Kettle Moraine area?

There is a NORTHERN Kettle Morraine area and a SOUTHERN Kettle Morraine area in Wisconsin.

The term Kettle refers to small "pothole" like lakes - The term Morraine refers to steep hills. So basically it means "small lakes and steep hills". I believe the Kettle Morraine areas are an area of Eastern and central Wisconsin where the Glacier's left giant chunks of ice behind during the ice age. The giant chunks came from two seperate ice sheets colliding into one another... When these huge chunks sank into the ground they displaced some of it making what is refferred to as a "Moraine". When these chunks of ice melted a "Kettle" was made.Take a hike in some of the more rugged areas of the Southern Kettle Morraine & you'll see what I mean...Up down up down up down...You start to feel like a Mountain Goat! It's cool to imagine what it must have been like 20,000 years ago. I bet it was a pretty cataclysmic place...And cccccold!

SOUTHWESTERN Wisconsin is VERY rugged country and is refferred to as the UNGLACIATED area...It is almost mountainous there...The Kettle Morraine's are basically the UNGLACIATED foothills of Western Wisconsin's ancient mountains. ( I THINK! )

Any of the ACTUAL kettle lakes are fairly shallow and green most of the year..They depend on rain water to keep them filled.

However Maytag -there are lots of decent lakes with good vis in S.E. Wisconsin NEAR the Kettle Morraine area - Both small and large ones. But any lakes actually IN the Southern Kettle Morraine area tends to be very small and shallow and some-what murky for the most part. There are a few that do have fish in them.

As far as the NORTHERN Kettle Morraine area goes - I don't know much about that...This area I live in has just too many good lakes close by...I have no need to travel far to freedive or spear...Hope that answered your question!

All of this outta my head...now I have to go look somewhere to see if I'm right!

I was MOSTLY right!!! All of the lakes mentioned at the bottom of the link ARE fairly clear...Not Pewaukee though.

Here's a very cool & educational link -
WDNR - Kettle Moraine Geology

I've dove some of the lakes, but the area is better known for mountain biking and XC skiing. I would say that they have about the best mountain biking trails in the southern part of the state there. Southern unit has some great hiking/skiing trails and there are also seperate biking/skate-skiing trails. Some of them are lit in the winter time and there's at least one candle light ski per year at Lahpam peak- southern unit.

Things are a bit more rugged, from what I remember, in Norhtern Unit. There is a cear, but cold, lake up there-I think it's called Pike Lake. I've also mountian biked around Mothy lake and camped out along Long Lake.

There are some runs that you might be interested in there as well. The southern unit has the Ice Age 50 mile run every year and the northern unit has another race that can be either a 50K or a 50mile. I was out running two weeks ago, doing a 10 miler, when I met up with a guy who looked like he was geared for something a bit longer. I aksed him how far he was going, since we were both about the same pace, and he said it was just a 25 mile training run in -preperation for the, upcoming, 50 mile off road race! I guess the race lasts so long they have to start in the dark so they can finsh at a normal hour.rofl

There's also some nice camping, and even a bit of backpacking, to be done there as well.

Jon

Wisconsin Though 5 Billion Years of Change
Byron Crowns
published by Wisonsin Earth Science Center
Wisconsin Rapids Wis.
~300 pages

One of my Fav reads summs it up with ref to more indepth
nicely illistrated too.

I shot a really nice carp out of Crooked lake last year, but the vis was not the best...perhaps earlier in the spring, it would have been better. I also saw a lot of nice small mouth, a couple of walleye & some smaller perch. Again, vis was not the best.

Here is a photo of the one I got.

Gene