Yesterday we drove about 15 miles west of Baraboo to explore the 400 Trail. The 400 is an old train track that had been converted to a bike trail in 1993. The Wisconsin 400 State Trail runs from Reedsburg, WI to Elroy in the north following the course of the Baraboo River. Along the way you pass through a few small towns spaced out just enough to provide a restroom or snack when you need one.  There are also a few picnic benches along the way. The trail is 22 miles long one way and being an old railway bed, is amazingly straight and flat. It’s perfect for folks who rarely bike or for taking younger children. Experienced biker’s can certainly do the round trip in a day with ample time to explore.

Yesterday since we had an 8 year old along we just did the first leg from Reedsburg to La Valle and back which is about 10 miles round trip. That was the perfect distance to keep him happy and interested for the most part, while still causing him to pass out almost instantly when we returned to the car. Along the crushed limestone trail we passed picturesque farmlands with classic red Wisconsin Barns, sandstone outcrops, & cool, wet forests. There were lots of bridges to cross the many hooks and bows of the Baraboo river and lots of wild life to keep us company. The deer were amazingly friendly and the only bears were wooden…

In the next few days I’ll be putting together a more detailed description along with a gallery for  WisDells.net. So keep an eye out for that.  If you plan on going be sure to take bug spray & sunscreen.  Fee: $4 for adults over 16 daily, or $20 for the year.

My Car and 2 bank clocks in Baraboo all agreed it was 102 F yesterday.  Well, of course we took off for the lake.  As we drove down South Shore Rd. the temprature began to drop.. The temp by the lake? 91 F.  Oh, how cool and refreshing!!!  Not much better today I’m afraid.

Well, it’s Tuesday and the holiday is over. Alright everybody, back on your heads!!! It’s cloudy and raining outside as I write this.. (4:30am Tuesday).  I hope you had a great weekend.  I’ve read all over that businesses were crazy all weekend but to be honest it seemed a bit more quiet than usual to me.  Of course we spent a lot of time in the woods!  On Saturday we chased down the fabled “Skillet Falls”.

The falls are located on Skillet Creek which flows through the park and then west out into the country side meandering it’s way to Pewit’s Nest, then  continuing onward until  finally joining the Baraboo River.  After a long wet hike we discovered that Skillet Falls do exist and they are beautiful. Sadly they are not quite open to the public. You can read about our adventure here.  Sunday we spent a bit of time out on the Stienke basin trail.  Lots of people, and lots of dogs. All good though.  Oh, yes and we’re going to be a Reserve America affiliate so soon it will be a bit easier to reserve a campsite here.  I think that’s it for the moment.  Have a great week!

While many will be quite impressed when they see the way nature can simply re-arrange the land, many will also be surprised they can’t actually walk into the upper section which for many is the main attraction within the glen. Right when they reach the beginning of the actual gorge, hikers will see a small sign stating simply “End of Trail”. Everything beyond that point is once again wild. Good for the glen, bad for sightseers. The high walls, giant boulders, and top waterfall are simply unreachable without going off trail. Which of course you cannot do in Parfrey’s Glen. So, will that stop the curious now that they have come that far?

In fact going off trail is, in my opinion going to be more of a problem than it has been in the past simply because the trail at times is not all that, well, visible. Yes, for the most part there is an obvious path but in some sections the trail simply disappears into washouts and mud. It’s fairly easy to see people not knowing exactly where to go, or where they should stay. One can image folks blazing their own trails or simply not respecting the glen’s unique fauna due to the lack of strong visual guidelines. One does not even want to think what the current budget situation will do to the ability to patrol the Glen regularly as it is. When you consider the potential for further human damage, it’s hard to see a good reason for opening Parfrey’s Glen at this point. I must be missing something.  Why not wait until we had a more clearly defined trail? Could we simply be opening it up before we’re ready for the sake of tourism? I hope not.

Here are some new images from Parfrey’s Glen Taken this morning

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As teenagers my friends and I took a super 8 video camera into Parfrey’s Glen to record our best spin at Monty Python humor. The glen was a perfect set, offering that amazingly over-the-top, Terry Gilliam like background that somehow made the silliness of what we were doing there seem even more bizarre. It’s hard to image there were many other kids in the Baraboo area at that time having a laugh riffing on the life and times of Norman Carter Fassett. Mr. Fasset by the way was the chairman of the Wisconsin Natural Area’s Committee from 1945 to 1950. He was the man who selected Parfrey’s Glen to be Wisconsin’s first state natural area (and who amazingly enough provided fodder for adolescent film-making years later).

That love for the park and all those hours roaming the back corners of the lands with our Super 8 brought me to later work at the park for a few summer seasons in the mid-nineties.  That bit of destiny led me back into Parfrey’s Glen in 1993 again with camera in hand, only this time to film the “once in 500 year flood” devastation that had just occurred. It was impossible to have guessed that this would just be a sign of things to come.

The shape of the glen is ideal to focus and amplify the power of flood waters pouring off the bluffs. Anything within the small gourge would be lifted, spun and re-arranged. Even boulders the size of small cars will shift. This occasional clean out has been going on for eons, yet with such apparent rarity that it seemed logical to those in charge in 1993 that any new infrastructure faced little risk of further flooding. It was decided then to not only clean up this unique spot on the southern face of the Baraboo Bluffs, but to enhance it, make it more “park-like”. Wooden walkways and bridges were added. It certainly was pretty and yes, it did help to keep people from wandering off trail (a bit). But anyone who had seen the power of the last flood knew that if another hit, all this fancy woodwork would never survive. It didn’t.

Devil’s Lake was hit again in 2000 with another flood. This time Parfrey’s survived. From then to 2008 it seemed we had regular high water problems but none with the power of the ‘93 flood. Then last year it hit. In June of 2008 the flood gates let loose and again the Glen was scoured. The Park again was under water, and even in the city of Baraboo the Wisconsin Dells Ducks were called in to save the day. Of course the headlines all went to the incredible disappearance of Lake Delton in Wisconsin Dells. For fans of Parfrey’s Glen the announced closing was met mostly with a calm reticence. What could you do??

Last evening a reporter called me for a quote on the announced re-opening of the Glen. Missed me however! I thought about it though. It seems to me that it’s hard to comment on the re-opening until we know where it leads. We know this time around there will be no boardwalks. In fact the new trail is temporary until something better can be set up. But it seems rather obvious that either for a cycle or for decades to come our local climate is changing. Summer floods have been fairly common now for over a decade. Nature will roll with it as much as nature can. The Glen was not “damaged” by the floods really. It was changed. The trail was damaged. To see the glen as perfect only when frozen in time is not correct. We want to be careful not to try to maintain a Parfrey’s Glen Museum. Pafrey’s Glen certainly is a unique natural area. Unique, and this is the bit to keep in mind. . , ever changing.

I’m not sure when the gates open. I’m hoping to have a glance in just a couple hours. We’ll see.

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**UPDATE: Just back from the Glen.  Well, it’s not going to be a “Museum”.  The power of nature is awesome.  My first impression is the DNR should not have opened it to the public but more on that in a later post. I’ll have new pictures later today as well.

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If you’d like a map to Parfrey’s Glen we’ve posted a nice new Google map over at WisDells.net just the other day.  Click Here.

To learn more about the glen and see some pre-flood images visit our Parfrey’s Glen page.

Read The Baraboo New Republic Article Here.

Yup, it’s that time of year. The snakes are out.  Now, most people prefer not to see snakes at the park. Most never will.  They need not worry. The snakes at Devil’s Lake State Park are pretty much harmless save one, the Timber Rattler.  We regularly hear from people who fear meeting one at the park.  Honestly, the odds of an average visitor actually seeing a Timber Rattler at Devil’s Lake State Park is astronomical. They are there, but not usually where the crowds are.

This guy (picture above) is a common Garter snake who we met on the Steinke Basin trail about an hour ago.  Garter snakes are pretty much harmless unless some dingbat harasses one. In that case they just might get bit.  Although a garter snake bite is not going to kill you, it can give you quite a pinch!

By the way we invite you to follow our new twitter – http://twitter.com/DevilsLake

Call it a sign of the times.. You might think I’m late to Twitter… but that’s not the problem.  No, it’s finding out that sometimes you need different Twitter accounts for different reasons… So here’s the new http://twitter.com/DevilsLake.  Just set up in the last hour.  If you’re a twitter type feel free to follow along.  I’ll be using this account not just for Devil’s Lake information but for general travel & local information for the area including Wisconsin Dells.. (with an outdoor spin of course) and yes, I may get off the wall occasionally but I won’t tell you what I had for lunch… well, unless it was made on an MSR cookstove.

It used to be Wisconsin Dells was a natural attraction like here at Devil’s Lake.  People were amazed by the beauty of the Wisconsin Dells, the sandstone cliffs, rock formations, deep cool gourges, and endless pine forests.   Of course that was then.  These days there are fewer and fewer opportunities to enjoy the natural wonders of the Wisconsin Dells area. Other than Tour Boats & Ducks the real Wisconsin Dells are becoming a bit of an afterthought.  Personally I’d rather hike, bike or kayak than wait in long lines for short rides but that’s just me.  Still, these days a lot of folks are getting back into nature.  Outdoor recreation is one business that still doing well in this economy.  No doubt we in the area could certainly do much better sharing with you folks all the natural wonder and attractions our part of the world has to offer.   It’s with that in mind that I decided to totally revamp our Wisconsin Dells web guide, WisDells.net and change it’s focus to outdoor activities.  It’s going to take some time to build but we’ve got a good start including some up to date natural areas guides, with google terrain maps, personal favorites including paddling on the Upper Dells and hiking the South Face of the East Bluff right here at Devil’s Lake State Park.  So I invite you to visit the re-vamped WisDells.net and of course explore the natural wonders of our area.

Stone Pocket Rd Near Baxter’s Hollow

First off you may have noticed we were hacked yesterday. It seems to me that if you are going to hack a website to make a political statement there would be more appropriate targets. Oh well. Peace.

So I was reading an article at the Wisconsin State Journal speaking about budget cuts in Wisconsin State Parks this year that result in a cut of about 18% of full time staff & 25% seasonal staff. I enjoyed the quote of Governor Dodge State Park’s Super.. “There simply are less of us available”. Mastery of understatement!  How does this translate directly to Devil’s Lake? Well, I’ve not heard any quotables but staff cuts usually mean more noise in the campgrounds, more dogs on the beaches and less “TP” in the campgrounds… We’ll see.

Speaking of budget cuts (or as Groucho would put it, “Magnificent Washouts”) we went out to Baxter’s Hollow yesterday but the road is still washed out from the floods of almost a year ago. Obviously fixing a county road that only offers access to a natural area is not high on the local county government’s priority list. The up-side is that you can simply drive in as far as you can, (see top picture) then hike through from there. Nothing like an out-of-the-way location and a washed out road to thin the crowds! Honestly I think some of most beautiful sights are right along the road.  It’s all good.

You would’nt think it but even our little Baraboo Bluffs are high enough to have snow stick on the very tops and yet everywhere else it’s rain.

Out hiking the last week or so on the Uplands Trail I’ve noticed the early spring plants are starting to push up through the thick leaves covering the forest floor. Even a couple trees are starting to put out their leaves as we march toward May.  Can you name these early spring risers? Call the image above No. 1.

Number 2 – the white flower

Number 3 – Some green thing…

Number 4 – Everyone Knows this one!

Number 5

Number 6 – An Invader In Wisconsin.

Number 7 – Cool Colors

Number 8 – This is a tree by the way…

Number 9 – Will get orange and yellow flowers in time.

Number 10 – And Lastly…

There you go.. 10 plants to identify…