Lakes of Madison Wisconsin Lake Art Barrel End

Personalize your Lake Art sign with a red star to remember those great times!

To orient oneself with Madison’s waterways, it helps to understand how the lakes relate to one another. They’re primarily fed by the Yahara River—which starts northwest of Morrisonville, passes through DeForest and Windsor and feeds Cherokee Lake before reaching Lake Mendota in the town of Westport. After flowing through lakes Mendota, Monona, Waubesa and Kegonsa, the Yahara meets the Rock River north of Janesville. That’s essentially the Yahara Watershed. This group of 4 lakes is a recreational paradise for residents of Madison. Each one offers its own set of opportunities to enjoy the water and the parks. Madison is known for its abundance of public green space — in fact, 13.5% of the city is parkland. And the parks department, with some 5,000 acres to manage, is Madison's largest landowner. Madison parks stack up well against those in other cities, too. The Land for Public Trust ranked Madison's parks 10th in 2016, ninth in 2017 and 12th last year among park systems in the 100 largest U.S. cities.