Wyalusing ice and Chippy

Mr. McCool and I went adventuring again today. It seems that I feel quite driven this winter to keep busy and keep at it. [I added the cool sunglasses with AI.]

I am thinking of how I can get out each day and plan an adventurous hike. I feel driven to go find ice formations. The house is too quiet. The logged forest that used to bring me peace and solitude has been destroyed [my words].

Thursday morning broke with sunny skies and temps that were to get up to 20 F. The WNW winds were to be light.

Perfect.

I put my sidekick in his car seat and we headed out. 

I wanted to check out Wyalusing's ice caves. I knew they wouldn't be spectacular after all the rain and warm temps we had, but I don't like to compete with the crowds that would come on the weekends. Week days seem perfect for exploring State Park trails.

This formation is called the painted cave because of all the colors in the rocks. I couldn't believe how brilliant the pink and the yellowish orange colors were on this visit.

We did go down inside of it. The size of this formation is tremendous, larger than any rock shelter I've ever been in before. It looked like someone had dumped blue food coloring on the ice formation itself. 

[Vandals!!!!]

We took the well traveled trail to the second cave. I could hear the water running even before I got there.

This photo doesn't give the viewer any idea just how large this formation is. 

Since getting in close felt a bit iffy, I decided to stay in the 'safe' zone and shoot what I could.

I was entranced by the portions of ice that had dropped to the bottom of the rock formation and had new and interesting patterns of ice forming from the melting ice above along with the spring water that flowed down and froze.

For perspective, these ice formations on the ground are taller than I am.

It never ceases to amaze me, what art Mother Nature creates.

I could have spent hours here, but decided to move on. After all, Charlie is quite the task master when he believes we should move on.

For this trip, we brought a mascot.

Chippy. He is quiet. He travels well in a backpack and requires very little food.

Plus....

Charlie didn't try to tear him apart. 

We have some more ice formations to check out on Friday if everything goes to plan. 

Life in the .... frozen lane?

Wyalusing State Park

The last time and only time I was at this State Park was in 2016, some neighbors and I got together and decided to explore Wyalusing.

Side note: My father had some great stories about working in the CCC Camps when he was young.

My grand daughter, Lily, was with us and the first place we went to was the overlook. I wrote about it in a blog back then called To There and Back. I'd let Lily use my camera to take a shot from the overlook. The trip was in August and we'd had a rainy year.

2016

Lily's photo:

My photo 2016:

November 5, 2025.

It sure looked different! The bridge in the distance goes across the main channel of the Mississippi at Prairie du Chien and crosses to Marquette Iowa. The bridge in the foreground crosses the Wisconsin River and heads through Prairie in the distance.

It was rather cold and windy on the bluff, so I decided to take a trail that went down into a valley.

Charlie was the perfect gentleman and walked as is he'd been leash trained all of his life. We went a trailed called The Sand Cave Trail which is a 2.4 mile loop with two little Sand Caves or as I'd call them, Ice Caves in the winter.

The trail is well worn and well marked. The only issue I would see is the roots that could make it difficult for others to navigate.

It was also a beautiful trail.

Just before we got to the Big Sand Cave, we were lucky enough to have this guy pose for us.

The Big Sand Cave:

I didn't take any photos of the second Sand Cave. I would like to go back and see it in the winter.

I wanted to get back to the Long Valley Road and walk down to see the boat landing and come back up the Sentinel Trail.

The trek is surrounded by the pink line below on the map.

Well, we almost made it. We made it to the purple area I think. 

Charlie was pooping out and I decided to walk back up the road to the parking area instead of navigating the rougher trail with him. 

Charlie got a lift part of the way back up the Long Valley Road.

The road that went down to the boat launch was mesmerizing.

Look at the amazing curves in the road!

It reminds me of the stretch of curvy road in Door County that is Highway 42. It is one of the most photographed stretches of road in Wisconsin and supposedly was influenced by a landscape artist.

This road is not as dramatic as the photos I've seen of Hwy 42, but I think I discovered something pretty special. Not only that, I didn't have to drive to Door County to see it.

I found it undeniably beautiful with its shadows and colorful foliage.

We had an amazing day and look forward to exploring all of the other trails. 

My Garmin did indicate that we traveled 7.56 miles on foot.