We’ve had a string of days with miserable rain and cold, but
Friday’s forecast was for sun and decent temperatures in the lower
40’s. I pulled on a light fleece jacket and drove west to
Blue Mound State Park, which I haven’t visited in a couple of decades.
With good roads, the trip takes about 45 minutes, but Google Maps led
me astray with a suggestion to take CTH F south from Hwy 14 west of
Mazomanie. F was closed, but Google maps kept trying to take me back to
it as I sought a different route to get to the park. Eventually, I was
re-directed with good directions by a county highway worker. Sometimes,
smart people are more useful than smart phones.
The hiking through the woods was on the depressing side. The leaves
have mostly fallen, and views were scarce. With recent rains, the aroma
was one of decomposition. I saw no other hikers, although I did pass a
couple of young Asian men walking past me with compound bows in hand.
The deer bow hunt season is underway, and bow hunting is allowed in the
park by special permit. The hiking was easy with wide trails and gentle
ups and downs.
The trail was littered with chert boulders, like this one:
According
to the park information, 400 million years ago, warm and shallow seas
covered the park, depositing a layer of sediment that transformed over
time from limestone to magnesium to dolomite. As silica-rich water
flowed through the dolomite, chert was formed. More recently (relatively
speaking), the chert fractured from the top of the Blue Mound and fell
downhill.
By hiking to the top of the hill, I made it to the highest point in
southern Wisconsin (elevation 1716 feet). That isn’t very high for
people who live in mountainous areas, but the park put in a 40 foot
tower at the top for those of us who may be a tiny bit fearful of
heights. Mountain tops don’t bother me, but man-made towers do for some
reason.
While many of the trails wind through th woods, some of the trails open up to prairie.
Blue
Mound is a park that designates many of its trails for mountain bike
use. I’m in favor of people getting outside, so I’m not opposed to this
idea, even though these trails tend to be rutted and muddy. There were
enough trails designated as hiker only to satisfy me. This biker
admitted to being a bit lost.
Hiking: 5.2 miles. Trails included Willow Springs, Flint Rock, Ridgeview, Pleasure Valley, and the family campground.
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