We woke up early Friday morning so we could get a jump on the labor day traffic and get our relaxing weekend started in Wisconsin’s southwest region.  We made it through before the herds of labor day weekenders and got to our first location on the trip, Parfay’s Glen. 

  Parfay’s Glen has some unique features that belong to this particular gorge in the Baraboo hills. This is the first state Natural Area of Wisconsin which has Cambrian strata conglomerate stone layers made of quartzite and sandstone that have been embedded into the gorge walls. 

 We hiked up and through the canyon past the waterfall about a quarter mile and completed our traverse back.  The groups of people started showing up there ( which was expected) but it wasn't the madhouse carnival ride line it could have been which was nice.   The canyon provides an opportunity for rare species of flora to grow on the walls as seepage and cooler conditions can be found within the gorge.  We were in the gorge for a couple hours and decided to head out knowing that the checkout lines will be flowing with humanity.  We wanted to make sure we got to Wildcat Mountain State Park before nightfall.



    After a few wrong mis orientations with Iphone GPS and a camping stop, we made it to Wildcat Mountain State Park.  We had 8 more people showing up so we got a group site which turned out to be a really nice large camping site with lots of room.  After we set up camp, we got to the Observation Point where we were able to see quite a distance into the hills of Ontario Wisconsin.

We could see the Kickapoo River from the top meandering its way through the valley below.  We decided to drive down to see the river and check out the "Ice Cave".  The Ice Cave was a depression in a small bluff with a dripping waterfall that seems to flow after a rain storm.  I wasn't rally impressed with the Ice Cave and I don't even consider this feature to be an Ice Cave.  It is worth checking out if nothing else is going on as it is 5 minutes from the state park and a 5 minute walk to this feature.  We stayed up until everyone showed up while we watched the stars, gazed at the  lighting clouds from the huge storms passing to the south of us, as well as the faint site of the Milky Way Galaxy.  We all got to bed around 2 AM and woke up super early for the main event of the weekend, The Kickapoo River. 

FLICKR PARFAY'S GLEN: http://www.flickr.com/photos/exploration-worldwide/sets/72157635363981077/

FLICKR WILDCAT MOUNTAIN STATE PARK: http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=one_set72157635365171283