Mirror Lake Mirage

Yesterday I spent the day romping around the woods and hills of Mirror Lake State Park. Great fun! Silence sports rules the way around here. Mirror Lake is near Wisconsin Dells, and is a little known year round gem about an hour north and west of Madison. Because it sits so closely to Devils Lake State Park, Wisconsin's signature park, not a lot of people are aware of what Mirror Lake offers. The Madison skiing community however raves about it, and drives right by Devils Lake to go skiing. And yesterday I learned why.

The trails are wide, well-groomed, and cut right smack in the middle of a southern Wisconsin forest. Other than a couple of small open fields, the rest is all wooded. There are challenging climbs, fast and long downhills, and plenty of flats to hold a stride. Two interconnected loops, The Turtleville and the Fern Dell Trails, total about 5.4 miles. And after paying the price of a 2011 State Park sticker ($25 yearly) all the trails are free.

I parked away from the crowds at the far western end of the park. This meant that my ski began with a climb up and over the back side of the park. However after this short intense climb I cruised quickly amongst the trees, eventually hitting a screamer of the hill at the end of the Turtleville loop. After connecting with the Fern Dell loop I began to really work my stride for the entire 3.4 mile loop. Nice rolling hills, with an occasional steep climb added to the tour. I then finished the 5.4 mile loop by bringing the other side of the Turtleville Trail back uphill to where I started. This last mile and half tested the legs and the lungs. I skied the loop three times in 2 hours and13 minutes for a total of 16.2 miles.

Quite the enjoyable ski. Lots of mixed terrain; lots of beautiful snow, and lots of trees to silence the chaos. After my ski I sat in the car, surrounded by Wilco, and enjoyed a well deserved lunch: some yogurt, a peanut butter and Nutella sandwich, a couple of clementines, and a jug of chocolate milk. Good nourishment for a tired body. Then, deciding to continue on with the mid-week winter getaway, I threw on my snowshoes and headed out towards the shores of Mirror Lake.


The path began just across from the where I was parked and headed northwest along the edge of Dell Creek. The hike brought back some youthful memories. The place where as a ten year old youth I caught a huge brown trout in the opening minutes of Trout season. Our neighbor Charlie Phillips got my brother and I up way before sunup and drove us over to Dell Creek. After a short hike in, he put a night crawler on my hook, and told me that when the sun comes up I should float the worm down into the hole just below me. When I saw the sun arise through the trees I carefully dropped the worm into the creek. Within seconds the stillness of the dark hole exploded with the thrashing of the hungry trout. A few minutes later Charlie was standing by my side, holding the big fat trout beside my grin. Too dark for photos, but never too dark for my memory.

Today was a bit colder, and a bit whiter than that May morning many years ago, yet still I am happy to be wandering around this late December day. The hike is a short out and back. Along the way I make a path through the woods to try and get close to water. I don't really have the time or the energy to bushwhack my way to the lake, but I can easily manage a trip to the edge of Dell Creek.

After a short saunter along its banks, I turn to head back to the car and then to Madison. To my delight the winter sun sparkles on my face. A simple finish to a wondrous day in the Wisconsin winter.