Wisconsin's 50 state parks get millions of visitors, but the state's 260 wildlife areas stay surprisingly quiet. The C.D. Besadny Fish and Wildlife Area, on the Door Peninsula between Green Bay and Lake Michigan, is one of them — more than 2,600 acres of forest, wetland, river and creek west of the small lakefront city of Kewaunee, about 35 miles from Green Bay.

Named after Carroll D. "Buzz" Besadny, a local who went on to lead the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the area was set aside in 1957 to protect the Kewaunee River, Little Scarboro Creek and the habitat around them. Today it doubles as a low-key outdoor base for hiking, fishing, paddling, hunting and even snowmobiling in winter.

Hiking options are limited in number but solid. The Riverview Trail is an easy 1.2-mile loop along the Kewaunee River that passes the Buzz Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility, an egg-collection station where salmon and trout spawning is explained on a self-guided tour. Birders should watch for winter wrens in the woods and alder flycatchers over the grasslands. For longer mileage, a section of the 48-mile Ahnapee State Trail, a well-maintained gravel rail trail linking Kewaunee with Sturgeon Bay, runs through the area — open to walkers, cyclists, cross-country skiers, snowmobilers and, from mid-April to mid-November, horse riders. It also forms part of the roughly 1,200-mile Ice Age National Scenic Trail.

Anglers get the best of both worlds here. The warm-water Kewaunee River is stocked yearly with Chinook and coho salmon plus brown and steelhead trout, while Little Scarboro Creek is a Class I brook trout stream. Boats are welcome — motorized and otherwise — though a canoe or kayak is often the easier choice, with Class II rapids upstream and slow, lazy water downstream.

The practical upside: unlike Wisconsin's state parks, wildlife areas require no vehicle admission pass. You will, however, need a Wisconsin DNR fishing licence if you're 16 or older, plus a Great Lakes salmon and trout stamp for those species. Access is straightforward — fly into Green Bay Austin Straubel International Airport, which has nonstop service to several US cities, and drive about 35 minutes through the village of Luxemburg, a pleasant stop for lunch and a stretch of the legs.

If you like your nature without crowds, this stretch of the Kewaunee River valley is a good bet — especially paired with the beaches and cliffs of the Door Peninsula nearby.