Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Of Devils, Dunes and Death-Defying Roller Coasters - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago, I joined my brother and his wife on a wonderful weekend trip to a place called 'Devil's Lake'. We rented a car, packed our picnic lunches and headed off on an unusually sunny saturday morning from our base camp in Milwaukee. After a lot of insisting, requesting and pleading, I convinced my brother to hand over the wheel to me, all the while assuring them that I was an excellent driver and that they needn't worry. During the entire journey, I would repeatedly tell them, "I did not make a single mistake in my driving test. Not one!", to which my brother would immediately retort, "This is the real world. This is the city of Milwaukee and not a village like your Lafayette." After two hours of careful and diligent driving, we managed to reach the lake without an dents, scratches or bruises. Phew!



(Pic 1 : Panoramic View of Devil's Lake. Click to enlarge.)

Situated at a comfortable two hour drive from our base camp in Milwaukee, the Devil's Lake is a sparkling body of fresh water abandoned in the midst of a lush green hilly forest by the glacial retreat during the last known Ice Age. Curious as to why it was called the Devil's Lake, I scrutinized the horizon to look for some kind of a devil-related formation. Perhaps, the lake had a shape of the Devil's horns, or maybe the hills surrounding it would resemble the Devil's pitchfork. But sadly, my imagination proved to be wastefully vivid. Only later would I come to know (upon reading the Wikipedia entry after coming back home) that the name was given by the Ho-Chunk Red Indian tribe of Wisconsin, because they often used to hear the voices of the 'spirits' from the lake. Ah! I wish I knew that before...would have done a little snooping around!

The lake and its adjoining forested area were converted into a Wisconsin State Park, and like all other state parks that I have visited before, the place retained its pristine beauty despite the hordes of tourists who flocked to this area. After relishing a wonderful picnic lunch prepared by my sister-in-law, we decided to do some trekking. With water-bottles, maps and insect repellent sprays clutched in our hands, and with the intoxicating taste of tamarind rice and mango pickle fresh in our mouths, we headed off on the 'Trail of the Balanced Rock'.

The trail first led us through a twisted pathway of fresh and damp undergrowth and then almost a vertical climb over the surface of the tallest hill that adjoined the lake. The upward climb was tiresome and scary. With nothing to hold on but the wet and slippery rocks alongside, the trek squeezed the juices out of us. This trail was marked as a 'difficult trail' on the map. But the very fact that it was mentioned as a 'trail' meant that it could be traversed without any equipment.
"This should've been marked over-difficult", I complained. But then I saw a horde of Chinese tourists that included young kids (the kind who go to kindergarten) and elderly adults (the kind who sit on the porch and tell stories to their grandchildren), happily leaping forward, without the slightest of fatigue. It was then that I shut up and continued trekking forward or upward or whichever it was!

We were so engrossed on our trek that we completely missed the detour that we had to take to go to the Balanced Rock. And so, instead of posing with the 'Balanced Rock', grinning from head to toe, for a facebook profile pic, I had to contend with reading its description on the map, which went something like this : " The Balanced Rock is a natural rock formation wherein a huge boulder is being balanced at the tip by a small pebble", or something of that sort.


The trail became more and more vertical as we moved ahead, the boulders got sharper and steeper. At one point, we heard a huge ruckus of excited voices and clunking metal. On a small landing at the base of the ragged vertical cliff face, we saw a group of professional mountain climbers scurrying about with their equipment. While some of them attached harnesses and began climbing the sheer face of the cliff with their bare hands and feet, others swung like pendulums bouncing off the craggy wall as they rappelled down from the top. For the real professionals, these might have been amateur mountain climbers, but for us, they were seriously professional!

And finally after almost an hour long trek, we the summit of the hill. The view from the top was spectacular. We could see the shapes of tiny little sail-boats and kayaks that bobbed up and down like a child's bathtub toys, over the calm waters of the lake whose water shimmered under the setting sun. Surrounding the circular lake, like a protective barrier, were the groups of hills and hillocks, not unlike the one we were on, but smaller. The hills were clad in the green as the tree-tops looked like one insanely huge broccoli farm. I stood at the cliff, going as close to the edge as my mind dared me, and looked down at the magnificent sight, feeling that I was at the top of the world. Just then, I heard the shrieks of an eagle. I looked up to see a group of those majestic predatory birds, circling high over us, unconcerned with the activities down below, yet keeping a watchful eye.
Perhaps, man can never consider himself above nature!

(Pic 2 : Mountain climbers rappel down from a cliff)


It was a pleasure trekking on the flat plateau-like surface of the hill top. Although the trail was riddled with small pebbles, centipedes and dangerous-looking ants, the trek came as much-awaited relief for our knees hurt after the strenuous uphill climb. Disappointed that we missed the 'Balanced Rock', we moved on to the next 'attraction' of the park - The Devil's Archway.


(Pic 3 : Sunset over Devil's Archway)

The Devil's Archway was a natural rock outcropping that jutted out from the cliff forming an archway that resembled the symbol 'pi'. The top part of the arch was about 20 feet above the surface. Although it was not as magnificent as it was 'marketed' to be, the place indeed had its own charm and splendor.

After a brief rest and photography sessions with the Devil's Archway, we decided to begin our descent. While one part of me said, "Let's go back the same way and get down fast" the other said, "what's the point of going back on the same path? Adventure lies in finding a new one! And of course, nothing can be worse than the Balanced Rock Trail!"

Only after fifteen minutes or so, did I realize how wrong I was. We had planned to take an 'easy trail', (as it was shown in the map) that led all the way the along the circumference of the hill gently sloping downward through a mud track. Although it was longer than all the other trails, it was definitely more 'hospitable'. But owing to a misplaced signboard on a fork, we ended up taking another 'difficult' trail!

The descent along this 'difficult trail' was even more treacherous. The rocks in this side of the hill were mossy and slippery. The fact that I was wearing running shoes didn't help either. Grasping for potential hand-holds and foot-holds, we slowly made our descent. Suddenly, the dirt pathway that guided us ended abruptly at a cliff with nothing in front except the steep rocky slope and the thick canopy down below. The slope was littered with huge boulders, native rock of the hill that had probably been exposed by landslides.

"There's no trail ahead. It just ended!" I shouted back to my companions.
"According to the map, there is a trail. Just keep going forward," came their reply.
"WTF! Just come and look for yourselves!" I almost shouted out.
When they arrived at my vantage point, my sister-in-law pointed to the jagged rocks on the slope and said, "That's the trail."
"What? You mean, we have to climb down those rocks?"
Both of them solemnly nodded.


(Pic 4 : Our descent over the rocky slope)


Although I was tired and weary, the fear of falling down and getting impaled like the Prince of Persia, recharged my adrenaline. And after a nerve-racking 15 minutes of descent, we managed to reach the forest floor safely.

The last trek of our journey was a trail through the canopy and back to the central picnic area where we had parked our car. The birds chirped around us, and rivulets of fresh water flowed about happily. Most of the trail was covered by the thick forest canopy, but at some places the golden rays of the setting sun managed to pierce the tree cover, casting glowing yellow spotlights on the ground. This final trail proved to be the most pleasurable, even more so, since we were adorned with an unwavering sense of self-satisfaction...the satisfaction of conquering Devil's Lake!


(Pic 5 : The jungle trail)

2 comments:

  1. Thou shall never go 'trailing' on a full full stomach.

    Thou shall only climb with proper footwear.. or go bear foot.

    - my lessons from the day!:D

    ReplyDelete