Hiking Parfrey's Glen in Winter

Every year my husband and I like to take a little weekend trip not too far away to celebrate Valentines Day.  Last year we went winter hiking at a golf course in Black River Falls and we also did a beautiful snow shoe trail in the Black River Forest.  This year we went to Parfrey's Glen in the Wisconsin Dells area.

The last time we hiked Parfrey's Glen was in the summer of 2012 when we still had kids at home!  It looks really different in the summer than in the winter, and it is a little more challenging to hike because of the snow and ice.  I think I enjoyed the beauty of Parfrey's Glen more in the summer than in the winter because you can see all the ferns and moss, but it was still fun to view it in winter too.  If you'd like to see what Parfrey's Glen looks like in summer, go to THIS POST.

The trail starts out nice and level through a forest.

Very quickly you will come upon a babbling brook and from then on will be following it all the way till the end of the trail.

You know you've officially arrived in Parfrey's Glen when you start seeing huge rock formations.

Here's where you need to be careful.  In some spots the snow/ice is covering the water and you could be walking right on top of water and not even know it.  It's not deep, but you sure don't want to break through the ice and get a soaking foot in the freezing cold.

You have to step on rocks to cross the river several times, and those rocks are slippery in winter.  Be sure to wear footwear that grips well and bring walking sticks if you can.  I put my walking sticks right in the water to stabilize myself as I stepped on the rocks.

It is only 0.8 miles to the end of the path that leads to Parfrey's Glen.  From there you are not allowed to go any further, and frankly, it's kinda tough as you really have to rock scramble if you want to see the small waterfall.

At its uppermost part the glen reaches a depth of 100 feet.  The walls are sandstone embedded with pebbles and boulders of granite. 

Parfrey's Glen is Wisconsin's Number One snow shoe trail.  I however would not recommend wearing snow shoes here because of all the rock scrambling.  No one on the trail had snow shoes on, so how this trail earned that title I have no idea.  However, it is a nice winter hike!

Sorry that I'm in most of the photos, but it was Valentine's Day weekend and I think hubby was a little enamored with me.  I do think however that having a person inside the photos gives you perspective of the size of the glen walls.

This is as far as I went as the trail was sheer ice at this point and lots of rock scrambling.  My poles were useless here as the spokes couldn't poke through the hard ice.  Hubby went a little further to hunt for the waterfall, but he said it wasn't much to see as it was only a few feet high.

Even though it was a beautiful day, this was the only hike we took.  I've been having issues with my leg and we didn't want to push it.  I had hoped to start physical therapy this week, but now we have a winter storm coming so I may have to cancel.  Bummer!  I've been waiting weeks to see a physical therapist.

There's a large outlet mall in the Wisconsin Dells so after our hike we grabbed some lunch and did some shopping.  Hubby was thrilled.  JK!  This picture was posed!  I didn't buy much:  just this cool new frying pan and a couple of Under Armor hiking tops.  Oh, we did go downtown to get some fudge and that was incredible!

 Have A Great Day!  Amy

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A Return To Devil's Lake State Park

In October my husband and I took a lot of weekend hiking trips.  One of the places we went to hike was Devil's Lake State Park.  We loved it so much, we went two weekends in a row to see more!  The first weekend we hiked the East Bluff Trail starting on the north shore side to the Balanced Rock Trail (in case you missed that post, you can see it it HERE).  When we came back a week later, the weather was more than thirty degrees colder, but the fall foliage was more vivid than ever.

The main reason we came back is because I really wanted to see the famous Devil's Doorway.  Now, we didn't want to hike the same trails again, so the second time around we parked on the South end of the lake.  We took the Grottos Trail, then climbed up the CCC Trail, and hooked into the part of the East Bluff Trail that we missed the weekend before to get to Devil's Doorway.  Then to get back to our car we took the East Bluff Woods Trail back down the bluff, and once again illegally hiked the railroad tracks (ha ha).

Grottos Trail looked exactly like it sounded.  It's a 0.5 mile trail that runs along the base of the East Bluff.  Walking this trail in the fall felt like I was walking through a magical forest.  I kept waiting for the fairies to pop out at any moment, but unfortunately I didn't see any.

Here you can see fallen rock from the bluff behind me.  

The Grottos Trail is described as "easy to moderate".  I would definitely agree with that.  It's a wide, level trail through a cool forest.  I'm sure it would be very refreshing on a hot summers day.

But, the easy part of strolling through the magical forest has to come to end, as now we need to get up that  bluff to get to the top of the East Bluff Trail.  There are two ways up, and both trails are described as "Difficult".  One is the "Potholes Trail" (which is the steepest of the two) and the other is the 'CCC Trail". The Potholes Trail would have cut our walk on the Grottos Trail in half and taken us up the bluff faster, but I was enjoying my magical little forest fairy land, so we stayed on the Grottos Trail and took the CCC Trail up.

The CCC Trail is only 0.3 miles but it is a difficult trail so it takes one hour to climb.

It is a steep, stone trail.  The stones can be very slippery, especially when the pine needles and leaves fall on top of them.  There are no railings or barriers to protect you from slipping, so a walking stick is recommended.

The rock formations and sheer cliff walls are amazing!

But perhaps the most amazing thing of all on the CCC Trail is the jaw dropping views...especially in the fall.  Every time you think you couldn't possibly see a more breath-taking view you round a corner and there's another one.

All I could do was praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord for the beauty of His magnificent creation.  Praise Him for His goodness, praise Him for His faithfulness, praise Him for allowing me to just be here and see such incredible beauty.  I felt I was in heaven, as I couldn't imagine heaven being more beautiful than what was before my eyes right now.

The next two pictures give an idea of what this trail was like when we start to reach the summit.  You are literally climbing rocks on the side of a bluff, and the majority of the time, you have to keep looking down so you don't fall and slip.  But every now and then, you have to stop, and just take a breath and enjoy the view.

Here's a close up of the trail shown above.

And this photo shows how precarious this trail actually is.  You definitely don't want to take small children on this trail.  A lot of people ask why I hike with ski poles.  Although similar to ski poles, these are actually walking sticks.  They come with five different tips that you can change out depending on the terrain you are hiking on.  I have the rubber grips on the poles on this hike.  I use the poles to secure to the slippery rock and help lift me up onto the rock plus balance me.  I seriously do not think I could have made this hike without these walking poles.  My kids purchased them from Amazon for me.

Devil's Lake State Park is very popular for rock climbing and we saw several rock climbers out when we there.

Do you see the rock climber in the middle left of the picture below.  I admire anyone brave enough to do this!

Once we reached the top we were now ready to be on flat land and just enjoy the views!

This portion of the East Bluff Trail is 0.6 miles.

I love this picture because it looks like I'm standing on the edge of the world.  It is high, and it is steep, but I assure you I was very safe or I would be standing there as I'm terrified of heights!

Now I said at the beginning of this post the main reason I wanted to come back to Devil's Lake was to see the famous Devil's Doorway.  I have seen so many pictures of it in my life, but for one reason or another I was never able to see it in real life.  This time I was determined to finally see it in person and it did not disappoint! 

To get to Devil's Doorway you have to take a short, but very steep 0.1 mile trail back down the bluff.  Again, without my walking sticks, I don't think I would have been able to do it, but I did and it was so worth it!

And here I am celebrating because I FINALLY made it!  Yay!

Well, now that we made it to the top and finally saw the famous Devil's Doorway, it was now time to return back down the bluff.  Since we took the East Bluff Trail the weekend before, this time we decided to take the East Bluff Woods Trail back down.

This is a 1.3 mile trail entirely in the woods, so it's the perfect trail to hike in the fall.  It's described as easy/moderate because there is one steep incline (or decline depending on which way on the trail you're going) on the northern most end.

When we reached the bottom of the bluff, we were once again on the wrong side of the lake from where we parked our car, so we had to hike the railroad tracks back.  I have no idea why they just can't put a trail on this side of the lake.

Next week I'll be back with more fall hiking adventures!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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Hiking The East Bluff & Balanced Rock Trail At Devil's Lake State Park

Three weeks ago we had a gorgeous 65 degree weekend, so we drove to Baraboo, Wisconsin to do some fall hiking in Devil's Lake State Park.

Devil's Lake is everyone's favorite park in Wisconsin and it is also Wisconsin's largest and the most visited state park averaging three million visitors per year.  There is something for everyone to do here.  You can boat, kayak, fish, swim, hike, hunt, camp, rock climb, scuba dive, ski, sled, and snowshoe.   We have camped here (see this old post from 2012 HERE)  during the summer and we really enjoyed the hot sandy beach and warm 70 degree water to swim in.  The lake is 368 acres and 47 feet deep.  It is surrounded on two sides by 500 foot quartzite bluffs.  Most of the hiking trails are either on the East Side Bluff or the West Side Bluff. 

There are so many beautiful hiking trails in Devil's Lake but if you're only in the park for one day, the East Bluff Trail is a must!  It is the most popular trail as it on this trail you get to see the famous features the park is known for:  Balanced Rock, Devil's Doorway,  and Elephant Rock and Cave.

 

The East Bluff Trail is described as moderate, which I would agree with.  However, to see Balanced Rock or Devil's Tower you have to descend down onto a rocky cliff side which can be tricky for some people.  If climbing on sheer rock cliffs is not your thing, but you still want to see the spectacular views, the easiest way to get up to the top of the bluff is to start on the north shore where the ascent is less steep, then take the East Bluff Woods Trail back down.  

I honestly found the forest trails almost as spectacular as the scenic views from the top of the bluffs.  The fall foliage in Devil's Lake State Park is AMAZING!  I know it's too late to go this year, but if you want to plan a fall trip for next year, plan on going the 2nd or 3rd week of October.  When these pictures were taken, it was the 2nd week of October.  But, we enjoyed ourselves so much and wanted to finish another part of the trail, so we went back the following weekend and felt the colors were even more vibrant!

There are many, many jaw-dropping overlooks on the East Bluff Trail.  Every time you think you saw the best view ever, you turn a corner and there's an even better view!  My husband and I wondered why Devil's Lake isn't a national park instead of a state park...it's just that incredible.

The section of the East Bluff Trail we took this day was 1.1 miles long one way.  You can continue to hike along the East Bluff for another 0.6 miles,  but we saved that stretch for another day.  

There are so many interesting rock formations on the trail.

This is Elephant Cave.  It is very small, you can't really go too far inside to explore, but you can poke your head in and snoop around if you dare!

This is Balanced Rock.  I did not have a good experience on this trail.  To see the balanced rock, you have to get off of the East Bluff Trail and climb quite a ways down a rocky cliff.  It was a super crowded day and the trail was literally so packed with hikers that people were "waiting" just for an opportunity to move.  The problem was that the trail is very narrow and steep and you can climb up to see the Balanced Rock from the bottom too so we kept have "Traffic Jams".  Also, the pine needles just dropped so the rocks were very slippery and people (even young ones) were slipping and falling.  I had my walking sticks and they were a life saver because I could use them as a bannister to climb down the steep rocks.

I was so overwhelmed by the time I got half way down the Balanced Rock trail that when I saw the rock I said "That's It? I hiked down a mountain to see this?"  ha ha!  The Balanced Rock Trail is only 0.4 miles and is described as "Challenging".  I would say that is very accurate!  It is a difficult, steep, climbing trail with no railings.  One slip, and you're a goner!  It takes about an hour to climb this trail, longer in the summer due to the crowds.  The Balanced Rock is about 2/3rd's of the way up to the top of the trail.  If you'd like to experience what it is like hiking down Balanced Rock without any people around, there is a great video of the experience HERE!

But the views from the rock were incredible! 

Hubby was brave enough to go stand right next to the rock, but I was not.

Well, once we saw the rock we decided that due to the crowds (and the fact it was past lunch time and we were hungry) that instead of going back up the cliff, we would just walk the remainder of the Balanced Trail down to the lake level and call it a day.  I was disappointed, because I really wanted to see Devil's Doorway, but we decided to come back the following weekend.

Once again, the forest views did not disappoint.

Once we finally reached the bottom of the bluff we headed for the potties, had a snack, then checked out the gorgeous lake views from the south side of the lake.

Now here's the tricky part.  On the East Side Bluff, the only way to get back to your car parked in the north shore parking lot is to either climb back up the bluff and take the East Woods Bluff Trail or the East Bluff Trail back (Or you could go all the way around the south end of the lake and take the Tumbled Rocks Trail back, which is a spectacular trail. See this old post HERE. ).  Hubby thought the day was already late and that would add a lot of miles to our already taxing day, so he suggested we take the railroad tracks back.  You are not supposed to walk on the railroad tracks, as it is used twice a day, but everyone walks on them.  It was filled with hikers when we were there.  And frankly, I've been to Devil's Lake multiple times in my life and I've never seen a train go through this park, so I have no idea why they say on their website that a train goes through twice a day.  I also don't know why they just won't put in a trail on this side of the lake.  

When you're down on the beach, it's fun to look up and see how far you climbed.

All in all on this day we hiked one mile on the East Bluff Trail, climbed down 0.4 miles, and hiked another mile back to our vehicle.  We had a picnic lunch on the grounds near the beach, then got back into the car and enjoyed the beautiful colors even as we left the park.  We couldn't wait to come back next week and see more!

Have A Great Day!  Amy

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