Wisconsin’s Devil’s Lake State Park – beautiful, steep hikes and glorious views

Devil’s Lake State Park is in central Wisconsin north of Madison.  It is the largest state park in Wisconsin.  It has many trails for hiking and cross country skiing along/around the 360-acre lake and climbing the 500 foot tall rocky bluffs.  It has a northern and southern portions that can be walked between, or driven around (but not near the central lake – so much longer).  The lake areas at each end have swimming, boating, picnicking and souvenir/food stalls.

The park is open year-round, but in the summer months, the park is quite crowded and only those with monthly or yearly passes can enter.  After Labor Day, daily passes are available as the crowds have died down.

The park has a portion (about 11 miles) of the 1200 mile long “Ice Age Trail” which includes a pass by the beautiful Devil’s Doorway rock formation, right along the lake.

Additionally, the park has a rich history, and was named somewhat mistakenly based on the local Ho-Chunk native’s name for the lake that meant spirit or holy lake. Somehow that got mangled into Devil’s Lake and it stuck despite later renaming efforts. As a reminder of those days, there are effigy mounds of various types around the park with labels as to what they were.  These were religious sites for prayer and ceremonies for the local native tribes.

If you want to hike, I suggest bringing hiking poles as the trail is very steep up the bluffs. Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

The boulders have well done stone stairs for climbing them in some areas, but some are worn pretty smooth and can be slippery, even in dry conditions, so hiking poles could be very helpful.