Southcentral Wisconsin's top fall hikes, Pt. 2

Blue Mound State Park, Wisconsin

There’s no better way to experience autumn colors around southcentral 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 southcentral Wisconsin to hike. Some are right out your back door, while some are a day trip that you can do in an afternoon.

Iowa County
A walk through a maple-oak forest that blazes with color each autumn awaits day hikers at Blue Mound State Park. The 1.5-mile Flint Rock Nature Trail loops up and down Blue Mound’s side as well as around and over large rocks. It ends near an observation tower that hikers can go to the top of. During September and October, hikers will be delighted by the array of autumn colors here – the yellow, orange and red hues of sugar maple as temperatures cool, the amber of basswood, the deep crimson of the red oaks, the russet of white oak, and the gold of shagbark hickory. From County Road ID in Blue Mounds head north on Mounds Park Road (maps sometimes refer to it as Mounds Road). Follow the road to the beginning of where it circles back on itself. Park in the small roadside lot on the circle’s northwest side. From there, walk west along the roadside for a little more than 100 feet to the trailhead, which goes north into the woods.

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Fall colors light up the trail to picturesque Stephens Falls in Governor Dodge State Park. The 0.5-mile round trip Stephens Falls Trail passes beneath a canopy of hardwoods before arriving at the waterfalls, which spills 20 feet over a moss-covered sandstone into a splash pool below. The hike can be extended by continuing past the falls on the Lost Canyon Trail. From Dodgeville, take U.S. Hwy. 23 north. The park entry road is on the right/east. Follow the entry road north to the Stephens Falls parking area on the right/east. Leashed dogs are allowed on the trail.

Jefferson County
An incredible vista of fall colors and farm fields await on Bald Bluff in the Kettle Moraine State Forest-Southern Unit. The steep 0.5-mile (one way) Bald Bluff Nature Trail heads to the summit, which at 1050 feet is one of Jefferson County’s highest points. You can extend the hike by walking another 2.9 miles (one way) to the Stone Elephant, an eratic that looks a lot like an elephant’s head. From Palmyra, take County Road H south. A parking lot is on the road’s left/east side.

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Day hikers can see a variety of autumn colors common to southern Wisconsin on the rugged Orange Loop in Kettle Moraine State Forest’s Southern Unit. The 6-mile loop heads up and down glacial geography through a hardwood forest. Part of the Emma Carlin trail system, it’s just one small sample of the more than 300 miles of trails spread across 30,000 acres in the state forest. Fall leaves range from the reds of black cherry and golds of quaking aspen to the cinnamon of northern red and yellow of white oaks. The trees all make up a classic southern dry-mesic forest. From Palmyra take Wis. Hwy. 59 east. Turn right/south onto County Road Z/Little Prairie Road. In just under a mile is a parking lot on the road’s right/west side. From the lot, go left/southeast on the trail.

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Great autumn colors await at historic Tivoli Island Natural Park in Watertown. About 0.25 miles of paths cross the heavily wooded island, located on the Rock River. Since the 1870s, the island has served as a recreation getaway for local residents. Today, wood chip paths maintained by the local Izaak Walton League pass beneath oak, maple, and ash trees. From downtown Watertown, take Wis. Hwy. 16/East Main Street east. Turn right/south on Tivoli Drive. Park along the street. A footbridge crosses to the island.

Lafayette County
Ridgetop views, an oak woods, and prairie grasses await hikers on the Windy Ridge Trail at Yellowstone State Park. The 1.7-mile trail passes through an oak grove, where leaves shine tan, red and brown overhead and oodles of acorns crunch underfoot. From Darlington, take County Road F northeast. Turn right/southeast onto N. Lake Road. Go left/northeast on the road leading tot he campground and park int the lot past the turnoff to the campground. Walk the road south back toward the turnoff; the trailhead is on the road’s left side.

Rock County
Hikers can see unique sandstone rock formations in an oak-dominated forest at Magnolia Bluff County Park. A 1-mile looping nature trail heads along the limestone and sandstone bluff, the county’s second highest point. Autumn is colorful in the forest of black, red and white oak, shagbark and bitternut hickories, American and slippery elms, black cherry, red and sugar maples, white ash, basswood, hackberry, aspen, white birch, black walnut, and butternut. From Evansville, go south on Wis. Hwy. 59 then left/south on North Croak Road. Enter the park by turning left/east and park in the lot where the road ends. Head straight-west from the lot and follow the loop south.

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A plethora of autumn colors await at the Rotary Botanical Gardens in Janesville. More than a half mile of trails wind through the 20-acre site, where 4000 varieties of plants grow in 26 garden styles. The best sections in autumn include the North Woodland Path, which runs by a pond, and the woodland walk and woodland glen areas. From the intersection of Interstate 90 and U.S. Bus. Hwy. 14, take the latter northwest. Turn left/southwest onto Palmer Drive. The botanical gardens are on the right/north.

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Beautiful views of the Rock River amid a canopy of yellow and orange leaves awaits hikers at Big Hill Park in Beloit. The 190-acre park sits on bluffs overlooking the river. A great route is the 1.9-mile round trip unnamed trail that runs through the park's south side then turns north with the Rock River below and ends at a parking lot on the Big Hill's northeast side. From downtown Beloit, take Sixth Street/South Afton Road north. Turn right/east onto West Big Hill Road then left/north onto Big Hill Drive. Park at the environmental education center and walk south alongside Bill Hill Drive; the trailhead is on the road's left/east side.

Sauk County
Mix fascinating rock formations, a clear blue lake, and fall colors, and you’ve got a recipe for an awesome hike. Devil’s Lake State Park serves up this dish on the 2.6-miles round trip East Bluff-East Bluff Woods Loop. September and October is gorgeous as harvest leaves frame the trail and neighboring Devil’s Lake. East Bluff Wood features maples and oaks with some sumac and birch mixed in. From Baraboo take Wis. Hwy. 113 south. Enter Devil’s Lake State Park by turning right/west on County Road DL. Follow it past two junctions – one for the campgrounds and the other with Old Lake Road – then turn left/south onto Park Road. Cross the road that leads to the park headquarters. Pass through the first parking lot and use the second one. The trailhead leaves from the east side of road just after it exits the second lot’s south side.

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A variety of autumn colors can be enjoyed at Ferry Bluff State Natural Area near Sauk City. The bluff rises 300 feet above the confluence of the Wisconsin River and Honey Creek. Two trails head from the parking lot, one to an overlook at 0.76 miles round trip and one to the river at 0.52 miles round trip. Along the way, you’ll traverse the bluff’s wooded slopes, covered in yellow-leaved white oak, scarlet to orange-colored red oak, amber basswood, hackberry, elm, and ironwood, and green hickory. From Sauk City, take U.S. Hwy. 12 west. Turn left/southwest onto Wis. Hwy. 60 then right/southeast onto Ferry Bluff Road.

Wisconsin hike heads through green ravine

A rock outcropping along the Rocky Arbor Nature Trail.

Rocky Arbor Nature Trail map.
Click for larger version.

Day hikers can walk through a verdant gorge formed when water from an ancient glacial lake flashflooded through the area.

The 0.75-mile Rocky Arbor Nature Trail runs through a dalles – a French word meaning “ravine” or “vale,” from which Wisconsin Dells derives its name because they are numerous along this stretch of the Wisconsin River. The lollipop trail is the only hike available in tiny but beautiful Rocky Arbor State Park.

To reach the trail, from Wisconsin Dells take U.S. Hwy 12 north. About two miles out of town, turn left/west into the park. When the entrance road splits to the campground, go straight into the parking lot. Take the trail heading southwest from the lot. When the trail splits, go straight/southwest.

Ice Age ravine
The first third or so of the trail runs between a creek and rocky ledges that soar about five stories high. The rock outcroppings line the creek’s other side as well. By far this is the best portion of the trail – and not only visually. The rocks and creek mean cooler temperatures there, and virtually no noise, a real contrast to the busy Wisconsin Dells resorts just up the road.

The ravine formed about 10,000 years ago when Glacial Lake Wisconsin to the north broke through the weak moraine holding it in place, sending about 21 trillion gallons of water barrelling down the Wisconsin River. The floodwaters sliced out whole swaths of weak sandstone – some wide as with this ravine, others narrower such as Witches Gulch to the north – along the river and its tributaries.

The rocky sandstone cliffs were set down some 500 million years ago when this part of the world was a beach at the edge of a vast tropical sea. The wind formed sand dunes that over the eons were buried and solidified into rock.

Today, the gorge is a mixed pine forest with an understory of shrubs, ferns and grasses. With the stream, the gorge attracts white-tailed deer, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks and bats.

Clifftop walk
About 0.2 miles in, the trail loops back, and you head along the top of the rocky cliffs you just passed the base of. Highway noise from the nearby interstate picks up here.

Before reaching the route’s north side is a spur; this part of the nature trail connects to the campground. Unless camping, you can skip that portion of the hike as there are no rock ledges to see on it.

The trail meanders to two other high formations then descends back to the stem. Once there, turn left/northeast to the parking lot.

During summer, insect repellent is a must on the trail.

Trail crosses historic Wisconsin battle site

In 1832, a major battle in the American Indian Wars was fought near
this wayside marker and trail.

Wisconsin Heights Trail map.
Click map for larger version.

Day hikers can walk the Midwest’s only intact battleground from the American Indian Wars via a trail in the Lower Wisconsin State Riverway.

The 1.3-mile Wisconsin Heights Trail sits in the riverway’s Black Hawk Unit. Four stacked loops crisscross the battlegrounds at Black Ridge. The route described here uses legs of each stacked loop to circle the site.

From Sauk City, take U.S. Hwy. 12 southeast. Turn left/southwest onto Wis. Hwy. 78. After crossing County Road Y, miles, take the next right/southeast into horseshoe drive where you can park.

A state historical marker next to the trailhead commemorates the Black Hawk War battle. Going northeast onto the trail takes you along the battleground’s northwest edge. A few feet from the parking lot is another historical marker, erected in 1923, to commemorate the site.

In 1804, a treaty required the Sauk and Fox Indians to abandon their homeland in Indiana and Illinois and relocate west of the Mississippi River. Some tribal leaders, among them Chief Black Hawk, disputed the treaty’s legitimacy. Beginning in 1830, he led warriors and his followers into Illinois to reclaim their land.

Militia mobilized
At 0.2 miles, the trail reaches the junction with a second stacked loop in the battleground’s northeast corner. Go on it by heading left/northeast.

Militia in Michigan Territory (which included Wisconsin) and Illinois were mobilized in 1832 to remove Black Hawk’s band. A number of skirmishes followed, and the militia with its Ho Chunk allies chased the band toward the Wisconsin River.

With the militia in close pursuit, Black Hawk set up line at the northern end of this ridge to give about 700 children, women and elderly from the two tribes time to escape to safety by crossing the nearby Wisconsin River.

The trail next returns to the first stacked loop, though a little farther along it then when you had departed earlier, at 0.7 miles. Turn left/southwest.

At 0.8 miles, the trail reaches the third stacked loop. Go left/southwest onto it.

Attack!
The task facing Black Hawk’s warriors was daunting. He had a mere 50-80 warriors while the militia numbered between 600-750 soldiers.

At 0.9 miles, the trail comes to the fourth stacked loop. Head right/southeast. Another junction appears within a few feet. continue straight-right/southeast.

This puts you on a spur trail that heads to heads along the top of the north ridge. You’re at just under 820 feet elevation.

On July 21, 1832, the warriors established themselves on the ridge’s high ground. As the militia moved to take the ridge, the warriors approached them. When just 30 yards from one another, the militia opened fire. Black Hawk told his warriors to "stand their ground and never yield it to the enemy." His men returned fire.

The trail stops at 1 mile. There are five Native American burial mounds here, though they are unrelated to the battle. After taking in the sights, turn back.

River escape
A half-hour later, the militia charged with bayonets. Black Hawk’s men fired back as withdrawing. Mounted militia, however, had cut off their escape route. The few remaining warriors, including Black Hawk, scattered into the woods.

Still, that was enough time for the civilians in Black Hawk’s band to make it across the Wisconsin River in rafts.

At the next two junctions, continue straight/northwest. You’re now on the leg shared by the third and fourth stacked loops.

Black Hawk lost an estimated 40 warriors in the battle while the militia saw one dead and seven wounded. Though a devastating blow to Black Hawk, his leadership and the warrior’s sacrifice have long been hailed, as the band certainly would have been massacred when the militia caught up with it. Indeed, a mere week later at the Battle of Bad Axe, the militia did just that as it caught up with Black Hawk’s band as it tried to cross the Mississippi River.

At 1.2 miles, the third and fourth stacked loops separate. Go left/northwest. This heads back to the parking lot.

McGilvra Woods home to rare wildflowers

Cuckoo-flower is very rare in Wisconsin but grows in the McGilvra Woods.

McGilvra Woods topo map.
Click map for larger version.

Day hikers can enjoy a number of wildflowers – including a couple of rare ones – at Wisconsin’s McGilvra Woods State Natural Area.

There are no real trails there – the one leaving from the parking lot peters out about 20 yards into the woods – so this definitely is a bushwhacking hike. Fortunately, the forest floor is open, making that easy. To avoid damaging any plants, try to locate and stay on deer trails running through the 72-acre site.

To reach the natural area, from Baraboo take County Road W west. Turn right/north onto Fairview Road. Drive until the woods ends then turn right/east into a small parking lot.

Sugar maple and basswood dominate the forest, and make an impressive sight in autumn. The tree bases show many above-ground roots, as the topsoil here is shallow. This makes for little underbrush, an ideal condition for several spring flowers.

First flowers
In early spring, the forest floor bears a good display of trout lily. Also known as yellow dog-tooth violet, the trout lily is a striking albeit common flower. On each stalk is a hanging yellow flower, about an inch wide, with three petals and three petal-like sepals that curve backward. If you spot this plant but no flower in spring, don’t be surprised if you still see no flower the next year; it sometimes needs up to seven years to mature enough to bloom. It is found in a majority of Wisconsin counties but more commonly in the southern half of the state.

Another early wildflower bloom each spring is the sharp-lobed hepatica. It keeps its leaves through the winter and when spring arrives quickly blooms before the trees above it have a chance to grow leaves that shade it out. Its flowers consist of five to nine petal-like sepals that range from pale blue to lavender, pink or white. Each flower is just a half-inch to an inch wide. Sharp-lobed hepatica grows across Wisconsin but is more common in the southern half; its cousin, the round-lobed hepatica, is more common in the northern half.

Cut-leaved toothwort blooms early in spring before the leaves in the tree canopy can grow large enough to block sunlight. Each white or pale lavender flower has four petals and is a mere half-inch across. The flowers grow in groups of three to 15 per stem. The plant hosts the Checkered White butterfly caterpillar.

Mid-May blooms
By mid-May, several other wildflowers have bloomed. Among them are hairy Solomon’s-seal, wood phlox, nodding trillium, Jack-in-the-pulpit, red baneberry, mayapple, wild geranium, spring-beauty, Virginia waterleaf, bellwort, and several orchids.

Hairy Solomon’s-seal is an impressive-looking plant, its leaves alternating on a long, usually upright stems. Its hanging, greenish-cream bell-shaped flowers grow in rows, typically on arching stems. The flowers last for more than a month and once pollinated yield small, blue to black grapes that are a favorite meal of birds. Able to clone itself, Solomon’s-seal often grows in clumps.

Wild blue phlox, also known as wood phlox, usually blooms around Mother’s Day. Quite fragrant, it prefers dappled sunlight. Each five-petaled purple flower is about an inch across; sometimes their color can be white or dark blue. Phlox grows across the southern Wisconsin.

Trilliums, mayapples
Blooming from spring into summer is the nodding trillium. The flower is a whorl of three wavy white petals that droops beneath the plant’s leaves. Don’t pick any part of this plant, as the leaves then may not be able to produce enough sugar and starch for a bloom to appear the following year. It’s one of seven trillium species that grows throughout Wisconsin.

Jack-in-the-pulpit blooms in spring. Its erect 2- to 3-inch long flower sits inside a green or purple hood at the top of a single stalk. American Indians cooked its below ground stem as food, so it’s sometimes referred to as Indian turnip. The plant contains calcium oxalate crystals, however, so no part of it above-ground is edible, as it causes a burning sensation in the mouth.

Red baneberry blooms in spring. Its teensy white flowers, each a mere quarter-inch wide, form a dense round cluster that can be up to three-inches wide. The flowers produce red berries that cause extreme illness if eaten. The plant grows 8-24 inches high and is common throughout Wisconsin.

Another spring wildflower in the woods is the mayapple. Its waxy white flowers consists of six to nine petals. It’s sometimes called the umbrella plant because the leaves form an umbrella shape that shades the flower. The mayapple grows in the southern half of the state.

Geraniums, merrybells
Another pretty spring wildflower here is wild geranium. Lavender to purple in color, it has heavily veined five petals about 1-2 inches wide. Colonies in natural woodland openings are formed from long-lived clones of an individual plant. Wild geranium grows all across the state.

Carolina spring-beauty blooms from April to June. Each of its half-inch wide flowers
consists of five white petals with pink-purple veins. It’s very common in New England, the Appalachians, and the Upper Peninsula. In Wisconsin, it grows mostly in the northeast, on the north side of a line from Bayfield to Door counties. McGilvra Woods definitely is south of where the flower usually is found.

Each white to light blue flower of the Virginia water-leaf blooms is tiny, a miniscule quarter- to a half-inch long, and consists of five petals fused in a bell shape. The flowers blossom in clusters. The forb grows in large mats across the woodland floor, as their underground roots shoot up through the ground and form new plants. It is found throughout Wisconsin except the state’s northern boundaries.

Large-leaved bellwort, also called merrybells, yields a drooping bell-shaped yellow flower is about 1-2 inches long with up to six petals. The long-leaved is one of two bellworts that grow in Wisconsin; four other species grow in eastern North America. Its found throughout the state.

Rare wildflowers
Two rare species thrive in McGilvra Woods as well – the cuckoo-flower and the putty-root orchid.

The cuckoo-flower blooms April through July. Its pretty white flower consists of four parts and ranges from a half-inch to an a full inch wide. The flowers usually grow in clusters on the stalk. The plant mostly grows in eastern Wisconsin but can be found in isolated spots in northern and southern parts of the state.

Putty-root orchid, also known as Adam and Eve flower, spreads underground by growing tubers that then form large colonies. Its leaves appear in late November and remain until March. By late May or early June, a flower stalk emerges. A single stalk yields several white-purplish flowers, each only a fraction of an inch across. The plant gets its name from a sticky sap that comes from its crushed tubers.

See ‘desert’ plants on Wisconsin trail

Prickly pear cactus blooms in Wisconsin around mid-June.

Spring Green Preserve Trail topo map.
Click map for larger version.

Day hikers can see cactus and lizards in the “Wisconsin Desert,” a rolling sand prairie at the Spring Green Preserve.

The 3.2-mile round trip heads through the prairie and to a blufftop vista. The 480-acre preserve is owned by The Nature Conservancy and was designated a state natural area in 1972.

To reach the trailhead, from Spring Green take Wis. Hwy. 23 north. Turn right/east onto Jones Road then left/north onto Angelo Lane. A parking lot is on the lane’s left/west side.

The first portion of trail heads across the sand prairie, a former Wisconsin River terrace that at one time was part of the original floodplain. Thanks to the dry sandy soils left behind, moisture seeps quickly into the ground, and with a southern exposure gets a lot of sun so dries out quickly.

The result is almost desert-like conditions with open sand and shifting dunes. A unique environment for Wisconsin, plants and animals rare in other parts of the state have adapted to it.

Wildflowers
Most noticeable on the sand prairie is prickly pear cactus. Common in the American Southwest, the cactus grows about 10 inches high with a spread of around three feet. Mid-June is the best time to spot its satin yellow blossoms with their orange to red centers. Flowers can reach up to three inches in width. Though each individual flower lasts but a day, a number of other buds will bloom over the course of a month.

False heather, more of a dry prairie plant than a denizen of the desert, also thrives here. Its yellow, five-parted flower measures a quarter to a third of an inch wide and blooms May-July. The narrow leaves can be scale-like with dense hairs. The shrub grows up to two feet high and is found in sandy areas of the state’s western half.

Venus’ looking-glass blossoms from May to August. Its wheel-shaped, blue-violet flowers are but a third to half of an inch wide. Though found in southwestern Wisconsin, it also grows in Mexico.

The plains snake-cotton, also known as common cotton-weed, blooms from July to September. Its white (and sometimes pink-white) flowers are tiny, growing on a woolly, branched spike with flowers in five-rowed spirals. Snake-cotton prefers dry, sun-exposed prairies and roadsides in sandy soil across much of the western half of state.

Dwarf dandelion blooms a bit earlier, from April to June. The yellow ray flower is about three-eighths of an inch wide and sits at the end of a long stalk. The plant can grow up to 16 inches tall and has a milky juice. In the state, it is found mostly in counties along the southern portion of the Wisconsin River.

While not a flower, watch for three-awn grass. It s common in dry, sandy prairies and dominates here.

Lizards, bugs and birds
Running amid these flowers, which appear more at home in the western prairie and Southwest deserts, is a lizard, the six-lined racerunner. Usually dark green, black or brown in color, it has six yellow or green-yellow stripes running from head to tail.

One of many species of whiptail lizards, the racerunner is active during the day and dines on insects. It’ll dart for cover if you approach and can reach speeds of up to 18 mph.

Several creepy-crawlies that look like they belong in the desert also reside in the sand prairie. Most of them can’t be found anywhere else in Wisconsin. Among them are the black widow, various wolf spiders, five cicada species, and eight tiger beetle species.

More akin to the prairie are the many pocket gophers. If you see a patch of open ground, blame the gopher. A few open country birds also reside here, including the dickcissel and the lark sparrow.

At about a mile, the trail ascends the bluff. This can be steep at times, as you leave the “desert” for the “mountain” forest. Once at the top, the trail curls through a woods to a vista about 24 stories above Wisconsin River Valley, which sits to the south.

After taking in the views, retrace your steps back to the parking lot. Be sure to not go off the path chasing mirages!

Trail heads to quiet beach at Wisconsin Dells

Birchcliff Beach, courtesy Amy Bayer, Flickr.

Topo map of Chapel Gorge Trail.

Chapel Gorge Trail
loops to river
near Upper Dells

Day hikers can head to a quiet beach in the gorge that makes up the Wisconsin Dells.

The Chapel Gorge Trail runs 2 miles through what may be Wisconsin’s most visited state natural area. Neighboring Wisconsin Dells is a major tourist destination, and the popular boat rides into the Dells of the Wisconsin River State Natural Area always generate pictures of the river gorge and its fantastical slot canyons, particularly Witches Gulch. The 1300-acre area is an oasis of Mother Nature in a region that is more akin to Disneyland meets P.T. Barnum.

The natural area’s cliffs are closed to rock climbing and the side canyons closed to hikers. The best way to see them is via one of the commercial boat tours. Still, one official trail does cut through the natural area, offering access to portions of the dells that most visitors don’t know even exist.

Ice Age flashfloods
To reach the hiking loop, from Wis. Hwys. 13/16/23 in downtown Wisconsin Dells, go north on River Road. After passing the Birchcliff Resort entrance road, turn left/west into a parking lot. The trail leaves from the lot’s west side.

The loop’s stem first crosses a hardwood forest then goes under a power line and back into a woods. After veering south then west, the trail splits. Go left/southwest, following a former service road.

Eventually the shaded path descends steeply down the cliff side and reaches the south side of small secluded Birchcliff Beach on the Wisconsin River. The beach marks a sandbar on a river bend.

From the beach, you can can see the sandstone cliffs to the north where the river enters The Narrows. The beautiful rock formations were formed when glacial meltwater at the end of the last ice age roared through the sandstone, which originally was sediment at the bottom of a shallow 500-million-year-old sea that hardened into rock over the eons.

Rare plants
Thanks to the range of exposure to sunlight and moisture availability, the gorge provides for a number of unique micro-ecosystems. Indeed, the cliff cudweed – a tiny aster – is found only in two places on Earth, and one of them is the gorge. Among the other rare plants are the fragrant fern, Lapland azalea, maidenhair spleenwort, round-stemmed false foxglove.

The sandy uplands above the gorge ecologically are a bit more like the rest of Wisconsin in the plant species it supports, but even here a range of forests can be found. Among them are dry oak/pine forests, an oak savanna, and a northern mesic woods that boasts hemlock, red oak and white pine.

After taking in the views, walk to the beach’s northern side and head northeast back into the woods. The trail climbs to the cliff top and at the Upper Dells swerves east.

Upon reaching the junction with the stem trail, go left/east onto it toward back to the parking lot.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Wis. trail heads into 200-feet deep gorge

Van Hise Rock near Ableman's Gorge SNA,
courtesy of Wikipedia.

Hikers can walk into Wisconsin’s ancient past through a rare 200-foot deep canyon at the Ableman’s Gorge State Natural Area.

Ableman’s Gorge Trail runs about a little less than a half-mile round-trip. The gorge stretches for nearly a mile in an L shape through this section of the famous Baraboo Hills. The state natural area is a 126-acre site.

To reach the trail, from Rock Springs, take Wis. Hwy. 136 north. Look for a small pull-off parking area next to an artesian well on the road’s side. From the parking lot, cross the highway and go left/north.

The trail runs along the cliff’s base. This leads to a former blast shelter used at a former quarry between Rock Springs and the state natural area.

In short order, the trail veers back toward the highway, passing through a wayside for Van Hise Rock. The monolithic outcropping is made entirely of the pink-purplish Baraboo quartzite.

At one time hundreds of millions of years ago, an ancient sea pounded against a cliff of quartzite here. Sediment brought by rivers from the north gradually settled at the sea bottom, lifting the waters over the cliff top. Quartzite pieces broke off and mixed with pebbles and conglomerate; all were buried beneath even more sediment at the bottom of the new, higher sea floor.

Fast forward to the end of the last ice age when the Baraboo River, swollen with melting glacial water, carved through those layers, creating the chasm.

Given the gorge’s unique geography, the plant life here is atypical of what you’d find in the surrounding area. Various ferns, the rare Allegheny-vine, the Canada Mayflower, and the Virginia water-leaf cover much of the ground. On the gorge’s north-facing slopes, a cool and moist environment support plants usually found in northern Wisconsin, including Canada yew, hemlock, mountain maple, and yellow birch.

The trail ends just as Hwy. 136 bends to the left/west. Sometimes in spring, deer trails allow you to walk further into the gorge, but by summer it’s overgrown.

There’s also a parking area on the left/southwest side of Hwy. 136 just beyond the bend. That access leads to unofficial trails that run a ways into the gorge and to the Baraboo River’s shores.

Rock climbing is prohibited along the trail and in the state natural area.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.

Hike heads across 1.75-billion-year-old rock

Devil's Lake from East Bluff, courtesy of Flickr.

Map of loop, courtesy Wisconsin DNR.

Trail passes
500 feet
above lake

Day hikers can walk atop ancient rock laid down by rivers some 1.75 billion years ago at Wisconsin’s Devil’s Lake State Park.

The 2.6-miles round trip East Bluff-East Bluff Woods Loop is best done on dry days in spring through autumn. September and October is gorgeous as harvest leaves frame the trail and neighboring Devil’s Lake. The trail does gain 500 feet of elevation.

To reach the trailhead, from Baraboo take Wis. Hwy. 113 south. Enter Devil’s Lake State Park by turning right/west on County Road DL. Follow it past two junctions – one for the campgrounds and the other with Old Lake Road – then turn left/south onto Park Road. Cross the road that leads to the park headquarters. Pass through the first parking lot and use the second one. The trailhead leaves from the east side of road just after it exits the second lot’s south side.

The trail ascends asphalt steps (0.2 miles the steps give way to a boulder stairway) up the East Bluff that forms one side of the valley holding in Devil’s Lake. Shade provides for cool temperatures at the fern-covered base, but temps rise as the trail gains elevation.

Ancient rock
Upon reaching a trail junction, go right/south, beginning the loop. Breaks in trees soon yield views of gleaming 360-acre Devil’s Lake to your right/west.

During the last ice age, the lake was part of a river of glacial meltwater flowed here, but the glaciers left sediment that plugged the ends of the valley, leaving behind the waterbody. Today, the lake is spring-fed and varies in depth from 40 to 50 feet.

At 0.4 miles from the trailhead, the trail reaches its crest. Be careful, as the uneven pathway passes some steep drop offs. The lake is about 500 feet below.

The trail crosses Precambrian Baraboo quartzite. The 1.75 billion-year-old red quartz sandstone is about 4000 feet thick in this area. For several million years, the rock was just sandstone, deposited here by braided rivers that also carried iron oxide, which gives the stone its scarlet color.

Then about 1.6 billion years ago, the sandstone was crumpled into wrinkles and folds, probably because a small continent collided with what was then the edge of North America. The heat and pressure from this folding metamorphosed the sandstone into nonporous quartzite. That ancient range, now known as the Baraboo Hills, probably rose higher than the modern day Rocky Mountains.

At 0.6 miles in, the trail zigs and zags around rocks, going by Elephant Cave and Elephant Rock, so named for their size not their shape (Though the former looks more like a divot and the latter a bison.).

East Bluff Woods segment
The trail angles left/east at 1.1 miles to connect with the East Bluff Woods Trail. You’re now at the loop’s bottom.

At 1.2 miles is the intersection with the East Bluff Woods Trail; go left/north onto it and begin the loop’s long east side. The East Bluff Trail does continue straight/east, as it forms an L-shape, but to keep distances down, save that segment of the trail for another hike.

There are no lake views from the East Bluff Woods. It’s less crowded and more peaceful, though, as it heads through a forest of maples and oaks with some sumac and birch mixed in.

The trail around the 2.1 mile mark begins to follow a steep slope as you close on your starting point. Upon reaching the access trail, go right/northwest and take it back to the parking lot.

Tip: Good hiking boots needed on trail as the quartzite can be wet and slippery.

Learn about trail guidebooks available in the Hittin’ the Trail series.