Name: Picnic Point Beach House
Rating: 2

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Picnic Point Beach House

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United States

Wisconsin

Dane County

Madison

Picnic Point Beach House

Recommended by 1 hikers

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Location: Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, United States

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Best Hikes to Picnic Point Beach House

5.0

(1)

hikers

1. Porter Boathouse – Picnic Point Mound Group loop from State-Langdon

11.3km

02:53

40m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

5.0

(3)

hikers

2. Lake Mendota – Picnic Point Mound Group loop from Shorewood

2.71km

00:41

10m

Easy hike. Great for any fitness level. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Easy

4.8

(4)

hikers

3. Picnic Point Mound Group – Raymer's Cove loop from Shorewood

8.17km

02:09

80m

Intermediate hike. Good fitness required. Easily-accessible paths. Suitable for all skill levels.

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Intermediate

Tips

Rav4HikerUrbanExolorer

June 5, 2025

Picnic Point Beach House (sometimes referred to as the Bath House or Change House) is located on the north side of Picnic Point just to the west of the Picnic Point Marsh along the Lake Mendota Lakeshore Path in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Lakeshore Nature Preserve.

Rav4HikerUrbanExolorer

June 5, 2025

This single-story structure has a curious history. Its construction in 1968 was intended to provide swimmers with a bathroom facility and a place to change —yet it never opened for public use. The building was constructed using Athletic Department funds to compensate for an anticipated loss of public swimming access at Willow Beach because of a planned crew house project. (This Willow Beach crew facility was never actually constructed.)

The Picnic Point Beach House never opened because public access to the site was perceived to be too difficult and because algae blooms on Lake Mendota were becoming so severe by the late 1960s that swimming at this location came to seem much less attractive than it had been earlier in the century.

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Elevation 260 m

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Monday 6 October

19°C

9°C

100 %

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Max wind speed: 11.0 km/h

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Location: Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, United States

Picnic Point Beach House

1. Porter Boathouse – Picnic Point Mound Group loop from State-Langdon

2. Lake Mendota – Picnic Point Mound Group loop from Shorewood

3. Picnic Point Mound Group – Raymer's Cove loop from Shorewood

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