The opening in the trees calls to me. The rustling of leaves as they become crisper and begin to sunset with the start of the fall season. And my friends are calling me to keep moving along the path like a pack of wolves. We begin up a hill of step-like rocks, like the stairway to Heaven. And at the top of these steps, we find a small gap in the side of the rocky bluff. We crawl into it, moving through the cold inside of the rock as it gets more and more narrow and eventually closes off. We turn back, hearing our steps move away from us and then back again as the sound shoots out of the cave. 

Once outside, we continue upward, rays of sunlight beaming down on us through the cracks in the treetops. We come to a halt once again at an opening in the trees on the cliff side of the path. A landscape image appears, Devil’s Lake conquering all of the space below us, and views of trees and rocks take over the vast land beyond. Two hawks glide over us as we look out on the lake. They cross paths and circle our position like they are deciding whether to let us pass. We pick ourselves up and keep moving.

We near the peak of the path and find a small opening between the rocky wall of the bluff and some trees and make our way down. We follow the wall down as the trees on the right disappear and an amazing view of the whole park enters our field of view, perfectly capturing the beauty of Wisconsin. And standing in front of us is a giant set of boulders, stacked on top of each other like a tower. We get closer, keeping away from the edge of the cliff, to get a good look at the true size of the rocks. It’s no wonder it is the most recognized rock formation in Wisconsin. We move back up the path we came down and begin our journey down the back side of the trail.

On the way down, I reflect on my journey to Devil’s Rock and think about how amazing nature really is. Being surrounded by life, the trees, the wind, the water. And just being out in nature is truly amazing. We reach the bottom of the hill and walk a train track back to the start of the trail, the sun setting and reflecting on the water like a light just below the surface. We sit at a bench to rest our legs and congregate our group back together. Reaching the end of our discussion on our experience, one of my friends speaks up to the rest of us, “same time next week?”