Mill Bluff State Park and Straight Lake State Park #41 and #42

Mill Bluff State Park was just beautiful on the day we visited in October, best month of the year! At this point, G still enthusiastically says, "Let's do this", when we ask him if he wants to visit another state park, so it's all systems go. (Of course, as with all things "toddler" this will change in no time, and wait until you see the photos!) Mill Bluff  State Park was practically deserted on a Friday in October, there were two other cars in the parking area, but we didn't encounter another soul.


This park is part of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, and protects several sandstone bluffs that formed as sea stacks approximately 12,000 years ago. The highest bluff, Mill Bluff, is 120 feet high, and offers views of the runway at nearby Volk Field, as well as the other bluffs in the park (and the interstate if you really wanted to get a good view of that feature) :)  It seemed to be a nice, moderate to small sized park with 21 campsites and a clear 2.5 acre spring fed pond and beach that is undoubtedly highly used in the summer time.


For some reason, Mill Bluff just seemed perfect to me on this day. It was sunny, the colors were beautiful, and we were able to really take the time to absorb the beauty of central Wisconsin. Perhaps I'm waxing poetic as we come to the end of our journey, but it seemed the perfect place to be at that time. At the top of the bluff, after climbing a picturesque stone staircase, we found a tree that had a chain link fence right through it! We lingered as much as we could, exploring the concrete and wood picnic shelter with a massive stone fireplace at the base of Mill Bluff, but soon had to leave. Next stop this same day was one of the newest parks to the system, Straight Lake State Park.

Straight Lake State Park is just in development, there really isn't a sign or trails or anything set-up yet, just a lot of construction vehicles, which to G, was better than a state park at this point in our journey. When this park is developed, it will be awesome. We hiked a little bit around the lake, took some pictures with the diggers, and headed to our next stop, Interstate State Park!