Inspired by the diary by trs - A Tourist in Your Own Town-A Photo Diary http://www.dailykos.com/... we went for a 40 mile trip to the Baraboo Hills and Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. We were mostly going so we could stop at our favorite apple orchard, Ski Hi, where they grow many heirloom varieties including the russett. This is a semi-tart apple that keeps all winter. It isn't big and pretty and has skin the color of a russett potato.
It has been the second coldest October on record in this area, according to the National Weather Service, with barely a glimpse of sun since September. We were surprised to see a peek of sun on the hill across the valley just as we were loading the car with multiple bags of apples, pie, caramel apples, and cider donuts.
With this enticement, we turned east from the orchard to take the road through Devil's Lake State Park. Follow me.
Devil's Lake is the most visited of all Wisconsin Parks. It is 40 miles northwest of Madison in the Baraboo Hills. These "hills" are among the oldest rock outcroppings on earth. http://www.marathon.uwc.edu/... It owes its continued existance to the hardness of the Baraboo Quarzite - grains of sand cemented together millions of years ago. The hills have gone through numerous episodes of being eroded, buried by ancient seas, and the resulting limestones and sandstones that later eroded away themselves to expose the quarzite again. Most recently the last glaciation scoured half of the area, damed a river, leaving Devil's Lake.
(http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/ORG/LAND/PARKS/specific/devilslake/
As we slowly drove along the winding curves, bright colors from sugar maples were mixed in with the strong green of White Pine.
We got to the flat, southern shore of the lake. Still not much sun, but worth a short stop. A wee bit of sun peaked through scurrying clouds.
There were a few very bundled up fishermen along the shore, dropping their lines into the water in the face of a brisk north wind. Ancestors of the Ho Chunk Nation lived along this lake going back more than 2400 years. http://jhooker.com/... The Ho Chunk name for the lake meant Spirit Lake.
We looked at the sky and noticed more breaks in the clouds. Sure enough, more sunlight lit up the gold maple leaves, red oak leaves, and yellow aspen leaves. The eastern shore was soon highlighted.
More clouds though, so we picked our way back to the car where I noticed a quarzite boulder with what may be an intrepid polypody fern.
Just as we were about to leave this section sun hit rocks outcropped on the eastern side of the lake and the scree below
The quarzite doesn't weather in small bits, but is broken apart by water freezing in cracks, ice expanding and over the years a piece being sheared off. From a distance the scree looks like gravel. Close up is a different story.
This area is a favorite for rock climbers, but is very dangerous for amateurs.
We proceeded east to the Civilian Conservation Corps parking area.
Like many parks throughout the country, the CCC "boys" built beautiful stone structures, made trails, planted trees, and generally provided the infrastructure for many State and National parks and forests that has not been improved upon since. Could use another Corps in these economic times.
The Corps was run by the Army and National Park service from 1933 - 1942 with camps of dozens to a couple hundred men. The men were given a wage of $30 per month, much of which was to be sent home. There were at least 47 camps in Wisconsin. The goal of the CCC was to put 275,000 men between the ages of 18 - 25 to work. http://newdeal.feri.org/...
The trails at Devil's Lake were created by the CCC, with steps made of the native quarzite. Moss, ferns, lichens and leaves cover the edges now.
The forest is part of a large block of oak, maple, basswood forest in the Baraboo Hills where the Nature Conservancy has protected large tracts.
Fall isn't the best time to admire the forest groundlayer but a few berries were visible in the shadows.
Some, called "Doll's eyes' peer up from the forest floor.
Maple-leaf viburnum is one of the few shrubs tolerant of the dense maple shade.
Nearby a witch hazel is full of its straggly yellow fall blossoms
As we exit the east side of the park, the valleys and bluffs show more fall color including the sumac along the road.
Home again in a different geologic time, St. Peter's sandstone supporting oak savanna and prairie west of Madison. I hope you enjoyed the trip.