West Bluff – An Autumn Journey

West Bluff, Devils Lake State Park

West Bluff, Devils Lake State Park © 2013 Bo Mackison

“Walking shares with making and working that crucial element of engagement of the body and the mind with the world, of knowing the world through the body and the body through the world.” ~ Rebecca Solnit

There is something about hiking in a natural setting that is grounding and restorative.

The pounding of city pavement is an altogether different experience than walking upon earthen paths, climbing rocks dispersed in the last glacial age*, scrambling along boulders that eventually dammed glacial flow and created the lake I hiked along. (Devils Lake, the central feature of Devils Lake State Park in south central Wisconsin.)

In an age where many of us take our cars to get just about anywhere, and the average American walks 1.6 miles a week, mostly in malls, grocery stores and walking back and forth from parking lots to buildings. it is easy to forget that a day spent in nature is not only rejuvenating, it is a basic human need.

I am, by choice, a slow walker.

I do not get pleasure from counting steps and computing miles. But I do know I need to walk every day in the natural world, even if I am only walking through a nearby nature conservancy,  along a path in a prairie restoration, even in the neighborhood park, a place filled with the recreational amenities of a neighborhood — playground, ball field, basketball hoops — but also open spaces and fields of grasses.

I take my time on these walks.

This is not aerobic exercise, but an exercise for my senses. I see a forest in shades of yellow, gold, orange, red, purple and every color of green and brown imaginable. The wind picks up and blows cool against my face. The sun passes in and out of colors, forcing me to perform an awkward dance of sorts while walking the paths — coat on, coat off, coat on again.

I pick up leaves of oaks and maples, the textures soft and pliable, their colors brilliant and mottled with specks of decay. I kick the piles of leaves at my feet and I gaze at the faraway countryside from the top of the bluffs, land quilted in peak autumn colors – a few farm fields, patches of hardwood forests, prairies, and rolling hills.

A smorgasbord for the senses.

*Wisconsin Glacier – 110,000 to 12,000 years ago. Not only did its receding create the lake that I hiked around, it also created such notable features as the Great Lakes, Long Island, Cape Cod, and Niagara Falls.

Devil’s Lake State Park in Autumn

Autumn in Devil's Lake State Park

Autumn in Devil’s Lake State Park © 2011 Bo Mackison

Perhaps you have noticed that even in the very lightest breeze you can hear the voice of the trees; this we understand is its prayer to the Great Spirit, for not only men, but all things and all beings pray to Him continually in different ways.  ~ Black Elk

Anyone who lives near Devil’s Lake State Park in south-central Wisconsin and has even a passing interest in nature makes time in their schedules for a ride through this iconic park in autumn. It never fails to please.

The entrance speaks of a grandeur from a different era–huge stone pillars designed and constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) in the 1930s–welcome everyone to the beauty inside the park. Even the South Shore Road winds through hardwood forests on its way to the glacial lake, the park’s namesake. Yellows and oranges are the predominant colors, but flashes of sunlight make it an otherworldly, shadowy experience.

I’ve walked through these woods–part of the Ice Age Scenic Trail–for many decades. Before I moved to Wisconsin, my family took many vacation trips to Devil’s Lake, an easy trip from Illinois. And in the last four decades, I’ve spent hundreds of days exploring the woods, cliffs, piles of boulders, the lake and its beaches.

A wonderful place for an explore of any kind.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer, owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. One of her goals is to visit and photograph every state park in Wisconsin. She is at #14.

The Non-Conformist

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Gazing Upwards © 2007

Read, every day, something no one else is reading. Think, every day, something no one else is thinking. Do, every day, something no one else would be silly enough to do. It is bad for the mind to continually be part of unanimity. ~ Christopher Morley

Love that, in a mass of autumn trees in oranges and yellows, there is one tree still holding out for a few more days of summer. Photo taken at Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wisconsin on a perfect late October day

 

Autumn Yellows in Devil’s Lake State Park

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Curving Stone Wall © 2007

Yellow maple leaves
Crunching and browning on road
Stone wall gently curves.

A perfect late October day for a road trip to Devil’s Lake State Park near Baraboo, Wisconsin. Autumn color is at peak and yellows and oranges stretch from forest floor to sky along North Shore Drive