Weekend at Wyalusing

Nothing says camping like a face full of smores.

Last month I packed my gear and went to Wyalusing State Park with my friend Dogger and Miss Regan. I'd never been there before so it was great fun seeing everything for the first time.

We did a lot of hiking. The first trail we hit was the Sugar Maple. It was a really nice hike with ravines everywhere.







(This is an ex-tree!)


The trail led us to Pictured Rock Cave. You can't see it from the trail, however. Instead you walk down a winding path…





…and then all at once it comes into view.





Here it is from another angle.





The layers of sandstone were gorgeous. Unfortunately The Dulcinea's new camera had a hard time with the subtle maize yellow of the rock when I took photos close-up and I had no idea how to adjust the white balance. Still, you can still see the gradation.





However, I discovered that it does have a panorama feature which stitches three photos together and it worked nicely. Click on the photo for a larger version.





There was water dripping down from above us and vines dangling - it was just beautiful. Very peaceful. Regan enjoyed the sand and spent a lot of time digging. She didn't want to leave but leave we did. Next stop was Point Lookout on the north side of the park. The view was amazing. You face north, towards the Wisconsin River and looking west you can see where it dumps into the Mighty Mississip.







Not only was the view spectacular, but we were also looking down at the route taken by Marquette and Joliet. They canoed this way back in the summer of 1673. An eagle was gliding out in front of us but too far out for my small camera to get a good shot. I could have stood there and watched for hours.

Next stop was Treasure Cave. Getting there involved going down the bluff quite a ways on an often narrow and always highly perilous trail. But our almost preternatural skills at walking down steps made the trek uneventful. To get into the cave, you have to walk up a flight of those steps like they have in submarines that are basically just ladders. Here's Regan doing a little spelunking in an opening off of the main chamber.





And behind some rocks at the entrance is a narrow crawl space that isn't visible unless you wander behind them.





Despite being mildly claustrophobic, I crawled in followed by Regan. We didn't get too far because my mind kept postulating that it would collapse on us if we went any farther or we'd get to the end only to discover a Silurian outpost and then we'd really be in trouble.

After making the long haul back up the side of the bluff, we returned to camp. I think we had planned to go back out and do some more exploring after refreshing ourselves but those silos of Flaming Damsel just went down a little too smoothly. Ergo resumption of hiking would have to wait until the next day.

This was the first time camping for me in a long time prior to this and it was so nice to be cooking flesh over an open flame and having the time to just sit and stare at the fire. I did a lot of hunting for wood and didn't notice until the morning that my clothes had a lot of burdocks in them. It was also rather cute to hear the fear in Regan's voice when our lantern was no longer visible from the campsite.

The next day we went back to the north side of the park. I believe this is Council Point.





Hitting the Sand Cave Trail we came upon Sand Cave.





Again, very pretty sandstone layers. There were other kids there Regan's age so it was next to impossible to get her moving down the trail once again. There are a brace Sand Caves and the above is the bigger of the two. Unfortunately the second is guarded by a fence and inaccessible to people.

Our last hiking venture was on the Sentinel Ridge Trail which follows the Mississippi River from above. There is a series of Indian effigy mounds along the path.





There is also a Passenger Pigeon Monument with a plaque that reads something like "Here's to the Passenger Pigeon, victim of man's avarice and stupidity." Quite fitting.





Off in the distance we could see a barge hauling freight south on the river. Sentinel Ridge is covered in oak trees and, when we were tired of acorns hitting us in the head, we went down to the boat landing. And there it was, Old Man River.





I'd never seen the Mississippi River up close before, only driven over it at several points. Well, perhaps I saw it in the Twin Cities but that would have been when I was a kid and have no memory of it. But I finally got to see the storied river. Mark Twain wrote about it as did William Faulkner. Floods have inspired songs from "When the Levee Breaks" to "Tear-Stained Eye". There wasn't much out on the river except for a couple fishing boats out in the distance. Very serene.

There are railroad tracks near the shore and Regan was excited because we had two trains pass by at once.





The Mississippi River and trains – two of the greatest metaphors in the American lexicon all in one spot.

We were there before the leaves started turning in earnest and I can only imagine just how beautiful Wyalusing must be in the autumn. Perhaps I'll find out next year.