| Blue Mound State Park | |
| Wisconsin State Park | |
 The East Observation Tower on the Blue Mound
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| Country |  United States |
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| State |  Wisconsin |
| County | Dane |
| Location | Blue Mounds |
| - coordinates | 43°1′36″N 89°50′52″W / 43.02667°N 89.84778°W |
| Area | 1,153 acres (466.6 ha) |
| Founded | 1959 |
| Management | Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources |
| IUCN category | V - Protected Landscape/Seascape |
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Blue Mound State Park is a Wisconsin state park located atop the largest hill in the southern half of the state, near the village of Blue Mounds. The 1,153-acre (467 ha) park features a pair of observation towers affording views of the Wisconsin River valley and Baraboo Range to the north, the mounds, buttes, and rolling forests of the Driftless Area to the south and west, and the young glacial plains and city of Madison to the east. The park contains a large open field; a swimming pool (the only one in a Wisconsin State Park); shelters; campsites; and many miles of trails for hiking, biking, skiing and snowshoeing. There is a nature center by the picnic area with natural history exhibits. Naturalists offer programs in the summer.
West Blue Mound (elev. 1,716 ft (523 m)), the park's namesake, rises approximately 450 feet (140 m) above the Military Ridge. However, when viewed from several miles to the north or south, the apparent local relief becomes more like 600 to 850 feet (180 to 260 m). The hill, as most of the other large mounds of the Driftless Area, is an outlier of Niagara dolomitic limestone. It is a monadnock of sorts, having been created through centuries of erosion, with the harder dolomite being more weather-resistant than the other surrounding rock of the region.
The Military Ridge State Trail, which follows the natural east-west contour of the ridgeline from Fitchburg to Mineral Point, abuts on the southern edge of the park. The park is used as the finish line for the Horribly Hilly Hundreds bicycle challenge ride.[1]
A volunteer group, the Friends of Blue Mound State Park, is a group of volunteers working to benefit the park by enhancing and preserving its natural resources, while offering activities and projects that improve the park guests' visits. The Friends play a key role in many special events, including the annual Candle Light Ski, annual campout, trail construction and interpretive presentations.
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