devil’s lake oak forest is a southern dry-mesic forest of red oak and red maple, with some older open-grown white oaks. all situated on terminal moraine that had likely blocked the gorge thru which the wisconsin river used to run and which now is the home of devil’s lake. the forest is flanked by devil’s lake access roads, which was different for a sna, but i’m glad it’s protected.

this was when the day started getting really hot, though the part of the forest that butts up against east bluff and the grottos trail was mercifully cool. the biggest discovery of the walk was american cancer-root (or bear cone), a chlorophyl-less plant that is parasitic on oak roots. very cool.

i’ll once again link to my brother’s “sna soundscape” from the last post (east bluff), as a couple of the field-recorded sounds were from this forest as well. (by the by, funny story: the long title of the audio track comes from the thwarted third hike of the day we attempted. the road into the last sna was closed, so we walked in, but then we saw that there were a large number of caterpillars hanging down from the canopy on silk threads, secreting some kind of white, frothy substance and clearly doing something important for their life cycles. we abruptly abandoned the hike after the realization that they were, in fact, all around us, though we had initially stopped because we saw only a few. it was strange.)

a.

moss fronds drape

the dry creek’s banks

cool in the grotto

b.

bear cone inflorescence

forcing the forest floor

root kissing root unseen

the east bluff that flanks devil’s lake is the monadnock of my dreams. i’ve been hiking it since i can remember, with my brother, parents, and grandparents, then friends, my wife, and my kids too. (by the by, a monadnock is a residual hill or mountain that has been buried by sediment but then unearthed by erosion and remains b/c it’s tougher than the other materials around it.) the baraboo hills, of which the east bluff is a part, formed almost 2 billion years ago, when the baraboo quartzite metamorphosed and then uplifted in this area of what would become wisconsin.

the east bluff offers spectacular views of devil’s lake, the surrounding valleys and bluffs, the johnstown terminal moraine, and the wisconsin river. in addition to its dramatic quartzite cliffs, outcroppings, and talus slopes, a prairie, pygmy forest, southern forest, and bedrock glades lie atop the bluff too. the alaskan grotto is a linear cavernous feature along the bottom of the south slope, and rounded “potholes” formed by rocks tumbling in moving water lie along one sheer trail. (that’s where i proposed to my wife.)

it’s always a treat and an honor to hike east bluff, but this was an especially fine walk/climb since it was the first time my brother and i have hiked there since the pandemic began. and, courtesy of my brother and spontaneous response to bird call, the “sna poems” will now have an occasional additional feature, the “sna soundscapes,” ambient tracks composed by him with found-sounds from the sna’s we visit. you can listen to this site’s soundscape—featuring bird calls, insect droning, and the sound of human hand on 1.7-billion-year-old quartzite—here. enjoy!

a.

talus slope

turkey vulture—

homecoming

b.

no word

for the sensation

of sole on lichen

c.

spider wort commands the prairie

amid the drone of insect life

earth age rock stand

d.

wisconsin a ribbon beyond

johnstown moraine below

ocean striation underfoot