Wisconsin vs. Utah (moving)

In My Humble Opinion
41

I grew up in California and the American southwest has a special place in my heart. When I was younger I did a lot of backpacking/camping and had some great trips in NM, UT, CA, NV, CO. Now I’m going to tell you to pick Milwaukee.

I moved to Madison 10 years ago from Chicago. For the first 3 years I hated it and never left the city primarily because I didn’t have a reliable car. In year four I started backpacking again and WOW. WI has some great parks. A few links for you to peek at:

Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest - Blackjack Springs Wilderness is great.

Cathedral Pines - An active Great Blue Heron rookery. Old growth pine/hemlock forest.

Apostle Islands - Beautiful but can be expensive and certain times of year there is a ton of boat traffic.

Rock Island State Park - Great little island at the tip of Door county. The area leading to this is pretty touristy but the walk in campsites on the island are great. No vehicles are permitted on the island and it is all state park. No town, shops, etc.

Kettle Moraine State Forest—Southern Unit - Only 30 miles south of Milwaukee.

Also worth a look: Black River Falls State Forest, Ice Age Trail… Just look around on the WIDNR website and you’ll see a ton within an hour of Milwaukee.

Cons: Bugs are worse, can be humid in the summer, no “real” mountains.
Pros: No rocky mountain spotted fever, unique glacial terrain, easy access to water or filterable water at most parks.

Wisconsin doesn’t get a lot of press for its natural beauty on a national level but I’d put it towards the top.

If you lean liberal you should be happy with Senator Russ and a pretty solidly progressive blue state. Milwaukee gets a bad rap and is a lot nicer than its reputation would imply. If you really need to get to the big city Chicago is only two hours away.

Winter sucks but I don’t see a real clear advantage to a UT winter if you’re not a skier. I hate winter and curse myself every year for living here but by mid April I tell myself that it wasn’t that bad and soldier on until mid November before I start whining again. FALL IS AWESOME.

I dream about moving back to California to be closer to my family. Maybe somewhere along the central coast. If I’m honest with myself I know I’ll probably never leave Wisconsin and that’s OK with me.

42

Winter sucks but I don’t see a real clear advantage to a UT winter if you’re not a skier.

Pssst, I worked outside, all day today, in just a T-shirt. :wink:

43

cordylus

I was going to list some other places you would like. I stopped after I realized how many places I wanted to add. You have a lot of places to visit yet. Keep on visiting new state parks, and don’t leave out the ones at the other end of the state if you can get to them.

44

I ran into the same problem. I could have rattled off a bunch more but my post was already getting pretty long.

One of my first trips was canoeing the kickapoo river and I was just floored by it. It exceeded all my expectations.

Not to hijack but what would you pick as your top 5 spots in the state?

I just assumed it would be pretty cold but I see the average January temp in SLC is 29.1 which has got to be better than the 10 below ridiculous we get out here. Definitely worth considering.