Parfrey’s Glen State Natural Area

 After 70 Hiking Tip:Bring a hiking pole and boots.

Hike Description: Parfrey’s Glen is Wisconsin’s first state natural area.  It is a narrow ravine carved from towering sandstone cliffs with the babbling Parfrey’s Glen Creek at its base.  State natural areas preserve unique habitats and in this case the glen’s cool, shady and moist environment shelters many unique and some rare plants for this part of Wisconsin as well as some rare bugs in the creek. It is a beautiful area with great huge quartzite boulders at stream level and trees growing out of the cliff sides above.  Mosses and ferns and a wide variety of other plants grow along the path and on the walls of the gorge.  There are a lot of liverworts growing on the walls.  I’ve heard of liverworts before but had never seen them, so that was exciting for me.

I hiked this trail with my women’s hiking group (all over 70) on October 5, 2022. The trail starts at a small parking lot off of County Highway DL near Merrimack, Wisconsin. The area is evidently associated with Devils Lake State Park and a parking sticker is required to park in the lot, but the lot fills easily and people also park alongside the county road.  The hike is 1.6 miles round trip (in and back) and ends at a small waterfall, though we did not get that far.  After severe flooding some years back, the bridges across the creek and board walk were washed out and have not been replaced, so the maintained path ends at the creek and you must scramble across rocks from there on.

The trail is handicapped accessible at the beginning with a wide paved path leading into the woods.  After awhile the pavement ends and the path, which is crushed gravel, follows the creek for awhile.

Then the path meets the creek and you must cross on rocks or walk through the shallow water.  Our group managed the first crossing, which was pretty narrow, by carefully stepping from stone to stone.  We are less spry than we used to be and for those with hiking poles, the crossing was slow and tricky and for those without poles, the last three to four feet were pretty much an out of control run. This first creek crossing brought us into what felt like the beginning of the gorge part of the hike and the views were pretty.

At the second crossing, however, we were stymied.  Our little group stood and contemplated for quite awhile about whether or not we wanted to cross - while younger folks traipsed by carrying their babies and their coffee across the narrow stream.  Here is what stymied us - to cross or not to cross??

A few people, without hiking poles or hiking boots, opted to avoid wet feet or potential falls and turned back at this point.  The rest of us, spurred by an alternate route that looked a bit easier, forged ahead.  I’m glad we did.  Around the corner, the gorge really became quite spectacular.

The walk after crossing the creek wasn’t too difficult to get into this part of the gorge.  There was a narrow path that followed the creek and climbed over medium  sized rocks.  However it wasn’t too long before we decided to turn back.  The photo below is where we stopped.  From here we would have needed to climb over that large boulder (or maybe around) and then there were steps with no railings that scaled along the edge of the cliff.  Our friends were waiting for us back at the car so we turned around and retraced our steps.  The creek crossings on the way back didn’t seem nearly as hard.  Once you’ve stepped off a rock and gotten your feet in the water, it doesn’t seem like such a scary outcome.  My boots, though not waterproof, have a pretty high sole and I managed to keep my feet dry even though I did step into the creek in shallow places. 

All in all, this was a beautiful hike.  I recommend bringing a hiking pole or two to help navigate stream crossings and rock climbing. Also allow more time than you might think so that you can go slowly.

Here are the driving directions:

Driving Directions