The quartzite around Devil's Lake climbs with the Ice Age Trail underfoot until the water is a still bowl under the bluffs. The quartzite hems in the lake, and the path turns up into a loop over the top. The water drops away as you climb, then comes back under you at the rim. You sleep in the campgrounds at the foot of those walls, close enough to walk to the water after you come down.
Stay two nights if you can: the loop over the top wants a full day, and the second morning is for the water.
Book the site before the van. Devil's Lake camping opens reservations from the same day out to eleven months, and Quartzite stays open all year. Quartzite has electric if you want to run a fridge after a ridge day. Summer weekends are the crush.
Along the same north run, Mirror Lake's Sandstone Ridge electric loop is the other overnight, with Wisconsin Dells as the day. Echo Rock Trail looks over the gorge, and the boat launch is closed for construction as of September 2026.
Governor Dodge State Park near Dodgeville
You come west to Governor Dodge for steep driftless ground around two lakes and a waterfall near Dodgeville. The hollows are the day's work, steep enough to feel in your legs, and then the waterfall and the two lakes give you water between the climbs. You walk one hollow, come over a rise, and there is another stretch of lake. At night you come back to Cox Hollow or Twin Valley, the loops with electric sites.
You still lock the overnight first. Summer weekends take Cox Hollow and Twin Valley the same way they take the Devil's Lake pads, and the electric loops fill first.
Blue Mound is the quiet night, a mostly non-electric loop under the fire tower. Taliesin in Spring Green is Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio for a day above the Wisconsin River valley.
Lake Kegonsa State Park
You come southeast to Lake Kegonsa for a beach-and-boat night that stays close to Madison. You can swim and launch a boat, then walk back to the van. This is the closest state park campground to town, and it is the pad that works when you roll in late.
The Lake Kegonsa camping rules allow only one wheeled camping unit per site. If you need extra beds, look at RV rentals in Madison rather than a second vehicle in the same site.
If the trip keeps going east, Milwaukee is the next city with its own trip along the lake. Chicago is the bigger handoff south of the state line.