Balanced Rock

Tucked away, just off the East Bluff Trail stands Balanced Rock, a formation created by the weathering of the cliffs of Devil's Lake State Park.  Water seeped into the cracks in the very hard rock and eventually cracked the rock.  Pieces fell away leaving behind several rock formations along the bluffs.



This formation looks like a man made monument, yet it's a natural formation. It stands about ten feet tall, and overlooks the lake below.

The chunks that fell away litter the foot of the hills on both sides of the lake.  It's hard to image this place thousands of years ago when many of those boulders were still part of the bluff.



A short .4 mile trail, Balanced Rock Trail is described as a difficult, steep climbing trail, and it certainly is. Well worth the effort, but care must be taken when moving from stone step to stone step.  These steps were created by moving the boulders around a bit and adding some reinforcing concrete in some areas, keeping the experience as natural as possible.



Narrow passages and winding switchback trails lead down the bluff through the boulder rubble. This rubble looks like gravel from a distance, but as you hike through it, you realize the rubble averages about 4 feet in diameter.

Tweet

Trail on the Edge

Devil's Lake State Park's East Bluff Trail winds up the bluff to most of the well-known rock formations in the park.  Devil's Doorway is just off the main trail, and has a very short loop trail for the best viewing of the formation.

Most trails in the park take advantage of the natural rock formations in place, or rocks stacked to create stairs to make the climb safer especially in slippery weather. These narrow trails take hikers very close to the edge of the bluff, and in some cases, if the visitor is daring, right to the drop-off, where a slip could mean a fall of hundreds of feet.



This narrow flat trail gives the best view of Devil's Doorway, and has a small buffer of rock between the path and the steep drop-off.  This didn't stop a young man from jogging down the trail, and then taking two short jumps to the rock at the edge. It was drizzling, and the rocks were a bit slippery, we were certain he would slide right off the edge; luckily he did not, and just stood on the edge enjoying the view.



You can see the platform he was standing on, and how there is nothing to stop his fall for well over a hundred feet at this point. I was amazed at how many people simply decided to get a better view by climbing on the rocks without regard to what was (or wasn't) below them. Some of the areas of the trail down were challenging enough for most hikers, without the danger of falling hundreds of feet to the bottom of the bluff.

Tweet

Climbing into the Devil's Doorway

One of the main attractions at Devil's Lake State Park is a rock formation called Devil's Doorway. Set high above Devil's Lake, some 500 feet below, this formation is made of metamorphic rock created over a billion years ago from sandstone that was once the bottom of a sea.  The actions of time, water, and ice have cracked the rock, sending large chunks down the hillside.  What remains are beautiful rock formations dotting the bluffs surrounding the lake.



A short spur trail from the East Bluff Trail, the path takes visitors close to the steep drop offs near the formation, where the view is spectacular. Devil's Doorway seems to draw people to itself, as in the short time I visited, more than six people ventured off the trail and climbed up into the doorway itself.

A group of friends helped each other climb up the formation for a great view, a bit of adventure, and of course, a photograph. Carefully explaining which rocks to hold on to and which to jump down on, all three made it safely up and back down to the trail.



The area directly below the doorway is not a drop down hundreds of feet, but it is about 30 feet onto a small rock base, where one misstep can send the climber down hundreds of feet. So, perfectly safe it is not.

A rope still hangs from a previous climb, but not long enough to assist anyone with the ascent from the bottom.  Who knows how long the rope has been there, and if it's weathered so much it would simply snap under the weight of a climber.



Certainly well worth the rocky climb up. Beginning the trail at the north part of the lake seems a bit easier of a climb - the south end is rocky and interesting to navigate down, but would be a tiring climb up with a backpack full of camera gear.

Tweet