Devil's Lake State Park

Earlier today, I spent several hours in Devil's Lake State Park, the north end of which is about three miles south of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and which is built around its namesake lake.  There were several places within the park to which I wanted to hike.  These hikes began, as noted a few posts ago, by going uphill.  My first destination is officially known as Elephant Rock, but on GoogleMaps, it's called Bison Rock.  I started from a parking lot at the north end of the lake on the East Bluff Trail, and eventually hiked up to this group of rocks.

Further up the trail is a large boulder sitting on some smaller rocks and marred by graffiti.

Soon after encountering the above groups of rocks, I came upon Elephant Rock, a.k.a. Bison Rock.  In my opinion, the latter name fits better.

Near Elephant/Bison Rock, I found a place from which to take a picture of the lake and its environs.  That is indeed a railroad track on the near side of the lake.

After taking this picture, I retreated down to the parking lot, drove the Bigfootmobile over to the south side of the lake, and proceeded to hike northward on the West Bluff Trail.  I took this shot of a rocky outcrop, with the lake and its environs in the background.  You can again see the railroad track, this time on the far side of the lake toward the left.

After proceeding further along the West Bluff Trail, I took another shot of the lake and its environs.  Here you can see the track extending across the entire picture.

I eventually found my intended target, a spire of rock officially called Prospect Point, but which GoogleMaps calls Cleopatra's Needle.  It is seen between and behind the rocks in the foreground.

After retreating down the West Bluff Trail, I drove eastward to a large parking area still on the south side of the lake, from which I started hiking on the Balanced Rock Trail to see its namesake rock.  But first, I had to pass a bird-shaped effigy mound.

After the mound, I had to cross the railroad track.  If you've read this far, you've seen it from a distance.  Here it is up close.  At another crossing near the north parking lot, a "no trespassing" sign indicates that it belongs to the Wisconsin & Southern Railroad.

After a short distance from the track, the real trail began.  It's basically a rock stairway built into a rockpile on the side of a hill, and in my opinion, the most difficult trail of the day.  On the way up, I took yet another pic of the lake.

After some significant huffing and puffing, I reached Balanced Rock, which perched on a flat rock surface.  Of all the Balanced Rocks that I've seen, such as the one in West Virginia this past June or the famous one in Arches National Park in Utah, this one was by far the most difficult to reach.

Soon after reaching Balanced Rock, I started back down.  Because of the relatively treacherous trail condition, I couldn't relax as I did on the retreating portions of my first two hikes.  While taking a breather, I encountered a woman who admitted being over 20 years my junior, and who stated that she was a physical therapist.  She said that she was impressed that an old guy like me (not her actual words) could hike on this difficult trail.  I told her that if I'm any indication, that she'll be able to go on this hike 20-plus years from now (not my exact words, either).  While taking a long break at the bottom of the rock staircase, I decided that I'd had enough.  I drove back to the north side of the lake, where the concessions were open, replaced some my lost calories, and then drove the Bigfootmobile back to my undisclosed location.

If you go to the link at the top of this post and browse around, you can find maps, including one of the park, which shows you where I hiked.  If anyone is wondering what sort of "science" this post involves, it would have to be geology with all these rocks.