Panther Creek State Park

GaiaGPS hiking data @ Panther Creek State Park

Yesterday was a “zero day” for hiking – Kelly had job interviews and I visited my family in Knoxville.  Late start today but we briefly visited Panther Creek State Park while still in the Morristown area.  We chose to do the Point Lookout Trail loop in a somewhat modified fashion due to road closings for tree … Read more

Burgess Falls State Park

Burgess Falls State Park - Hiking with Kelly & Reed

My friend Kelly finished work early and we finally got to hike together!  Due to limited daylight we headed to nearby Burgess Falls State Park which is south of Cookeville in Putnam County.  Reed a.k.a “Darkness“, the black lab in photos, loves hiking and is extremely well-behaved (although she gets slightly excited for squirrels).  A … Read more

Cummins Falls State Park

Cummins Falls State Park - View across the Blackburn Fork State Scenic River

After leaving Waterloo Falls, I was itching to do some actual hiking.  Next stop was Cummins Falls State Park which was only 15 minutes away by car.  Weather today was nearly perfect – sunny and about 60 degrees, which felt like summer compared to what I left in Wisconsin. I started by hiking the Upstream … Read more

Aztalan State Park

The final stop on this particular weekend tour was Aztalan State Park located east of Madison, WI.  I had known going in that this particular site wasn’t “epic” in any sense outside of the cultural/historical appreciation aspect and wasn’t expecting much.  Thankfully with that mindset I wasn’t disappointed. First – the rain.  I finally remembered … Read more

Rib Mountain State Park

Rib Mountain State Park - Blue/green hiking trail

Rain continued all night and into today with no sign of stopping.  Thanks to a friend’s advice from Idaho to “be here now”, there was no way I could let it stop me.  To begin my trip home, the next stop was Rib Mountain State Park.  This is a popular ski destination and is heavily … Read more

Dells of the Eau Claire River

Dells of the Eau Claire River - View looking downstream from bridge

Not sure I’ve mentioned this but waterfalls are pretty cool.  The area around north central Wisconsin has plenty of them too.  Next stop was the Dells of the Eau Claire River State Natural Area in Aniwa, WI (near Wausau).  I didn’t know much about this location before visiting, but glad I stopped here. I parked … Read more

Rib Falls

Rib Falls - Rib Falls / Wausau, WI

More heavy rains overnight continued the cold, wet conditions.  But if I let a little rain stop me nothing would get done.  So I pressed on and visited another small waterfall Rib Falls near Wausau, WI.  Falls can be accessed from the adjacent Rib Falls County Park and is a very short hike but somewhat difficult … Read more

Grandfather Falls

Grandfather Falls - Merrill, WI

Decided to keep chasing waterfalls (no, I’m not doing that intentionally).  Next stop was Grandfather Falls in Merrill, WI.  Like many of the other state parks and popular destinations, this site also crosses with the Ice Age Trail – something I would like to section hike but that’s far in the future. The falls are … Read more

Spirit Falls

Spirit Falls - Tomahawk, WI

Continuing my rainy & cold fall trip, I detoured again for another side quest to visit Wisconsin waterfalls and located Spirit Falls in Tomahawk, WI.  Falls are very easy to access – basically park at the nearby bar and walk 2 minutes to the Spirit River.  Water is moving quite fast and seems relatively deep … Read more