Land

Wisconsin can be divided into four main geographical regions, each covering roughly one-quarter of the state's land area. Superior Upland, below Lake Superior is the most highly elevated area of Wisconsin. It is characterized by heavily forested rolling hills but no high mountains. Elevations range from about 700 ft (200 m) to slightly under 2,000 ft (600 m). A second upland region is called the Driftless Area. This has a more rugged terrain, largely untouched by the glacial drifts that smoothed out topographical features in other parts of the state. Elevations here reach more than 1,200 ft (400 m). The third region is a large, crescent-shaped plain in central Wisconsin. The unglaciated portion is sandstone plain, broken by rock formations that from a distance appear similar to the buttes and mesas of Colorado.

Finally, in the east and southeast along Lake Michigan lies a large, glaciated lowland plain, fairly smooth in the Green Bay-Winnebago area but more irregular on the Door Peninsula and in the south.
The highest point of the state is Timms Hill standing at a height of 1,952 ft (595 m). The lowest elevation is 579 ft (177 m), along the Lake Michigan shoreline.
There are well over 8,000 lakes in Wisconsin. Lakes Michigan and Superior form part of the northern and eastern borders. The largest inland lake is Lake Winnebago, in eastern Wisconsin, covering an area of 215 sq mi (557 sq km).

The Mississippi River, which forms part of the border with Minnesota and the entire border with Iowa, is the main navigable river. The major river flowing through the state is the Wisconsin, which follows a south-southwest course for 430 mi (692 km) before meeting the Mississippi at the Iowa border. Big Manitou Falls at 165 ft (50 m) and located on the Black River is the highest of the state's many waterfalls.

Except in the Driftless Area, glaciation smoothed out many surface features, carved out new ones, and left deposits of rock and soil creating distinctively shaped hills and ridges