The Weekend. Sept 6-8, 2019

We’ve hit that quiet season between summer and fall color crazy. For the next 2-3 weeks, things will slow way down here in the Baraboo Hills. That said, the seasonal orchards and pumpkin patches and corn mazes are all opening now for the fall season. So here are a few things going on this weekend.

Oh, and before we jump in.. I want to thank you! August was the busiest August ever for this website on the way to what may be our busiest year ever. Since we started this project in 1996, I have always amazed and thankful that so many of you choose DevilsLakeWisconsin.com when planning your trips to our area! I’m sure that brings our sponsors joy as well! 🙂 So again, thank YOU.

At Devil’s Lake State Park

Concessions

There are new hours at Devil’s Lake’s North Shore Concessions and the South Shore store is most-likely closed for the season. We’ve updated the hours here.

Trail Conditions

Most trails are still in good summer condition, however, there are a couple of notes. First, watch out for the bees near the corner of the Balanced Rock Trail and the Grottos trail. They are living near the foundation of the historic Kirk Farm. One hiker reported that his group had over 34 stings! So be cautious over there! It’s also a great time to go check out the flowers on the Roznos Meadow section of the Ice Age Trail. If you go, be aware that there are some wet and muddy sections that are hard to hike around on northern third of the trail near South Shore Road.

Park Activities & Events

Saturday, September 7th the Nature Center will be doing Monarch Tagging at 1:00 pm (Out on Steinke Basin) and the Madison Astronomy Society will be in at 8 pm for some night sky watching. (IF we can see the night sky!) These are both really fun family events. Also, it’s the last Animal Feeding Day at the Nature Center for the season. You can get a full list of events and details here.

Also on Saturday, the Wisconsin Climbers Association is putting on the Altay Classic & Bouldering Devil’s Lake Climbing Competiton from 8 am to 3 pm. Click here for details.

Mirror Lake State Park Activities

Saturday, September 7th at Mirror Lake there will be a kayak tour at 8 am. You need to pre-register at Park Office as they limit the tour to 10 kayaks. Meet at the boat landing, look for the Naturalist Flag. Then at 1 pm the naturalist will be at the beach doing a “Fungus Among Us” drop-in program.

Activities Around The Area

Down on the square in Baraboo the Farmer’s Market starts at 7:30 am. There’s lots of fresh “veg” out there right now. Fall is a great time to visit the market. Saturday night in Downtown Baraboo, there is a free outdoor concert called the “Foo Fest” which will be raising money for the Baraboo Fired Department. (For park fans, note, our ropes rescue team!!) Madison County will be headlining this year’s event…Abby Spencer will be opening at 5:30 pm! No Ticket Sales this year…Ho-Chunk & Brothers On Oak are sponsoring the entire event…The show is FREE!!! 100% of the beer and food sales go to the Baraboo Fire Department. Here’s the FooFest Facebook page.

Also, in the area, they’ll be “Boozen with the Big Cats at Wisconsin Big Cat Rescue & Educational Center in Rock Springs. Here’s that info.

My Last Words for September

Here in the Baraboo Hills region, the kids are now all back to school. The streets have quieted down, but the weekends can still be crazy busy if the weather is nice. Once we get closer to peak colors in October, all bets are off!

This is also the time of year when my wife and I head out west for a bit of RR after a long summer. On our never-ending quest to visit all of our National Parks (We’re now at 17), we’ll be road-tripping to the Pacific Northwest. Along the way, we’ll have a few other cool stops as well. Our goal is to add 5 new parks to the list. These trips always help put our daily lives, centered around Devil’s Lake State Park into perspective. It’s way to easy to live in your own echo chamber these days, so it’s nice to get out see other ways that things are done in other busy parks, and in the communities that surround them.

If you’d like to follow along on our travels for the next couple of weeks, just check in on our socials. You can follow Skillet Creek on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube. (Mostly Instagram for the trip.) Otherwise, we’ll see you back here at the end of the month!