Packed up camp at Pattison State Park and hit the road in search of new hiking and waterfalls. Today started off with more of a whimper than a bang with three complete failures. Why am I sharing this? Definitely not for the (lack of) photos, that’s for sure. Mainly to show that even in failure I still learned lessons and had fun – two main components to a successful adventure. And in the words of the Terminator “I’ll be back.”
Buckley Falls
Located on Buckley Creek in Wascott, Wisconsin near Moose Junction is supposed to be a small 4 foot waterfall called Buckley Falls. From S. Mail Road you need to head west on Buckley Island Road until it ends then hike a short distance to the falls. Major issue is that several spots were washed out and replaced with power-soft sand that my stock ’18 Forester (on OE road tires at this time) weren’t well suited for the task. Being alone, no cell reception, miles from another person (presumably), and no 4×4 recovery gear sounded like a bad idea today.
Little Falls Lake Rapids
Including this in the fail parade mainly just to document for other explorers. Little Falls Lake Rapids is found within Willow River State Park which I had previously visited in 2017. At the time, Little Falls Lake was fully drained for repairs to the dam structure. Not really a failure on my part here other than lack of research – according to park staff dam repairs won’t be complete for another 2 years.
Buttermilk Falls
My attempt at Buttermilk Falls in Osceola, Wisconsin is a three-part fail (jumping ahead to consolidate my fails – technically this was from July 6th). First, the road leading to these falls was badly washed out from recent storms hence another 4×4 fail. Second, I had a loose idea of how to access this spot but not exact directions and I didn’t do any scouting on satellite beforehand. Had I known how close I was, I may have risked driving this potholed mud road (again by myself, no recovery gear, road tires…dumb). But because I didn’t scout first, I took myself out of the game as I couldn’t risk the unknown. Third? I have a more definitive guide book for this spot but left it at home. Definitely will be going back here to settle the score!
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