Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the traprock in the gorge walls for road building. The gorges here in the mid-19th century
held the world's largest logjam—150 million board feet, jammed together for three miles
upriver, taking 200 men six weeks to disentangle.
The Dalles of St. Croix, a 200-foot gorge of basalt palisades below the falls, draws Spi-
derman climbers. The
Potholes Trail
is a funky traipse along rounded chasms formed by
glacial backwash. Along other trails, oddball hoodoo formations appear; the most photo-
graphed is probably
Old Man of the Dalles,
and you'll see why. Other formations are seen
from the river south of here, including a 60-foot-high Devil's Chair (well, what's left—it
actually tumbled in 2004); The Cross, about 15 feet high; and Angle Rock, at the sharp
bendintheriver.Adozentrailssnakeforatotalofeightmilesthroughthe1,400-acrepark.
The final link in Wisconsin's
National Ice Age Scientific Reserve,
the park has an inter-
pretive center (715/597-3069, 8:30am-4:30pm daily Memorial Day weekend-Labor Day,
shorter times the rest of the year) with exhibits, films, displays, and even a mural or two.
The family campgrounds have great isolated camping and a nice sandy beach not far away.
Reservations(888/947-2257,
wisconsinstateparks.reserveamerica.com
,reservationfee$10,
non-residents $14 and up/night, daily admission $10) are a very good idea.
BEAR SAFETY
Wisconsin's secondary mammal is the lumbering, doe-eyed
Ursus americanus,
the
black bear. In the north, chances are very good you'll spot one.
Now, is this a good thing or a bad thing? No one's ever been killed by a black
bear in Wisconsin, but attacks do happen. (Some two dozen people have been killed
by black bears in the United States.)
Traditionally, Wisconsin's black bears have been found roughly north of a line
fromSt.CroixFallsalongtheMississippieasttoGreenBay.Numbershaveexploded
from 5,000 to between 22,000 and 40,000 (so an astonished Department of Natural
Resources admitted in 2010—they had thought just 15,000), so they're migrating
south again and have been spotted just a county or two from Illinois.
RUN OR CLIMB...OR NEITHER?
The old joke: The black bear will come up the tree after you; the grizzly bear will
just knock it down. Seriously, knowing what to do and what
not
to do is paramount.
Inquire about recent bear activity. Look for bear activity on the trail: scat, diggings,
