Hiking the Dunes: Warren Dunes State Park

Finally, after a waiting over a year, I've made it to Warren Dunes State Park. The drive was longer than I'm used to, but it was worth it. First tip: Bring cash to the main gate. The alternative is to be directed to the campground entrance where cards are accepted.

Once in (and having paid at the campground office), I headed back toward the main gate and turned off early into a parking lot. This is the trail head. I started out entering the trail, and taking a right (to do the loop counter-clockwise). The wooded area was humid, and very flat. Insects were not really bothersome, in spite of all the recent rains. Speaking of... There were a number of muddy areas along the trail, but most had a small path going around.

I decided to take trail 11, which should have looped back to the same spot, at which I would head north. Roughly 1/3 mile in, I realized that the trail was not curving back around as it did in the map. At that time, a hiker came by and told me of a really interesting undocumented trail that went over a hill to a water tower, and finally ended on the beach. I decided to try it. I made it over the hill (good workout, by the way), but the entire trail was covered with spider webs. Every 40 or 50 feet, I would walk into another. When the trail started to become obscured by overgrowth, I elected to head back the way I came, and just turn right to head toward the beach.

After a bit more woodland, the trees thinned out into a mostly sand covered area. From that into sand dunes spotted with maram grass. I found my way to a tree in the valley between two dunes, and sat for some shade, rest, and water. After a protein bar and some water, it was back to it. I hit the lake shore, and the temperature cooled a bit. There was also a nice breeze. When I walked inland back to the trail, the temperature seemed to climb 15 degrees (which I withstood for another thirty seconds until I could get my self back to the shoreline).

Once I hit the parking lot, I turned south to head back. I immediately started up one incline, then another, and another. I ended up climbing the edge of the dune on the north end of the parking lot. After a walk through a small barren area (only sand), I headed down to find a shady spot again to rest. At this point, I was starting to suffer from symptoms of heat exhaustion. Despite the fact that I wanted only to get back to the truck into some air conditioning, I stayed there cooling off until I felt rested.

The next part was completely off trail. I stayed in the valley between the two dunes so I could minimize climbing. I also headed straight for the nearest set of trees that were back toward the trail head. I ended up topping one more dune, crossing the a stream, and doubling back about a half mile, but I was back at the trail head, dumping the sand from my shoes.

And in all of that, nature finds it's slow but certain way, quietly. Each step shakes lose a small bit of the worry of the day. And I am in awe of our tiny existence in the universe.

DETAILS
Time: 4 hours
Distance: 4.98 miles
Cumulative Climb: 682 ft.
Min Elevation 560 ft.
Max Elevation: 754 ft.
Temp: 95 deg. F

Day Hike: Devil's Lake State Park

I took a day to head out to Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin to do some hiking. This one was the longest, and most difficult of all of my day hikes, thus far. It had some of the most beautiful views, but also some points that were a bit discouraging.

After paying for parking, and getting a trail map at the visitor center, I started off about 7:30 a.m. I picked up the West Bluff trail head in the main park area. From here it was straight up for about 480 feet. The remainder of the West bluff was up and down for a while along the west side of the lake. Views were really beautiful, and the trail was entirely paved (or natural rock). A steep decline put me on the south edge of the lake. There was a good bit of walking next to a road until I reached the southern park area. That took me to Grotto's Trail. This was a nice area, walking along the base of the southern face of East Bluff for a while. The entire time you would hear traffic from the same road I walked along earlier. Then it was across some railroad tracks, and a steep incline up.

On West Bluff looking southeast.

The hike up the southern face was very hard. It was mitigated with some stairs made from the quartzite rocks, but still a very steep incline. I passed some other hikers, and sport climbers along the way. A portion of this climb is in the video:

Once at the top of the east bluff, I took a break and prepared for the hike east on the Ice Age trail. Unfortunately, the map provided in the visitor center incorrectly had me go east right above the incline. This started taking me along what appeared to be a trail, but eventually turned into nothing more than a gulley carved out by rainfall runoff. I ended up doubling back, and up around 150ft back to the top of East Bluff. More wandering around, and I eventually found the Ice Age Trail by way of the East Bluff Woods Trail. This entire area is littered with signage, but there are a number of unmarked intersections which leave you searching for which trail you want to be on. This area is also full of other hikers and tourists there for the views of the lake.

Atop the southern face of East Bluff looking east-southeast.

Once back on the Ice Age Trail, I headed east, and back down the mountain to Roznos Meadows. This was a nice leisurely stroll with a welcomed flat surface. A few small inclines, and nice views of the southern face of East Bluff puts you at a trail head along highway 113. It was at this point where I realized that I would not have time to make it to Parfrey's Glen (the original eastern-most destination), so I took 113 North to another Ice Age trail head. This was, in a word, grueling. It was over a mile up from 860 to over 1300 feet. In addition, walking along the highway was hot with little by way of a comfortable place to rest. I finally hit the trail head, and headed back into the woodland.

Looking at the south face of East Bluff from Roznos Meadows.

My first stop was just inside the wooded area where I stopped at a huge log for some lunch and a rest. The break and refueling did a lot to re-energize. I recall distinctly the apple which was not only sweet, but very cool. Notwithstanding some ups and downs in elevation, this was generally a long downhill portion of the hike, taking me down to the campgrounds back in the park's main area. It also took me to another poorly marked part of the trail. I ended up working my way through the entire campground, missing where the trail headed back to the parking lot where I parked.

All in all, I would probably like to try the trail again, but with less of a time constraint (I had to be back at the hotel by 3:30 p.m.) I would be able to skip the highway 113 portion, and hit Parfrey's Glen. The views were beautiful, and once you picked up the trail east from the south face, there were no people at all.

The 15.3 mile loop. Darker color is higher elevation, gree (in Roznos Meadows) is the lowest elevation.

The elevation profile. The first incline was up West Bluff. The second is Grotto's Trail, then up the south face. The find steep incline is up highway 113.

Details

Min. Altitude: 797 ft.
Max Altitude: 1528 ft.
Cumulative ascension: 3024 ft.
Distance: 15.3 miles
Duration: 6 h 50 min.
Temp: mid 70s - upper 80s F.