Minooka Park

Minooka park is huge! I was here last night mountain biking for the first time. They have a few different difficulty levels for biking which is nice. I tried the easy first to break it in then braved it and went for medium! Both trails offered beautiful scenery and fun twists and turns! This park also has some awesome hiking trails!

The dog park is top notch, but some of the visitors can truly be dicks so heed this bit of advice please! (I use the large dog area)
I started taking my dog here last June and he loves it, but we have a bit of a ritual. I keep him on leash until I am comfortable with the other dogs in the park. We enter slowly which is easy because of the super useful double gate system where only one can open at a time in both the exit and entrance. This prevents escapes. Then we will walk the perimeter of the park, maneuvering closer to other dogs as we encounter them. Once we have met most of the dogs and I feel comfortable with them I will allow my dog to run around freely and keep an eye on him.
The unfortunate thing is that many people bring dogs here and just let them go free while they read a book or nap on a bench. I have even had people willingly bring aggressive dogs in to socialize, and have the nerve to get mad at me when I suggest they try a training class first to deal with the aggression. I’m not sorry that I’d like to NOT take my dog to the vet for a visit you won’t pay for so I will not keep my mouth shut if you think something like that is ok.
The other thing I dislike is that some owner turn a blind eye to their dogs pooping all over the park. There is no excuse to ignore this because the park provides a ton of stands with bins and poop bags. Myself and many others I see do bring their own bags but keep an eye out while walking to prevent stepping in a mess.
Now that the negative is out of the way, seriously, this park is HUGE. There are some woody areas, hilly terrain, a flat «landing strip» that is mowed and great for catch or Frisbee. Benches all around for taking a break, bowls for general use — but bring your own water, and there are some restrooms for people as well, though primitive. The parks is stimulation overload at first, but my shy guy opened up after an hour or so, and then even more so as our visits became regular. Most of the visitors are very friendly and open and enjoy meeting and getting to know new dogs. I have a special few that I love to see myself.
Often times toys get stolen by other dogs, as evidenced by about 50 tennis balls and others strewn around the park. Don’t bring anything expensive as it may become a lost toy somewhere in the 10 or so acres. You will find it, at some point, well used and covered in dirt and slobber.
Give this park a try. Your first visit will only be $ 4 per car — though visit the county parks website to verify that the cost has not increased. For me it was worth it enough to pay $ 28 for a year long pass. My dog loves it, I love it, and that is even in the face of the few negatives brought on by poor dog owners.

I decided to try the mountain bike trials after reading reviews from a few different websites. Trials run through some fields and then into the woods. Not overalls challenging other then a few minor spots. Mostly just a a dirt trail through the woods but provides a great workout and a few surprises. Some reviews said not suitable for a 29er but I had no real problems. I was always waiting for some major challenge spots but they never materialized.
On my second loop through I was able to increase my speed.
Much better than Lapham Peak trails. I would recommend the trials and the rest of the park looked well kept and offered plenty of hiking trails.

We have a 10 month old toy poodle mix only 5 lbs. when April rolled around and Minooka opened for the year, we couldn’t wait to bring him out to the small dog park for the first time. It was opening weekend and the park was packed. Tons of people and dogs. It’s a nice park with all the right amenities. After some initial excited running and greeting other dogs, I called Teddy and we began to do some off leash heel training around the perimeter. We passed a woman in her 40’s sitting on a bench with a minpin beside her. She commented on how cute the puppy was and then said ‘get him’. To my shock, the minpin launched off the bench and ran Teddy down and started biting his face. I was horrified as she repeated this 3 times. I was finally able to call, catch my terrified and bitten dog and we left the park. Thinking she was disturbed or cruel or worse, my husband accompanied us a couple weekends later. On that occasion we were chatting with a group of nice people when a larger dog attacked Teddy, held him on his back and chewed on his stomach. The strike was so fast and so unexpected. Women screaming and running at it stopped him. I was only 10 ft away when it happened and couldn’t save him from the attack. The owner grabbed her dog up, made some excuses and kept walking. Upon returning to the group of people, they told me this dog does that every time it comes and the owner knows this but still let’s it wander the park attacking friendly dogs. This park is much closer than Nashota for me but 2 strikes Minooka and apparently some ignorant people who can’t control their dogs think it’s ok to bring them to public small dog parks instead of spending the time working with them or keeping them home for the sake of innocent dogs and puppies. A man approached me as we leaving that second time and asked about Teddy. His dog was run down and viscously attacked there last fall, he was lucky he survived it but it took a week at the vets. Not ok!

This is a great dog park with lots of room to walk, run, and play! Most other dogs and owners are very friendly. There is occasionally a rowdy dog or two but people are normally good at watching and break it up when needed. They have dog bags, garbages and bathrooms on site, as well as a big dog park and little dog park. And people go throughout the year, which is nice.

I’ve been here for cross-​country skiing and mountain biking, but the park is also used for dog walking, soccer, sledding, snow-​shoeing, geocaching and hiking. There are also picnic areas, which are great for hosting parties. The park requires a parking pass, which is either $ 25 or $ 30 a year, cannot remember.
New mountain bike trails were built here and opened last year; they include a beginner route (about 1.5 mile loop from parking lot, into woods and through a valley) and a more advanced loop with berms and log crossings (not too technical). I love riding here and come at least a few times a month. I highly recommend checking it out!

I’m reviewing primarily the dog park. I’ve frequented the rest of the park but not at length.
The dog park is the best in Milwaukee. It’s 4 bucks a car so trekking with a buddy makes it even more worthwhile.
The park has two entrances and adequate parking. Bag receptacles are always maintained and the park stays clean.
Your dog can walk through the forest like area towards the back or you can play fetch in the huge open area.
There are multiple benches throughout the park and many are placed near trees for nice shade.
I love that my dog finds new paths every time we visit, she loves to adventure through this park! Be mindful that after it rains it can get muddy in some spots.

This review is for the dog park. My eight month old Shih Tzu has an absolute blast here! It’s only $ 3 for a daily pass. The small dog area is fenced in with seven acres of off leash exercise grounds. My little guy seems intimated at parks such as Currie in Wauwatosa but here he plays with dogs his own size.
Tip: There’s an excellent Kwik Trip at 924 Fleetfoot Drive that’s good for pre-​park coffee and snacks.
Angie N.‘s review of Minooka Dog Park is really excellent.

Compared to other dog parks in the area, this one takes the cake. In fact, once you’ve visited Minooka I’m not sure you can even call the other ones «dog parks.» This part of the park was literally made for dogs, not just a park where dogs can be off-​leash.
There are two separate areas, one for small dogs and one for large dogs. The small dog area is 7 acres and the large dog area is 11 and both are completely fenced in. Small dogs are welcome to play over in the large dog side if the owner so chooses, however large dogs are not welcome in the small dog side.
They provide waste bags and generally you can find a dish or two that have been left for water (though you should bring your own water as there isn’t some where to access that near the park). Most owners who visit are extremely friendly and I’ve never witnessed any aggressive dogs or problems with fights between dogs.
There’s parking right between the two dog exercise areas so you can drive right up to the dog park. There’s benches for owners on both sides, in case you tire out before your dog does. The park charges entrance (I think it’s around $ 5) or you can purchase a yearly pass to all Waukesha County Parks for about $ 25 that gets you access to the entire park (including the dog exercise area) for the entire year. They do a great job of trying to keep the park area as mud-​free as possible so it really does serve as a year-​round play area (though I’ve never been when snow is on the ground thanks to a wuss of a pup.)
This park is really THAT good, I’ve met owners who travel quite a way to bring their dogs here, making those of us who live close by feel pretty lucky to have it in our backyards!

Dogs don’t need to die to go to heaven… they just need to go to Minooka’s Dog Exercise Area. Holy Dog Heaven!
No membership is required but a park fee is required at the entry to the main park. There are dog park rules; make sure your dog is not sick, be up-​to-​date on vaccinations, watch your dog at all times, etc etc.
There is a designated small and large dog area. Both are HUGE, we’re talking a couple of acres easily in each. With a double gated entry, doggy bags for the dogs business, garbage cans, walking trails and benches located throughout the park there wasn’t anything more I could want.
I enjoyed our off the leash walk, usually I just sit and watch them play. But this dog park is so big we walked around the whole thing checking it out, at times I’d forget we were fenced in. I enjoyed knowing they could explore anywhere and were still safe from traffic and the wide open world where they’d get lost if they bolted after a squirrel.

Minooka Park is a great size and has wonderful walking paths, well-​kept picnic shelters, and a nicely-​maintained dog park. I visit the park primarily for the dog park, but have attended Spooka Minooka, the Halloween event, as well. The price for the event was good, though the event was aimed at younger children than I expected. I still had fun though, even as an adult! The owl walk was worth it alone — we actually saw an owl!