Devils Lake State Park Trip

[eclark53520]

So the little lady and i decided we needed a day trip somewhere(actually she decided that but i got to plan it...)

So i decided we should see two of the state parks...Devils Lake and Natural Bridge state parks.

The Devils lake state park has lots of trails, steep trails going up the rocky bluff. About 500feet(or maybe more) up the clif some of these pictures were taken.

-Balanced Rock(the trail up to this rock is quite steep and i was sweating heavily taking this picture...


-Random Rock Formation


-View off the top of the cliff


-The little lady...at the lookout


-Another Lookout


-This gorge is almost straight down, really cannot see it in the picture but if you fell, there is no stopping.


-If i had to guess, this crevice was better than 100ft deep


-Overlook of the recreation area and Devils Lake


-Devils Doorway natural rock formation




-What the park calls 'potholes'


-Another of the little lady, does the tree add or distract from the photo? I can't decide....


And on to the Natural Bridge State Park.

-The Natural Bridge


-Another of the Natural Bridge


-Explanation of the bridge


-Below the bridge was a shelter like deal i don't have pictures of...without flash it was impossible and my on camera flash sucks...


-At the Natural Bridge park there was a very old building


-And an old smokehouse

[Wi-Golfer]

I didn't care for the Natural Bridge park, quite a letdown after Devils lake.

[eclark53520]

Yeah, Natural Bridge was definitely not as spectacular as Devils Lake, but it was interesting to be in a place where you know people used to live 12,000 years ago. Cool to see something that was built by natural happenings and not by humans.

[mddubya]

There was a tree in that picture? :laugh:



How in the h@ll did you rate her Clark?


Nice pics BTW!

[eclark53520]

There was a tree in that picture? :laugh:



How in the h@ll did you rate her Clark?


Nice pics BTW!

I wonder the same thing every day!


Thanks, they were mainly just snapshots...i suck at photography...i know it, so i am just out to capture the experience. Figured since i have them, i might as well share them here.

[warbirdlover]

GF is gorgeous. Park is okay. Now explain to all the none Wisconsinites about how the glacier carved that out.

[MIKE1218]

Love Devils Lake. Cool place for sure.

[Wi-Golfer]

There is a restaurant near Devils Lake named Hootys which has the best burgers anywhere.

Home

[zaphod]

GF is gorgeous. Park is okay. Now explain to all the none Wisconsinites about how the glacier carved that out.

Devil's Lake is one of the world's most interesting Geological phenomenon.

Anywho--The rock is quartzite, a rare outcropping of the Earth's mantle. Extremely hard and ancient material. The rest of the Dells area is mostly sandstone , very soft, created from a previous Ocean. The rounded "potholes" are evidence of the quartzite shoreline. A rock sat in the middle of that pothole and ocean waves "worked" that rock for millions of years. The result is a very well formed smooth crater. Very kool

The Devils Lake outcropping acted as a Dam for the last glacier 10,000 years ago. It was the southern termination of the Wisconsin lobe. When that dam burst Lake Wisconsin drained in three days. Pickup sized quartzite rocks were moved all the way down to Janesville (about 100+ miles) by the rushing waters.

Why does this interest me??? The terminal moraine (end of the Glacier and the shores of Lake Wisconsin) define the eastern boundary of my farm.
The moraine's hilly debris includes huge rocks, gravel etc making farming extremely difficult. If I were to walk this moraine east I would end up in Pennsylvania and west to the state of Washington.

The more gracious gift the glacier/ Devil's Lake dam was the sandy land PLUS underground water. My lifeblood. The sand is a great growing medium but without water, useless. The combo creates some of the most productive farmland in the world. That water is the residue of the Glacieral Lake. The porosity of the sand allows me to develop high capacity wells capable of pumping 1,240,000 gallons of the freshest water you will ever taste per day per well. I've got 30 wells and have not seen a drop in water levels over the 40 years of farming. These wells are 100 to 200 feet deep.

The Earth has been very kind to me. Every time I look to the east or see Devil's Lake I reminded of this legacy.

[mont86]

Clark do the right thing and quit blackmailing her to go with you...

Nice pictures by the way.