A Walk at Pewits Nest

Sunday afternoon provided the perfect opportunity to do a bit of hiking. My friend Dogger, Miss Regan, The Dulcinea, and I began things by heading to the Baraboo Hills. Our destination was Pewits Nest, a state natural area just southwest of Baraboo. It was so named because "an individual lived in the solid sandstone, like a gnome in a cavern. His abode was some ten feet above a deep pool of water. This dwelling resembled the nest of a phoebe (or peewit, an earlier name for this bird), hence dubbed by early settlers the 'Peewit's Nest.'"



We began by hitting the trail which began at the parking lot. It got pretty steep at times but was leisurely for the most part and we eventually surmounted the hill.



Once at the top, we were afforded some wonderful views of the gorge with Skillet Creek at the bottom.





The creek cut its path through the sandstone 10,000+ years ago as the Laurentide ice sheet retreated. Dogger has been reading Roadside Geology of Wisconsin and was quick to point out that the sandstone in question is, in fact, Cambrian sandstone. We continued and were soon down walking along a narrow stone outcrop along the creek.



The layers of rock were really neat and several trees had grown into the walls of the gorge whose root system was exposed.





The creek was very shallow at a small falls so it wasn't difficult to get across.





From there it was back up the hill and over to the opposite end of the gorge. Along the way, we caught of glimpse of the structure which gives the park its name.





After Miss Regan splashed around in the water a bit, we headed out to our next destination...