is a T-shaped area that features a cross section of Glacial Lake Nippissing-aged beach ridges. The north-south sand ridges formed under water during the later post-glacial stages of Lake Nippissing. A fairly rapid fall in lake level permitted the ridges to exist without going through the leveling erosional processes. Similar ridges are still being formed offshore in Lake Michigan's breaker zone. The 66-foot wide north-south transect follows a ridge wooded with red and white pines, hemlock, sugar maple, red maple, and yellow birch. Common groundlayer species along the ridge include yellow bluebead-lily, wintergreen, American starflower, Canada mayflower, three-leaved goldthread, and trailing arbutus. The east-west transect is 66 feet wide and crosses the ridge-swale topography. Four of the swales contain sedge meadows, filled with more than 28 species of sedges and many species of grasses. Surrounding the swales is a narrow, nearly impenetrable zone of shrubs. Wilderness Ridge is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1953.