Lake Five Estates Area

“BUG LINE” TRAIL (WAUKESHA COUNTY PARKS)

A level, surfaced trail for walking, biking or skiing starts in the Village of Menomonee Falls and meanders 12.2 miles in an easterly direction through Lannon, Lisbon and Sussex, ending in the Village of Merton. Except for a small stretch in Sussex (between Waukesha Avenue and Silver Spring Drive), the trail is continuous; a planned extension from Merton to North Lake along the Bark River will be built over the next few years. View a map of the trail here, the Google mapping tool for the Sussex area here and some Waukesha County Park details here; use your web viewer “back” key to return to this page.

The trail was built the Waukesha County Parks System in the late 1970’s on the base of the old railroad tracks that were laid down in 1890 by the Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls & Western Railroad. The railroad ran from West Granville in North-west Milwaukee out to Sussex to serve a number of the Lannon quarries in the area for the limestone. Over the next few years, the railroad was extended west to Merton and North Lake and became part of the Milwaukee Road Railroad. From the very beginning, it was called the "Bug Line". The Milwaukee Road Railroad abandoned the property in 1978, when it was purchased by the Waukesha County Parks System and transformed into the "Bug Line" trail.

An April 1897 mention of the Bug Line is made on the extensive Sussex-Lisbon Area Historical Society web page; it's listed as part of the Milwaukee, Menomonee Falls & Superior Railroad. A railway hobbyist in Florida also has a web page of his working model of the railroad as it was in the 1950's – while a little disorganized; it's a very nice view of some of the hard-to-find history.

Enjoy your walk, bike ride or “langlauf” Ski time!

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Page updated: Saturday, August 06, 2005