A Day At Devil’s Lake State Park

After having a late dinner in the Dells we drove back to our campsite. Our campsite was on a grassy hill and short walk to the bathroom and shower area. We got to the campsite just as it was getting dark and of course, we could not find our flashlight, luckily the people in the campsite next to us helped us put up our tent just before a big storm arrived. Less than 5 minutes after our tent was set up a huge thunder and lightning storm arrived. It was pouring rain and eventually even large hail! We decided to use this time to stop at the local Walmart to buy a few things we had forgot to bring with us. After a scary drive back to the campsite (it was raining and hailing so hard we could not see out the window), we waited in our car until about 1:30 am before the storm had stopped and we could sleep in the tent.

The next morning was hot and sunny! We were only staying at Devil’s Lake for the one night so we quickly packed our tent and then went to McDonald's for a quick breakfast and to use the free wifi. After our breakfast and doing our hair in the parking lot (Yes I did my hair in the McDonalds parking lot!) we were ready to start our day!

Before going hiking we stopped at the visitors center to get a copy of the trail map and pick the best hiking trail. Devils Lake State Park has 29 miles of trails! You can view the trail descriptions here.  We chose to go on the East Bluff trail since it considered an easier trail that was only 1.7 miles long. Along the trail, we got to see lots of great views of Devil’s Lake from above. At some point during our hike we lost the trail, but after being lost for an hour we found it. During our hike, we also saw the devil's doorway rock formation. At the end of our hike, we decided to take the potholes trail to get back down to the bottom. The potholes trail is 0.3 miles long and was very steep with lots of stairs. If you are interested in a challenging trail I would recommend it. We walked along the railroad tracks next to the lake to get back to the beach area. Even though we got lost on the trail and the hike ended up taking us 4 hours instead of 1 ½  hours we still had a great time and took lots of great photos! While I was hiking I used my Adidas drawstring bag to carry my water and other essentials. You can find one like it on Amazon here.

Since our hike took longer than expected when did not have time to go swimming like we had planned. Even though we did not have time for swimming we still wanted to check out the lake and beach area. Devil’s Lake is a 360-acre lake that is surrounded by 500-foot bluffs. Next to the beach area, there was a nice gift shop and restaurant. The beach also had free wifi! There were lots of people swimming and out kayaking on the lake. Even though the beach area was kinda small it did not feel crowded. We got our feet in the water and took some fun pictures in the lake before leaving for our next destination of the trip.

Since we only stayed at Devil’s Lake for one night there are still lots of things there I would like to do. If had an extra day at Devil’s I would have loved to hike the other trails and have time to go swimming in the lake. I would also have liked to go kayaking.