Chasing another waterfall on Iron County Forest lands, this time at Rouse Falls. Due to heavy overnight rains the tracks here are mostly mud so I opted for the mountain bike. Pay close attention at the first fork in the road and STAY LEFT if you don’t like mud.
I did not pay attention and ended up trying to go through the mud ponds. About halfway through I checked GPS and confirmed this is a bad idea.
A strange sighting on my journey was another guy walking the trail in flip flops and swim trunks. Apparently his group got their truck stuck in the mud on the way to swim in the creek. No cell service out here so he was walking home 2 miles.
Anyways now back on the correct path I reached what looks like a newly built bridge crossing the creek. The falls are just off to the right. Appears they are grading new roads through the area – not sure if for home development, or maybe Iron County is making the trails more accessible.
About 50-100 yards into the woods I located the falls. Of all Wisconsin waterfalls this one is definitely unique for the geological formation. Not sure I’ve seen one with such cubic structure, guessing this is some type of balastic/volcanic rock?
Downstream views aren’t anything spectacular but do show the large cubic fragments of stone.
Video
Here’s a short video of the falls in action and my journey to get there. Lots of black flies, mosquitoes, and mud prevented me from capturing more (also all my GoPro batteries died).
Hiking
Be prepared for a rough trip. I parked back on Casey Sag Road and took the mountain bike due to the mud. You can see in the map view where I took the wrong path – don’t do that route.
