"Let's Go to Devils Lake State Park," He Said. "It'll be fun," He Said.

Last weekend my buddy and I took the sweet little teardrop camper north again, this time to Devil's Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wisconsin.  A stunning place with a cold lake, fascinating geology, trails, and of course camping.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and set up our campsite.  Instead of cooking out that day we headed to the Tumbled Rock Brewery and Kitchen for dinner.  A slightly more upscale place than the Buckhorn Inn but still very comfortable.  Indoor and outdoor seating.  Live music outside.  A fabulous menu ("Our Menu is all about Creativity") with many yummy-sounding choices, but we settled on fish, because "Wisconsin" of course.  I had the Spicy Fish Sandwich with cod, remoulade, lettuce and tomato, chips, and instead of grilled veggies I had the Elote which was delicious.  My friend had the Walleye with lemon caper remoulade (I'm making mine with those next time!), fingerling potatoes, charred onions and green beans.  Are you getting hungry yet?  You are welcome!

After dinner we made a fire in the firepit, and the fire looked like a hot rainbow! 

 I have no idea how that happened.  It didn't happen the next night even though we bought all the firewood in the same place.  My high school friend Mark saw the photo on Facebook and said it looked like one of our high school chemistry teacher's experiments.  Spot on!

Monday was the day we planned to hike.  There were many options of varying degrees of difficulty, but we finally decided to start out on a moderate trail through some woods then work up to more difficult hikes.  The West Bluff Woods trail was very pleasant, rolling hills along a creek, pine trees, oak trees, and only a few other hikers.  We both got to see a Scarlet Tanager and put it on our Life Lists.  A gorgeous red bird that migrates up from central and south America.  In fact, last year I saw one in Ecuador!

                    Note - public domain photo of scarlet tanager but I can't find the name of the artist.

At the end of the moderate trail we had a decision to make.  We wanted to see two different rock formations, Balanced Rock and Devil's Doorway.  Both trails were labeled difficult but the distances were not daunting, about 1/2 mile each then we thought we could return on an easier path.  We opted to see Balanced Rock first.  

The path is an arduous (for me) steep downhill trail made of large rocks (mostly quartzite) formed into steps.  Steps that have a rather large rise for someone like me, meaning older and not terribly tall.  

These are some of the smaller steps.

We proceeded slowly and carefully.  The trail was very busy with many younger hikers who were moving faster and with greater ease.  One young mother carried a toddler on her hip and later on her back.  She is my new Hero!

We stepped aside often to let them pass, which was really a nice excuse to rest a bit.  All was going swimmingly, when I stepped on a rock that was not level and slid downward, too quickly to think clearly "what should I do next?"  Instinct, momentum, and gravity dictated my decisions and I ran a few steps then had to make a snap decision when a rather large step-off was below me.  I could not change directions to keep moving on flatter rocks and was forced to jump down about 4 1/2 feet and land hard on both legs.  My legs both flexed as far as they could go and I ended up in a crouch.  I popped back up immediately and yelled "I'm Okay!" because that's what I do.  Also I realized that if I had not jumped, I'd likely have fallen and there were no soft places to land.  My left leg hurt intensely, the knee and ankle.  I managed to finish the hike, getting to Balanced Rock and then continuing on down to the trail head.

         

Proof I made it to Balanced Rock!

Once we made it to the trail head we had about another mile to walk (limp) along some railroad tracks.  Needless to say, once there we did NOT opt to do the hike to Devil's Doorway.  I will gladly do that hike one day, but not in the near future.

The park is truly stunning.  

Tuesday we went to the beach and walked into the very cold water which felt great on our tired muscles.  Then we packed up the campsite and headed home.  

Today stairs are no fun and my leg is still a bit swollen.  Thanks to the miracle of ibuprofen, I'm getting around and hoping to heal up soon.  At least in time for the next adventure.

And he was right.  It was fun.