Bender Park

If your into boating, and associated water sports, this is the place to unload your truck. This park is small. should really be labeled as boat launch with a beach.
However, it does give relief to the monotony of city life. Nice place to bring the kids for beach time, and fishing to!
Excellent view of the we energies power plants. lol
Really though, nice little park for a nice little break.

If you can ignore the industrial stacks that rise just south of the park you are in for a treat.
I’m always looking for great places to a) get a quick nature fix to help me make it through the work week – even though I live in the city I am NOT a city gal at heart, and b) to give m dog some good exercise away from sidewalks/​town streets.
Bender has some absolutely beautiful trails on top of the bluff. As far as I can tell, almost everyone who uses the park heads to the beach and stays there. Great. More trails for me – and for you. And our dogs. Just to clarify, my hubby and I have seen people on the trails exactly TWICE in an entire summer of walking at the park.
The trails are not challenging – they are mostly level bluff-​top trails, unpaved, thank god, and they go across the bluff, around a big meadow, and through the woods. If you want real exercise, go around a couple of times or climb down/​up the bluff. You CAN park at the beach and climb up the hill for extra effort – just don’t look down if you’re like me an get vertigo at the drop of a hat (like the climb, hate noticing where
I am in terms of space versus the ground).
Park at the first big dirt lot you see on your left when you enter the park, and then find either the wooden bridge or the grassy path near the lot to get started. Either way, you’ll get forest and bluff. Enjoy! If you have older loved ones who like a nice natural/​unpaved trail but can’t handle the kettles, this would be a beautiful place to take them.

Did you know this place existed? I didn’t up until a couple of years ago. If I’m not mistaken, this is one of the newer parks on the county roster. It has a brand new pavilion, boat slips and launch and a small beach that is always conspicuously devoid of swimmers. My favorite part of the park is the information about a shipwreck just off shore. Kind of makes me think of The Fog, although there were no wealthy gentlemen suffering from leprosy aboard The Lumberman. The park seems to be really popular with hikers and dog walkers, and there is a really great view of the lake from atop the bluffs. One should be wary of the douchebags that like to use the parking lot as their own personal motor sports playground. I’ve seen a dozen idiots on motorcycles doing doughnuts in the lot and some moron tearing up the hill with his 4wD truck. Some people really know how to ruin a good thing. I haven’t had a chance to hike through here yet, but according to the map there are some wetlands scattered though the prairie in the upper part of the park. Definitely worth a look if you are sick of the other, more crowded lakefront parks in the area.

I love this park. For a park outside the Milwaukee city limits, Bender Park really has some of the most awesome views from atop the bluffs. Seeing the sun rise across the lake, or set behind the bluffs is a not to be missed experience.
The county has shored up the banks in this locale with some really huge boulders that are great places for kids to climb around, but if you stumble on them, can create some serious damage. I have the scar on my shin to show for a misstep on those slippery rocks. But for the available view, it’s worth it.
I like the area around the boat launch here, it’s very serene despite the small beach and the boat slip area, both of which can be busy on those gorgeous spring, summer days. All the times I’ve been to Bender, it’s been a comfortable-​busy, never a crowd that has you afraid to turn around for fear you’ll have to dodge elbows or flying beach furniture. Even the pavilion crowds are of a manageable size.