My husband and I recently met up with our kids at Devil's Lake State Park for a weekend get-together. Devil's Lake is a good halfway distance for both of us, and it is such a pretty park to hike, especially in the fall.
On this day, we hiked two trails: the West Bluff Trail and the Tumbling Rock Trail. First I'll show you the West Bluff Trail.
The West Bluff Trail is a medium effort trail that is 1.5 miles long. If you start on the south end, like we did, it is quite a long steep climb up, but once your at the top, the trail is level for quite some distance and you enjoy gorgeous views like this till it's time to head back down.
Devil's Lake State Park is known for it's gorgeous bluffs which surround Devil's Lake. This is such a beautiful lake. You can rent boats at the park to take out onto the lake. There is also a nice swimming beach.
There are several beautiful look out spots on the West Bluff Trail where you can see for miles!
It was a cold, cloudy, dreary day on the day we were there, but it did little to damper our spirits. We enjoyed just being together again and loved being out in nature.
The foliage on the trees was not vibrant yet, my guess is they were only 25% color. That was disappointing, but it was still pretty!
The picture below shows the swimming beach. The large pavilion is where you can rent boats. They also have a nice restaurant, gift shop, and a great coffee bar! It was wonderful to be able to get a hot vanilla latte after a long hike on a chilly day. I said to my husband "This is the only Wisconsin state park where one can buy a great vanilla latte!".
And this is my handsome son-in-law Jason with our granddaughter Alethea. She was such a good girl! She rode on daddy's back half the day with little complaining. She even fell asleep once! She preferred me to always hike in front of them so she could see me. She kept leaning over, peeking over Jason's back and saying "Hi!" to me. She's such a cutie!
The West Bluff Trail is a one-way trail. The best way to get back is to take the Tumbling Rocks Trail. This is a easy, level, .8 mile asphalt trail that winds through large quartzite boulders along the lake shore. It's one of my favorite trails because the boulders are just amazing and I love the gorgeous lake views.
We did stop on this trail and rest awhile and fueled up on some healthy snacks.
As I said earlier, the boulders on this trail is amazing. It is such a fascinating trail. They definitely gave it the right name, for all these boulders "tumbled" down the hill and came to a sudden stop. They then created a trail through the boulders. It's such a surreal feeling hiking this trail, you feel surrounded by rock. It's fun to climb the rocks too.
After we finished this trail, we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the beach. We were planning on going on the East Bluff trail next, but we weren't sure Alethea was up to hanging out on dad's back for a few more hours. Plus, it got colder and we all thought some time spent in a hot tub was a good idea; so, we headed to Wisconsin Dells for our hotel instead! But, more on that next week!
Have A Great Day! Amy
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