Day Hike: Roche-A-Cri State Park

Julia has most Fridays off work, so we try to do something special together on the first day of her weekend.  Today, we were off to Roche-A-Cri State Park, located located about 30 minutes north of Wisconsin Dells.  While I’ve been to most of our state parks, we’ve never been to this one for some reason.  We were scouting it out for a possible camping trip and looking for a place to hike some new trails.

The main trail in the park is the Acorn Trail (3.5 miles).  Most of it is flat and travels through second growth forest.  At one point, there were some huge white pines that looked like virgin growth.  We added about another mile on Turkey Vulture Trail (beautiful restored prairie).  During most of the hike, temperatures were in the lower 70’s with light rain.

The highlight of the hike was the mound, which requires 333 steps to climb.  The trail to the mound and the area around the trailhead is not dog-friendly.  I counted at least 6 signs within 50 yards making sure that you knew man’s best friend was not permitted in this area.  I ended up waiting at the bottom with Callie (dangerous outlaws ready to make a getaway in the event a ranger thought Callie was too close to one of the signs), while Julia climbed to the top.

After our hike was finished, I went back alone and hiked up while Julia and Callie spent time in the truck.  I completely understand the need for dogs to be leashed and fines for people who don’t pick up after their pets on a well-traveled trail, but a ban?  It’s one reason not to return.  People are capable of a lot more damage than dogs. The other reason that I wouldn’t camp here is the significant road noise in the campground from nearby Hwy13. Otherwise, the campground was lovely with well-spaced sites.

At this point, Julia felt that a lunch and locally-brewed beer was necessary.  I was not going to disagree.  We drove to the Dells for a light lunch at the Riverwalk Pub and then took a short walk along the river. Wisconsin Dells is a great place for water parks, go-cart tracks, and Ripleys Believe It or Not, but you have to search out the natural beauty.

We then headed over to Port Huron Brewing Company for a tasting flight of beers to share.  After trying the hefeweisen, amber, pale ale, ipa, and porter, we brought home a growler of the Twelve Bottom IPA for future consumption.

We finished the day with a nice nap before grilling some fish for dinner.  The yard work would have to wait another day.