Admin note: The out & back from whatever parking area you choose need not be included in your time.
Description: Super fun quick loop in Southern Wisconsin that we really enjoy that has some actual elevation and rocks involved.
Devils Lake State Park is amazing and a BigTime favorite for our family.
We always start in the south shore parking lot head out toward the railroad tracks stay left and start your way up the carved in “steps.” It’s a real quad burner up the to the top.
Fingers crossed you don’t get stuck behind people trying to ascend or descend in flip flops while at max heart rate.
Either way get to the top of east bluff, past all the tourist lookouts turn left and hammer time.
Trail is actually a patchwork of paved substrate (probably for erosion purposes)(which is super slippy in winter without micro spikes) however still super fun.
Run North along the rim of the East Bluff and drop down into the North Shore parking area.
Across the North Shore beach to the far West end, then right up the trail to the West Bluff “stair” climb. (You can also run the “Boulder field” along the lake edge back to South Shore, just not as fun, shorter and no elevation.) At the top of the cut in “Stairs” just keep following the trail and you’ll keep going up without any real flats until you start going down and looping back around to the South Shore. The descent in this Counter Clockwise direction again in winter is slippy snowpack or ice. Super fast in summer.
Once at bottom just follow road along South end of the lake, eventually getting to the wooden boardwalk, past the canoe rental and bathrooms (also Ice Cream stand in summer weekends) and your back to the South Shore Parking Lot.
I would personally recommend changing into some boardies and purifying yourself in the crystal clear, cold waters of The Devils Lake.
Hope you enjoy this little Wisconsin gem as much as we do!
