Well it sure gets quiet around here this time of year. Devil’s Lake State Park is pretty devoid of visitors this time of year. The hunters have much of the park to themselves, the lake is still open so the ice fishermen can’t get out yet, and for most it’s just too cold to hike. Even here at the website only about 200 people a day stop by. Quite a change from the over 2000 that come each day during the peak summer season. Continue reading »

Don’t Worry!  It does not look like this at Devil’s Lake yet.  Actually this picture was taken on December 12th a couple of years ago when we decided to enjoy the first full-on snowstorm of the year with a paddle around the lake.  Yes, it was a bit. . well. . cold.

What is going on this weekend is the Holly Jolly Light Parade in Dowtown Baraboo tomorrow night.  You can read more about that over here.  And you’ll also find out why I’ve not posted in a bit.

This weekend at Devil’s Lake State Park the Aldo Leopold Half-Marathon and 5K run will take place. You can expect about 500 back country runners to be screaming along the trails.

For a bit of family fun you can head over to Mirror Lake State Park from 6:30 -8:30 pm for their annual Halloween Hike. This is a great time for families. There is a torch-lit 1 mile trail through the woods, 2 big bonfires and lots of food. I wrote a bit more about the Halloween Hike here.

Funny thing. I was just reading the Fall Colors comment over on the “official” conditions page. I realized that I had totally missed guessing at the state of the colors by “Grandpa’s bunions or the width of the band around a wool worm’s middle”. Well, that’s why they are the experts!!

I took off to Devil’s Lake early Saturday morning for a paddle around the lake.  The air temperature was just 30F when I drove along South Shore Rd.  The above picture is near the corner by Burma Rd.

This is an interesting view of the West Bluff as the fog was blown across the lake and then sailed up and over the bluff.

Alright, so it may not look like it in the photo but I think here in the Devil’s Lake area we’ve certainly past “Peak” color.  What that means is that if visit the park this weekend you’ll still see lots of nice colors, but you’ll also see shades slipping into browns.  I took this picture out on Stienke Basin.   It’s more colorful now deeper in the woods and going brown around the edges.