Fall Colors: Hiking in Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area, Dunn County, Wisconsin

Fall is such a short season in Wisconsin so my husband and I like to get out as enjoy it as much as possible.  Every weekend until the last leaf drops we take a drive to a different area to see the fall colors and take a fall hike.  Last weekend there wasn't enough color yet in our neck of the woods, so we drove about an hour and a half north to Dunn County, Wisconsin to see some color.

This area's color was around  25% when we were there.  There were a few bright red trees, a lot of yellow trees, and a lot of trees dropping their leaves to the ground already!  I hate that.  Stay on the trees a little while longer please!

 Hoffman Hills State Recreation Area is a 707 acre unit of the Wisconsin State Park System near Menomonie.   A network of trails provide access to wooded hills, prairie, and a 60 foot observation tower.  There are two ways to get to the tower...a short, straight hike up from the parking lot, or a leisurely, curving trail that's about two miles long and takes you through pretty woods and prairies.  As you can imagine, we took the leisurely route, though it was steep at times, so I'd hardly call it leisurely.  But we were there to see fall color, plus the view from the top of the tower, so that was the hike for us!

The trail is well marked and is mostly a grass or soil path.

We were there to see and photograph color, and very often we had to look up to see the most color, but there was plenty of color on the ground too!

 Isn't this shady path surrounded by birch trees gorgeous?

Here is the tower we had to climb for the view.  It wasn't too bad of a climb, but the Asian beetles that plague Wisconsin were pretty bad when we got to the top and were biting us terribly.

And here we are at the top.  The view was spectacular.  I can only imagine what it looks now a week after these photos were taken.

I took a panoramic video going around in a complete circle while standing at the top of the tower.  It's very short, just 1:17 minutes.

The trail we took makes a complete circle, so after we were done enjoying the view at the top of the tower, we went back down to get back on the trail and finish our hike.

I thought the last part of the hike was the prettiest because of all the birch, red maples, and shaded paths.

And if you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen this short 11 second video I posted on Instagram Stories.  I thought it captured the sounds and sights of fall beautifully.

So what about you?  Have you been going on any fall drives or fall hikes lately?  I'd love to hear from you!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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