Mill Bluff and Roche- a- Cri State Parks

Before driving to my son's house last Friday, I stopped back at Mill Bluff and explored the other half of the trails.

Last time I was there in the start of August, I walked the stairs to the top of the bluff and enjoyed the overlook. I noticed on the map of the area that I could hike around the bluffs that I saw in the distance. I decided to go back without the dogs and really check it out.

Here was that view:

In the upper right corner of the photo, there are more bluffs. They are part of the park also and have trails around them and apparently there is a faint trail one could use to climb to the top of the bluff.

I found the parking spot and started up the sandy trail when I saw this sign.

Timber rattle snakes

have been reported

on this trail

Be careful

I was happy that I chose this time not to bring my dogs. I did not hear or see any snakes but I did keep my eyes peeled.

The trail around the bluffs isn't difficult, part of it has been maintained in its natural state of grasslands and scrub oaks with prescribed burns. Other parts have grown in thick forests because of fire suppression that has been used over many years.

The goal for me was to find the 'faint' trail to the top of the bluff. 

....and I did. 

I spent a long time on top of this bluff. My mind was peaceful. That is what I wished to achieve. I'd done what I'd set out to do.

And...I saw no snakes.

I climbed 340 feet to the top of a bluff and just enjoyed the view. In case you haven't guessed. I like rocks and bluffs.

The next stop was Roche-A-Cri Mound. No dogs allowed. I can understand why because the are consists of 303 metal stairs to the top of the bluff.

I did explore the petroglyphs and hiked another one of the trails. I found an abundance of cool fungi and rocks.

But it was time to hit the road north to my son's place where we'd take naps and get up at 1am to drive to the UP and see the sunrise I just talked about in the last blog.

That...was the first part of the whirlwind trip.

I managed to knock off two more areas that I have wanted to see for a long time. I'll definitely go back to that Bluff I hope yet this fall to see what the change of seasons bring.

 

SNA is

State Natural Areas. They are protected areas of WI native landscape that well, are very unique and protected from development.

My first ever visits to SNAs were Parfey's Glen and Pewitt's Nest. They are very well known ones near Devils Lake State Park.

This weekend I was treated to view two more known but...unknown places along the Mississippi River called Sugar Creek and Rush Creek. 

This widened areas I'd like to explore. 

I also joined a group that does weekend hikes. I plan my first hike with them in the LaCrosse area December 13th. There are gobs [I don't know what else to call them of trails in and around LaCrosse area. The group is called Blufflands Hiking Group.

Why not? Hiking in groups and discovering cool trails I've never even heard of sounds like a fun thing. I can always discover places and trial heads and then go back on my own. 

So Jason came Friday afternoon and we headed out early Saturday morning. He wanted to take a couple of rather easy hikes because  his dog Felix who isn't able to do very long hikes any more. He drove and I got to be the passenger.

We were headed to the Mississippi River.

Here are his dogs. Piper is in orange and Felix is behind her. He loves to refer to them as Tumble and Weed.

We visited Sugar Creek and Rush Creek SNA's above the bluffs of the great river.

The first view is from Sugar Creek.

To the south, an incredible intoxicating view.

Below. Looking the other direction. Highway 35 runs along the river and is also referred to as The Great River Road.

And from these views, indeed it is.

Next stop was Rush Creek.

I'd never gone to explore this area as it is 45 minutes from our house and basically I had no idea how to find trails.

Jason knew of a place we could drive to and park and take a very short walk out to the bluff.

He has climbed the bluff in the first shot below and encountered rattlesnakes in the areas in the grassy west facing hillside.

No thanks. I will go and hike the upper part and avoid the snake-y areas. And I will avoid the times of year that snakes are active.

Looking across the river from the same viewpoint.

A much closer look at Lansing Iowa across the river. The white part in the middle is the last of the metal bridges. It is now closed to traffic as they work on a new bridge.

This old bridge had a metal deck and was fondly called the Singing Bridge.

It also was the main throughfare for those in Iowa or Wisconsin to get back and forth to work. There is a ferry currently running, but I imagine when things freeze up those who have to travel an extra 40 miles one way to cross the river will not be happy. 

We then drove out to Bell Center [Kickapoo River Wildlife Area]. We took a short walk to check it out. I will probably go back after hunting season or in the spring. The area consists of open prairie and hills. It is stocked with Pheasants from a volunteer group.

This looks like it could be another neat place to explore.

I'm thinking it could be fun to snowshoe. It would be an easy place to get out of winter winds while hiking/snowshoeing/cross country skiing. Of course I would have to break my own trail.

The forest and open prairie look quite inviting.

It looks like my feet shall remain busy. 

This is a good thing.

OH!!! One last thing. While we were standing on the last bluff the wind really picked up quite a bit. Something very odd happened. Oak leaves starting drifting upwards from the valley below.

So the saying of the day was--->

The Leaves are Falling UP!

An Amazing Friend and Adventure Part II

 

The day grew darker and a bit more dreary when we got to the south end of the ridgetop. The Hogback Ridge opened up into a larger and flat plateau like area. At different times, the State Land had been rented out as farm land. 

We walked around this field and entered the old oak forest. Jason kept looking for an old trail he knew he'd used a couple of years ago.

He said that he hadn't done this part of the hike alone because he didn't feel safe in case something happened to him. He has trouble with his knees and had surgery last year.

This type of landscape is something I've hiked in for the past 28 years. I often scramble up and down rocky and dirt dry runs. Looking for handholds while climbing over roots and rocks is something I don't even have to think about any more.

I took this shot below after we had an incident with Jason's older dog. While negotiating this animal track on the hillside, Felix lost his balance and rolled down the steep incline. He rolled into a log. Jason was upset. Felix got up and shook while Jason called to him.

Felix had decided he wanted nothing to do with that trail and did not want to follow us stupid humans. [In the mean time, Charlie and Jason's other dog Piper sat and watched]

Jason called and called. Felix ignored him and started slowly started to climb the steep hill with a slippery bed of oak leaves up and away from us.

I'm a fast scrambler, so I took off after Felix. I used trees, rocks, and balance to get ahead of Felix. Jason warned me not to grab Felix by the collar. He'd bite me. Felix is a pretty laid back dog except when he is upset. He is a rescue 'off the street' dog. Jason calls him his High Dollar Doggy for all the vet bills they have had.

I positioned myself on the trial so that Felix couldn't get by me except by climbing over a huge log. I offered him one of Charlie's dog cookies to interest him while Jason came up to put him on a leash.

As expected, there was quite a tussle getting Felix leashed. We eventually made it to the main attraction.

We took several minutes to just chill out, get the dogs some water, and sit quietly on the floor of the cave.

Jason suffers from PTSD and Anxiety so I understand his need to be able to just sit and breathe when something happens. He has to process things differently than I do. He just recently had doctors diagnose him with borderline autism. His life long struggles with processing information and relationships now make a bit more sense to him. That said, he is a brilliant geologist that no longer works in that field. He is smart and articulate but needs different rules for conversation and friendship.

Let's say, we get along just fine.

I pulled out two Lego Minifigures and set them up on a rock shelf to take their photo. I presented the one minifig as Jason, one as me...and one little Charlie.

Jason pulled out something from his backpack and handed it to me.

I quipped with delight: You are so prepared! You brought along Guardians of the Galaxy in case we needed Superhero's!!!

With things settled down we had some fun. Jason tried to crawl back to see how far the holes in the rock extended. The shot below is an infrared shot in black and white. I really love how one can see the details of the rock that was washed and eroded by underground water flowing millions of years ago.

And after that, silliness happened.

Jason wanted a photo of himself doing silly things. Jumping up and down...

A silhoutte.

And the last bit of fun silliness. Charlie and Jason's dogs were curious when Jason started jumping up and down. Charlie wouldn't get out from under Jason, so he scooped Charlie up and continued to jump!

We found a better trail to climb up and out of there and started back towards our vehicles. With Jason, I never have to think of something to say as he is always chatting. That's fine, listening is a good skill to have.

He says he enjoys my friendship and hiking with me because he doesn't have to worry that I can't handle myself. I bring emergency gear like he does and have some good knowledge of woodcraft.

On our way back Jason had to take a few rest breaks. Apparently, Charlie adores the heck out of him!

We got back to the parking area as it started to drizzle. Both of us were a bit sad that the hike ended but I had to get home to hubby. Jason had a two hour drive to get back to Madison.

Lots of hugs and promises to get together to explore together again with our dog pack.

Until the next time....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One last bit.  
While standing on the top of the ridge, Jason explained the development of the historical geology of this particular area.

Direct, copy and paste from his FB post explaining the Hogback Ridge.

This is the floor of a formerly underground sandstone cave that was exhumed and eroded away including the ceiling and walls. The sandstone has various dissolution textures (vertical pipes, polished surface, lots of eroded fracture sets) than can only happen by groundwater. It’s a very unique rock and unlike the weathering textures seen in sea or ice caves. There’s more of this a few other places. I like this spot the best.

An Amazing Friend and Adventure Part I

The photo above is of my friend Jason. 

We met December 31st on New Year's Eve. Other folks go to parties or whatnot. Jason and I ran into each other while searching for Ice Caves. Link to our first meeting: Totally Unexpected

We have continued our interesting friendship since that afternoon in 2021. State Natural Areas are the places he explores. He and his dogs are always going on adventures.  Piper and Felix get along well with Charlie. He calls them...our gang.

He lives two hours away from me, but manages to get out in my area every once in a while to go for a hike. 
Jason used to teach Geology and take students on field trips to SNA's in our area to study the incredible rock formations and teach others about the history of the driftless area's formation. 

In the shot above, Jason is explaining how this Hogback Ridge happened a gazillion years ago. [Not his words, but mine since I don't recall all of the scientific words he used!]

Pictured below is ... in Jason's words ... is one of the longest meander scars. A Meander Scar is a geological word for a feature of a remnant of a wandering river channel. It is now called a Hogback Ridge which is a dry prairie. Locally called a Goat Prairie. 

I don't think this place is often hiked. I would never have done it as it doesn't look that interesting at first glance.

But then Jason took me up to the top. We stood 300 feet above the valley below.

The view from the ridge was simply amazing. I felt like belting out the Lion King song and beating my chest. I didn't, but the feeling of being overwhelmed by the height and the incredible landscape stayed with me all along the narrow ridge. Seriously. In places it was only a several feet wide!

I thought, there are no trees along here to make things interesting. But everything was interesting. The colors of the different varieties of Lichen were beautiful.

The shapes of the rocks [Jason explained the reason behind the shapes] were beautiful and curious.

This section of rock has 3 different layers and kinds of rocks in it. Jason named them all [it mostly flew over my head]. I do recall that one of the layers was Karst. That was a name I recognized.

The dogs had a blast. Piper led, Charlie found a sweet spot in between Jason and I, and Felix followed...mostly. Felix is a rescue dog of Jason's with his own ideas about things and a few health issues. We often stopped to get Felix back on track and to chat. 

Here, Jason is pointing to something I should notice. I think I'd have to visit this place again to really take it all in.

See those trees in the distance? That was where we were headed. We actually were going to walk through an oak forest to the end of the ridge and drop down to see some amazing rock shelters.

Here is Piper doing her impression of the Lion King. I went up there with Charlie to get a good view also.

Jason's photos of Charlie and I... 

We stopped to look at rocks and of course the plants and Lichen. We joked about Liking Lichen.

On the narrow ridgetop, there was single track trail through the grasses. Many spots were dotted with rocks to negotiate through and around.

There was Bittersweet growing in some areas of the ridge and as we headed to the south side we went into a forest.

That's where things got really interesting.

I'll go into that in Part II...