Fall trails abound in central Wisconsin, Part I

Roche-A-Cri State Park

There’s no better way to experience autumn colors around central

Wisconsin than a hike.

The brilliant yellows, oranges and red

of maples to the scarlet and russets of oaks...the crisp, fresh autumn air and

the last warm rays of sunlight before winter arrives...the crunch of fallen leaves and acorns beneath your boots...stopping to enjoy a warm

mug of apple cider or a caramel apple pulled from your backpack – it all calls for an afternoon on the trail.

Fortunately, there are plenty of great autumn trails around central Wisconsin to hike. Some are right out your back door, while some are a day trip that

you can do in an afternoon.

Adams County
Day hikers can head to to the top of a 300-foot-high half-billion-year-old rock formation at Roche-A-Cri State Park. The 0.12-mile round trip stairway goes up the side of the prominent Roche-A-Cri formation. While short in length, the first-half is all uphill. It’s a beautiful hike in autumn when scarlet, amber and orange leaves line the forest canopy and float upon the stairs. From Adams-Friendship, take Wis. Hwy. 13 north. Turn left/west at the park entrance. Follow the park road to the opposite side of the formation, where there is a lot. A short trail leads to informative kiosks about the formation and the stairs.

Clark County
Day hikers can enjoy impressive views of the surrounding woodlands from atop a high mound on the Self-guided Interpretive Trail. The 1.94-mile trail at the Levis Mound and Trow Mound Recreational Area runs through an oak savanna, a grove of mature aspen, and historic white pine. A side trail heads up to Porky Point, a great vista for seeing autumn colors below. Fifteen stations on the nature trail point out interesting facts about local wildlife, trees and geology. From Neillsville, take Wis. Hwy. 95 south. After crossing the Black River, turn right/north onto Fisher Avenue/Columbia Road. Take the first left/west into the Levis Mound Trail Center.

Juneau County
The trail to Mill Bluff’s summit delivers a fantastic vista for viewing fall colors. Jutting 120 feet above the terrain, the blufftop allows view of forests and farmland for several miles around. The dark red leaves of northern red oak and russet of white oak nicely balance the green of jack pine, red pine, eastern white pine that dominates the bluff. The trail is short but steep – just 223 stone steps. From Interstate 94, take either Exit 48 for Oakdale and travel south on U.S. Hwy. 12 or Exit 55 at Camp Douglas and travel north to Mill Bluff State Park.

Marquette County
Day hikers can stand on extremely ancient rock 300 feet above the surrounding terrain at Observatory Hill State Natural Area. The 1.2-mile round trip Observatory Hill Trail crosses an oak savanna, where in autumn the burr oaks turn yellow-brown. The hill’s slopes are lit up with the orange-red leaves of red oak, the russet of white oak, the chartreuse of basswood, and the rich yellow of shagbark hickory. At the summit, the 1.76 billion-year-old volcanic rock offers a grand view. From Montello, take County Road F south. Turn straight-left/south on 14th Road then left/south on 13th Road and lastly straight-left/east on Gillette Avenue. The parking lot is on the road’s left/north side.

Wood County
Leaves aren’t the only things of beauty descending from the sky in autumn. Migratory birds make their way south through Wisconsin, and one of the best places to see them is at the Sandhill State Wildlife Area. The 7-mile round trip Swamp Buck Hiking Trail heads past a few of their rest stops and then to the summit of North Bluff. An observation tower there offers a sweeping view of the pine and russet-leaved oaks common to the central sandy plain. You’ll also see in flight, flocks of sandhill cranes, herons, geese, teal and wood ducks. From Babcock, take Wis. Hwy. 80/173 southwest. Turn right/north on County Road X then left/west into the wildlife area. The gravel Trumpeter Trail heads north from it. Park in a pullout about a mile from the entry when the road bends west to north. The trail heads southwest from the pullout.

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Orange-gold to yellow oaks and crimson red maples await day hikers at Hamus Nature Preserve and Recreation Area in Marshfield. Some of the trees on the 32-acre site are 150-plus years old. A 0.9-mile trail – a combination of the Swamp White Oak and the Whitetail trails – passes a pond and circles the heavily wooded property. Along the way you’ll pass a large swamp white oak tree. Other paths – the Fox Run and Boardwalk trails – head to a large red maple tree in the forest’s interior. From Wis. Hwy. 97 in Marshfield, go west onto Northridge Street then right/north onto Hamus Drive. When the street curves east, it becomes Wilderness View Drive. Turn left/north into the nature preserve. Parking is at the road’s end.

Ice Age Trail segment passes Muir’s home

Naturalist John Muir played in the area preserved by Wisconsin's
John Muir County Park.

John Muir County Park Segment map. Click for larger version.

Day hikers can walk through the boyhood playground of John Muir – the father of our national parks and founder of the Sierra Club – at Wisconsin’s John Muir County Park.

The John Muir Park Segment makes up a 1.4-mile loop in the the Ice Age National Scenic Trail’s eastern bifurcation. As circling Ennis Lake, it rambles through a number of ecosystems shaped by the glacier that covered this region a mere 12,000 years ago.

Muir immigrated from Scotland to Wisconsin’s Marquette County when he was 11, and there he developed his love for the region’s fens and oak savannas. His efforts directly led to the creation of Yosemite and Sequoia national parks in California and inspired millions of others to work toward preservation of other natural wonders throughout the United States and across the world.

To reach the park, from Adams-Friendship take Wis. Hwy. 13 south. Go left/east on Wis. Hwy. 82. Once in Montello, turn right/south on Wis. Hwy. 22 then right/southwest onto County Hwy. F (also known as Fox River Road). After driving a few miles, an entry road to the park is on the left/east side. Park in the first lot on the left/north side of the park entrance road. From the parking lot, head north onto the Ice Age Trail.

Wisconsin fen
The first stretch offers an excellent view of the prairie landscape created when a massive glacier leveled and covered this region during the last ice age. Ennis Lake also is a remnant of that time. When the Green Bay Lobe retreated, it left behind a massive pile of gravel and sand insulating an ice block buried beneath it; as the ice depressed the ground and melted, the sediment floated to the lake bottom.

As rounding Ennis Lake’s north side, the trail passes a wet-mesic prairie on its right/south side. The soil of a mesic prairie generally is more moist than that of a traditional flat grasslands. This mesic prairie is a remnant of the landscape that existed before settlers plowed under the surrounding region into fields.

When the trail curves to the lake’s east side, a fen appears alongside the waterbody. Fens, which often occur on glacial terrain, feature saturated soils fed by mineralized groundwater. Such conditions allow plants, not usually seen elsewhere, to grow. At the county park, that includes unique sedges and Kalm’s lobelia.

Muir's childhood stream
On the lake’s east side, the trail crosses a small stream via the Muir View Bridge. The Muir family homestead was located upstream, to the northeast, past the sedge meadow. Biographers believe this stream is the one Muir wrote about in his “Stories of My Boyhood and Youth.” Time he spent on this stream sparked his desire to preserve land simply so its beauty could be enjoyed.

A sedge meadow rather than a fen surrounds the lake’s southeast side. Tussock and hummock sedges grow here, as do red-osier dogwood, a favorite food of white-tailed deer. The soil in a sedge meadows is peaty and mucky, almost always saturated but usually not covered by water.

While the sedge meadow hugs the lake, to the trail’s left stands an oak barrens, common in central Wisconsin. Along the side south of the lake is a hill; the trail follows an ancient shoreline when the lake was higher.

The oak thickens into a woodlands on the lake’s southwest side then curls away from it and around another fen. It then heads across a playing field before reaching to park entrance road and the parking lot.