Trip Date: July 14th-16th, 2017
I decided to stop by the Rocky Arbor State Park in Wisconsin Dells, WI for a hike and some alone time after spending most of the weekend in Madison. It was about 2 o’clock in the afternoon, partly cloudy, and warm temperatures. It was warm enough that it wasn’t too humid and was still comfortable. Although, that certainly didn’t stop pesky little flies and mosquitoes from bugging me during my hike around the park. The park itself is right off of Interstate 94, just a quick drive north towards Wisconsin Dells after exiting the highway. You do need to pay to park inside the park, but luckily the DNR has decided to start taking credit/debit cards as another form of payment. This is useful to me because I don’t carry cash on me the majority of the time. I decided to get the season pass instead since I’m going to be back at another state park soon for camping in September anyways.
When entering the park, the picnic area and a small parking lot is off to your left. If you go to the right, you’re going to the campground instead, which I didn’t know was also available in the park! The hiking path is short and goes in a circle. It is also connected to another path that goes to the campgrounds so make sure you pay attention to the signs when you reach a fork in the road. Parts of the path run near a creek, although it looks more like a marsh area than a creek, so do be careful of wet and muddy areas on the path. I usually keep my pair of Merrell hiking shoes in my trunk so I wore those on the hiking path, so if you don’t have hiking shoes/boots, be careful of slipping on mud.
The total hike took about an hour to go the full circle. You do have to climb stairs to get to the upper path. If you’re not in shape or don’t want to climb a few flights of stairs, I would suggest turning around to go back the other way if you’re already on the lower path. The upper path doesn’t have much to see besides…trees, dead and alive. Nothing too spectacular on the upper path so if you miss it, you aren’t missing much anyways.
I enjoyed the hike. It wasn’t as long as I expected and it had me sweating a bit too. I did become a bit paranoid about ticks so I had to do a full pat-down when I got back to the car. Relaxing and tranquil. Worth it!
