Posts tagged #deciduous

Brady's Bluff and The Fairytale Forest in Wisconsin

Adventure Tuesday

Brady's Bluff - The Fairytale Forest

At Perrot State Park, where we went camping a few weekends ago, there are a few very short hiking trails. One of the park rangers pointed out a short hike, up in elevation, the evening we arrived. He looked at his watch and said well if you are fast and set up your camp, maybe you'll make it in time to see the sunset. I decided that I didn't want to bike over there to watch the sunset, but after seeing the low sun and the show it already had started, I changed my mind pretty fast. After arriving at the campsite, W and I had a beer and then I biked to Brady's Bluff by myself and took pictures of the sunset.

I literally ran up all the stairs so that I wouldn't miss it.

It felt like I was running up a tree house, these pictures don't give the reality justice, even though they are really pretty!

I sent pictures to W of the sunset and he was regretting his decision so much that we went there the next day too. The view and everything was still spectacular, of course.

The bluff itself consists of sandstone that has ben capped by a certain dolomite, Prairie du Chien dolomite.

In the mid 1930's, and the depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built large parts of this trail. During the depression the CCC was formed, intended to decrease the number of unemployed people, conserve nature and to "keep youth off the streets". The results at Brady's Bluff are pretty spectacular.

These stone steps covers large parts of the trail, and today of course, some areas have been reinforced, and also new wooden steps have been added (I guess they now realized how heavy those rocks must have been and that few people would want to carry those stones up the bluff..)

Just look at all those beautiful steps, built in with nature. The trail itself started down low of course, but very fast the bluffs and the thick vegetation took over as you zig zagged and circled to get up and up and up.

I know I say this every single time, but it's so green and lush here. It's quite amazing.

We got this amazing view again, well again for me of course, but the first time for W.

Do you have a new hiking route you've discovered lately?

Hiking Magnolia Bluff County Park in Wisconsin

Adventure Tuesday

Magnolia Bluff

As I have mentioned earlier there are two different types of parks, State Parks where you pay an entrance fee, and then the County Parks that are completely free!!

There aren't any real mountains in Wisconsin, but there are some cliffs, bluffs and hills. This hike is literally just up a hill/bluff where you can see some views, and then the trail continues into the forest.

But what a forest. It's a beautiful oak forest, mixed with other deciduous species.

As many other trails we have ventured out on, these trails are used both by hikers and and cross country skiers during the wintertime. Here, you can also run into a horse or two, as there is excellent horseback riding too, and who wouldn't want to ride along into a deep oak forest?

More trees, as we continued our walk, and more plants, fungi and insects! Here in Wisconsin there are lots of different types of vines, growing up the tree trunks, they are so pretty. You can see their attachment to the tree trunks, it's pretty fascinating.

Of course I couldn't help myself and took a lot of pictures of all the tiny little details I could see.

Eventually at the end of the trail we got into this interesting pine forest, which must have been planted, but we aren't sure. After that, we arrived at the same place where we started, at the bluff. One thing is for sure though, it was a very pretty walk through the forest!

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