The Devils Doorway and Balancing Rock – Devils Lake State Park, Wisconsin
| Date: | 6-19-2024 |
| Location: | Waterville Valley, NH |
| Distance: | 8.81 mi |
| Elevation Gain: | 1006′ |
| Total Time: | 5 hr 50 min |
| Parking: | 20+ cars |
It was our first morning in the Wisconsin Dells and Aunt Corey and I were up early to go climb up to the Devils Doorway in Devils State park. When we got up the sun was bright and the skies were blue. Temps were in the high 40’s when we got in the truck.
The trail head was only about 20 minutes from where we were staying. We wanted to make sure we got an early state because much of what we read said this was a popular trail. It was also somewhat technical so we figured there would be less people in the early morning.
We got to the state park about 7am and started hiking about 10 minutes after. The trail leave the park and crosses some rail road tracks. It continues in the woods for a little bit and then starts to climb through some rocky rubble.
From here the trails starts to climb through larger stone debris. The trail is kind of a make shift stone staircase that is now climbing moderately to steeply. The steps are not uniform and some of them are pretty big.
We know were starting to have some views and could see the elevation we had already climbed and also had a nice lookout over the Devils Lake. Soon after we could see Balancing Rock above us. We continued up the rocky stairs and came to some large bolders and rock ledges. We kept managing along until we got to a clearing then followed a heard path toward Balancing Rock.
This rock is truly balancing! It sits upon a flat rock and has a small base and gets taller and wider at the top. After a few pics we continued up. From here the trail is more in the woods and gets a little steeper and is a more direct approach.
Once we made it to the summit There is a nice clearing and view of the lake and state park. At the top the trail levels, out a bit. It is also roughly paved. Not sure if this is so it didn’t erode or if this was once a nice even paved sidewalk.
We moved along the paved ridgeline for a ways before we came to the Devils Doorway trail. This was not a long trail, and we were at the geological structure in no time. The sun was just starting to hit the rock and there were only a couple of other people there. After a few pics we continued and fished the trail loop before starting to head back down.
The way back seemed to go quicker on the ridge but when we got to the rocky sections, we were much slower. I must admit that I missed having my poles with me. On the way down there were a lot of people starting to climb up. We must have passed about 30 people at least.
We made it back to the bottom without incident. This was a short hike, but it had a lot to offer. It was not an easy hike but very enjoyable.
