I have to admit it.  I go nowhere near Devil’s Lake State Park on holiday weekends.  It tends to get just a bit crazy.  I’m sure if holiday weekends were my only opportunity I would, but being local it’s just much nicer to go to the park when it’s not so busy.  The photo above is from the fireworks display in Baraboo just outside the park.  This is the view from my front yard actually.

Meanwhile. . .

Drain??  People always ask if the park has a drain.  Well, no.  However as part of a restoration project a siphon was put in some time back.  It is still used now to help control the volume of the lake. Currently about 2-3 inches of water are being taken off per week.  You can see of course that if it really rains it can far overwhelm the ability to bring the water down.

Back To Nature??  Devil’s Lake is a beautiful natural area.  However "wilderness" might be over doing it.  Devil’s Lake is a very "urban" sort of park in some ways with heavy use, large public areas, it’s own law enforcement and paved trails.  You really have to get out on the periphery of the park to have your hike feel more "wild".

Questions??  Please post your questions to the forum and only comments on the blog.  The reason for this is often people are posting questions to old blog posts which I may not see.  Using the forum for questions really helps me to see them.

Webguy goes missing. . . I’m leaving for Door County on Thursday and will be gone for just over a week.  That means I will not be here to approve questions from non-registered users or answer others.  So I didn’t forget you, I’ll just be gone for a bit.

Spam! - I’m getting a bunch of SPAM registrations to the site and I have to pretty much guess if registrations are legit or not.  Most of the time the emails are obvious spam addresses from Russian account or gmail.  However, if I do delete you by mistake just send an email or leave a note in the forum.  logical user names and email addresses makes it easier for me to tell if you are real!

7 Responses to notes

1. Kari
   July 7th, 2008 at 3:37 pm

   Yes, it was very busy for the 4th. It was so peaceful during the week. We basically had the place to ourselves, until the weekend. Too bad we had some disrespectful people in the iceage area. You know who you are, 366. Very loud all night to morning. didn’t even bother to whisper, and played techno music all day. But I will do it again. I love this place.

2. chadd
   July 7th, 2008 at 11:08 pm

   Some friends and I stopped in on Sunday, and it wasn’t as busy as I’d expected.

   For a GREAT “rural / wild” trail, try hiking part of the Ice Age Trail. Leave from the ampitheater and hike towards Ice Age. After about a mile, you’ll be far away from where most people hike (bluff trails), and you’ll truly appreciate it. It’s a new personal favorite location of mine.

3. Jo
   July 11th, 2008 at 2:12 pm

   Just wanted to say thanks for all the updates - we have a family group going up in 2 weeks and everyone keeps asking about conditions, I just direct them to this site. We’ve only missed going up once in 30+ years due to the last flood (’93, I believe). It is a great place - although my husband and I love going to Peninsula in Door County.

4. tami
   July 15th, 2008 at 1:10 am

   My sister and I went the week before the holiday and left on July 5th. We also had the area to ourselves till the weekend. alot of disrespectfull ppl when it came to the weekend. However, I am hooked I will be back for another visit, the drive was worth it. If I could, I would move to wisconsin in a heartbeat. the ppl of wisconsin are blessed to live in a beautifull state.

5. admin
   July 15th, 2008 at 9:29 am

   thanks for the notes.

   - jo, it probably was ‘93.

   Midweek is always best if you want a bit of space to yourself. Better yet, Autumn!!

6. carole shern,
   July 29th, 2008 at 4:45 pm

   I was camping at your beautiful park aweek ago with my family for five days…it was awsome..you have some wild beautiful blue flowers in the park, I would like to know what they are called, and if I can purchase them at a store….I would appreciate a reply….thanks……for letting us come stay in your Park…….Carole Shern

7. Debra
   July 30th, 2008 at 4:43 pm

   Do people snorkel at the Lake? How is visibility?

   Debra