Great trails crisscross Roche-A-Cri park

Roche-A-Cri rises 300 feet above the surrounding plain.

A 300-foot rock formation, ancient petroglyphs, a wooded creek, and more await at Wisconsin’s Roche-A-Cri State Park.

The state park sits off of Wis. Hwy. 13 north of Adams-Friendship in the Central Sands region. During the last ice age, the region was under Glacial Lake Wisconsin, which when it drained away created the Wisconsin Dells’ fascinating sandstone features to the south.

Roche-A-Cri’s six day hiking trails include:
• Acorn Trail – The park’s longest trail at a meandering 3.5-miles, the mowed trail circles the Roche-A-Cri formation. A segment of it crosses a restored oak and pine barrens at the park’s southern entrance off Czech Avenue.
• Chickadee Rock Nature Trail – The 0.34-mile wheelchair-accessible trail runs past oaks, jack pines and blueberry and huckleberry bushes to Chickadee Rock, a 30-foot high formation. You can extend the hike via the connecting Acorn Trail. A parking lot for the trail sits off the park road.
• Eagle Ridge Trail – From the historical marker off the park road (with a parking lot at the trailhead), the trail heads 0.35 miles to the Acorn Trail. The marker notes Roche-A-Cri’s place on the National Register of Historic Places because of the formation’s petroglyphs and pictographs.
• Mound Trail (and Stairway) – At 0.3-miles, the route connects to the Acorn Trail while the Stairway on its heads to the top of the 300-foot Roche-A-Cri formation. It can be accessed via the park road with a parking lot at the Stairway.
• Spring Peeper Trail – Day hikers can enjoy a 0.25-mile walk through a maple and oak woods along Carter Creek; among the seasonal sights are cardinal flowers, dragonflies, marsh marigolds, nesting birds, spring peeper frogs, swallowtail butterflies, and turk’s-cap lilies. The trail starts next to the park office and links with the Acorn Trail.
• Turkey Vulture Trail – The 0.9-mile loop heads through both creekside forest and a restored prairie as turkey vultures and raptors fly overhead. Reaching it requires taking the Acron Trail; the shortest way is via the park’s southern entrance.

Stairway scales 30-story Wisconsin rock

Roche-A-Cri rises 300 feet above the Adams County plains.

Roche-A-Cri Stairway map.
Click for larger version

Day hikers can head to to the top of a 300-foot-high half-billion-year-old rock formation at Wisconsin’s Roche-A-Cri State Park.

The 0.12-mile round trip Stairway trail heads 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.

To reach the trailhead, 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.

Ancient river sediment
The 303-step stairway and observation deck, both built in 1992-94 by Wisconsin Conservation Corps with the deck redone in 2011, are wide enough to walk up hand-in-hand. The stairs is shaded most of the way.

Roche-A-Cri formed when meandering ancient rivers during the Cambrian, creating a braided pattern as heading out to sea, deposited sediment across a vast area. The buried sediment then hardened into sandstone. Over the eons, erosion of that continuous sheet of sandstone have left only several butte-like formations such as Quincy Bluff, Lone Rock and Roche-A-Cri in the region.

About 18,000 years ago during the last Ice Age, trapped water formed Glacial Lake Wisconsin on the Adams County plains. Its waves helped shaped the sides of these sandstone islands so that they appear castle-like today. Roche-A-Chi would have sat near the center of the lake, which could be seen from space, as it was about the size of today’s Great Salt Lake.

Early French explorers gave the formation the name we use today, which literally translates to “rock scream.” (Some books and websites often wrongly claim the name means “crevice in the rock,” for the formation’s large cleft that can be seen a distance.) The name probably refers to the shrieking hawks that nest on the formation’s rocky prominences.

Roche-A-Cri's top
The observation deck at Roche-A-Chi’s top offers spectacular views of other late Cambrian sandstone bluffs and towers rising from the green plain. To the south is Rattlesnake Mound and to the east is Pilot Knob Bluff.

A forest of red, black and white oak with red, white and jack pine sits atop Roche-A-Chi. Plants common in the sand barrens and prairie below also grow here, their seeds blown high by the wind. Turkey vultures roost atop the the high mound.

Because of the top’s sensitive environment, always stay on the stairs and observation deck. No pets, food or beverages (other than water) are allowed at the top. If there’s ice or snow on the stairs, stay off them; it’s a long way down should you slip.

If afraid of heights or unable to take 30 stories of stairs, instead opt for the flat 0.3-mile Mound Trail heading west from the rock formation’s base. The Mound Trail offers great ground views of Roche-A-Chi. The walk can be extended, as it connects to the Acorn and the Eastern Ridge trails.

Trail crosses re-created Wisconsin prairie

Restored prairie in autumn at Wisconsin's Roche-A-Cri State Park.

Acorn Trail segment and Turkey Vulture
Trail map. Click for larger version.

Day hikers can explore a restored oak savannah at Wisconsin’s Roche-A-Cri State Park.

Segments of the Acorn Trail and the entire Turkey Vulture Trail can be combined into a pleasant 1.2-mile walk. Both trails sit on the park’s south side.

To reach the trailhead, from Adams-Friendship, drive north on Wis. Hwy. 13. Turn left/west onto Czech Avenue. In 0.2 miles is a parking lot on the road’s right/north side. The mowed Acorn Trail heads into the savannah from the lot’s north side.

The oak savannah – grasslands with the occasional oak tree – at one time was common in this part of Adams County. Many savannahs were converted to farm fields or became forests when settlers, to protect their homesteads, extinguished the prairie fires necessary to sustain the grasslands.

Oak savannah
This section of the park is just one of two in the vicinity being stored to prairie; another is in a state natural area east of Roche-A-Cri. In both cases, native prairie seeds obtained from the Bureau of Endangered Resource sites and a nursery as well as collected from nearby existing savannahs were planted.

A little more than 200 feet into the hike, take the spur heading left/west to a tree and clump of bushes. Along the way, common prairie grasses – including big bluestem, Indian grass, June grass, and little bluestem – will be easy to spot.

Quite a few forbs also can be spotted amid the grasses. Among them are bergamot, black-eyed Susans, blazing star, butterfly weed, dotted mint, goldenrods, lupine, sky blue asters, round-headed bush clover, spiderworts, thimbleweed and yellow coneflower.

Such plants make a great habitat for grassland songbirds, various insects and reptiles, and game birds such as grouse and ring-necked pheasants.

Follow the spur back to the main trail and go left/north on it. Immediately after intersecting with the looping Turkey Vulture Trail, the Acorn Trail enters the pine, oak and maple woods surrounding Carter Creek. The contrast with the prairie aptly demonstrates the differences between the two, as almost entirely different plants reside in each ecosystem.

Turkey Vulture Trail
Once in the woodline, turn right/east onto the northern trailhead for the Turkey Vulture Trail. If you don’t make the turn and continue north, you’ll cross the meandering Carter Creek and junction with the Spring Peeper Trail.

The Turkey Vulture Trail is a great place to watch the vultures soaring between Roche-A-Cri to the north and Friendship Mound, a mere half-mile to the south. The large birds – which boast a wingspan of 63-72 inches and grow 24-32 inches long – summer in Wisconsin, where they feed on carrion. The best time to spot the vultures is between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., when they are most active.

After paralleling Carter Creek, the Turkey Vulture Trail curls away from it and re-enters the prairie before rejoining the Acorn Trail. Once at the Acorn, turn left/south and return to the parking lot.

Overall, the Turkey Vulture Trail runs 0.9 miles while the Acorn Trail segment with the spur runs a total of 0.3 miles.

A hazard of this trail is that it’s not always open. During spring, prescribed burns remove brush, dead grasses and leaves, which helps the savannah grasses and plants re-establish themselves. They’re able to grow back because their root systems and seeds are protected in the soils.