Growing up in Baraboo I’ve been to Devil’s Lake a lot. It’s a gem of southern Wisconsin. One of my favorite hikes is scaling both east and west bluffs and doing a loop of the lake. It’s about 6 miles, depending on which trails you take, and covers some of the more popular trails in the park. For Wisconsin the elevation gain of ~1,000ft is cool too… if you’re into that kind of thing.
We started at the south shore parking lot and headed up the Balanced Rock Trail. This one will get your heart pumping. At the top we headed down the East Bluff Trail and along the north shore beach area. Pro Tip: If the concession stand is open you can break the hike up with snacks (or beer!).
From here we headed up the West Bluff Trail to the highest point of the hike and then down along the lake back to the south shore. There is also a concession stand here, but, Pro Tip #2: save the money and go get your cooler out of the car and enjoy a beer/picnic on the lake, you earned it.
If you go: