Look at the weather forecast and you can see that it's time to bring the sled back down from the rafters – or up from the basement – wax up the bottom and make sure the handles are tight.
With the snow falling one last time this winter (fingers crossed), here is a list of some of the best hills in the county – some designated, some discoveries – which are slowly yet surely getting covered with snow, children and some really big kids who haven't quite grown up yet.
You can hit the hills at any of the sledding spots listed below during the day, and then take advantage of the area parks' lighted hills if you're not quite ready to come in when the street lights come on.
Bayside Village Hall
9075 N. Regent Rd., Bayside
Brown Deer Park
7835 N. Green Bay Rd.
Calhoun Park
5400 S. Calhoun Rd., New Berlin
Gatewood Park
14201 W. Kostner Ln., New Berlin
Greene Park
4235 S. Lipton Ave., St. Francis
Hales Corners Park
5765 S. New Berlin Rd., Hales Corners
Hawthorn Glen
1130 N. 60th St.
(Hosts toboggan rentals on Saturdays; for more information, click here)
Homestead Hollow County Park
N120 W19809 Freistadt Rd., Germantown
Indigenous Peoples' Park
7301 W. Courtland Ave.
Kinderburg Park
N104 W19809 Donges Bay Rd., Germantown
Kletzsch Park
6561 N. Milwaukee River Parkway, Glendale
Lafayette Hill
Next to the tennis courts, across from McKinley Marina
LaFollette Park
9418 W. Washington St., West Allis
Lowell Park
2201 Michigan Ave., Waukesha
(Tobaggan run now open and taking registrations online.)
McCarty Park
8214 W. Cleveland Ave., West Allis
McGovern Park
5400 N. 51st Blvd.
Mee-Kwon Park
6333 W. Bonniwell Rd., Mequon
Mitchell Park
19900 River Rd., Brookfield
Mitchell Park
524 S. Layton Blvd.
Park Arthur
S63 W17833 College Ave., Muskego
Riverside Park
1500 E. Riverside Pl.
Sheridan Park
4800 S. Lake Dr., Cudahy
St. Mary's Hill
2323 N. Lake Dr.
Three Bridges Park
610 S. 35th St.
Valley View Park
5051 S. Sunnyslope Rd., New Berlin
Washington Park
1859 N. 40th Street
Wilson Recreation Park
4001 S. 20th St.
The Milwaukee County Parks provides lighting at the following sledding sites daily from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m., so don an extra layer and hit these hills before and after dark once they open for the season.
Currie Park
3535 N. Mayfair Rd., Wauwatosa
(Lit until 10 p.m.)
Humboldt Park
3000 S. Howell Ave.
Whitnall Park
5879 S. 92nd St., Franklin
Warming houses will not be available this sledding season.
For those who want to learn a little bit more about the science of sledding, check out this video from Dr. Chris Stockdale, associate professor and assistant department chair of physics at Marquette University.
And for those who want to see Clark Griswold fling himself down a hill and halfway across town on a terrifyingly fast sled, well, we'll just leave this clip here.
Tubing
Located in The Rock Complex in Franklin, 7011 S. Ballpark Drive, the Snowpark features multiple tubing lanes ready for blizzard-zipping fun no matter if there's snow in the forecast or not. The park is open weeknights from 4-8 p.m. and open throughout the weekend for two-hour tubing sessions. To purchase a pass – which includes a tube and a lift pass – fill out a waiver, reserve your time block and learn more about the hill, visit The Rock's website.
Sledding safety (from Milwaukee County Parks)
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons recommends the following safety guidelines:
Essential Safety Guidelines
- Sled only in designated areas free of fixed objects such as trees, posts and fences.
- Children in these areas must be supervised by parents or adults.
- All participants must sit in a forward-facing position, steering with their feet or a rope tied to the steering handles of the sled. No one should sled head-first down a slope.
- Do not sled on slopes that end in a street, drop off, parking lot, river or pond.
Preferred Safety Guidelines
- Children under 12 years old should sled wearing a helmet
- Wear layers of clothing for protection from injuries.
- Do not sit/slide on plastic sheets or other materials that can be pierced by objects on the ground.
- Use a sled with runners and a steering mechanism, which is safer than toboggans or snow disks.
- Sled in well-lighted areas when choosing evening activities.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.