 Devil's Doorway c. (1898) | |
 | |
| Continent | North America |
|---|---|
| Region | East North Central states |
| Coordinates | 43°24′51″N89°43′13″W / 43.4141°N 89.7202°W |
| Largest lake | Devil's Lake (Wisconsin) |
Devil's Doorway is a rock formation in Devil's Lake State Park. The signature feature of the park, it is a popular spot for climbing and photographs. The quartzite rocks that make up Devil's Doorway form a doorway-shaped natural rock arch.
Devil's Doorway is a main attraction in Devil's Lake State Park in Wisconsin. [1] The park is 9,217 acres (3,730 ha) and Devil's Lake is 360 acres (150 ha). [2] [3] The formation, more than 31 ft (9.4 m) high, is named for its resemblance to a doorway or a stone arch, with two separate columns of rock connected by other rocks at the top. Devil's Lake is visible from the vantage point at the formation. [4]
The rocks that form Devil's Doorway are quartzite, consisting of tightly packed grains of sand. [5] [6] The geological formations in the area are estimated at 1.6 billion years old. Devil's Doorway was created by many years of water both freezing and expanding in cracks in the rocks. [2]
Devil's Doorway is located at the southeast corner of Devil's Lake in Devil's Lake State Park. [7] It is found on The East Bluff Trail. [8] Between 1909 and 1910 The State Park Board acquired 740 acres (300 ha) for the park and by 1911 the board had secured a total of 1,100 acres (450 ha). [9] When the park was established in 1911, there was much graffiti painted on the rocks of the formation. [10] A postcard from 1901 showed that someone had painted the initials "F.H.R." and "T.R.R." on the face of the rocks. A 2016 article in the Wisconsin State Journal stated that graffiti is reported three or four times every year and volunteers quickly remove it. [11]
The Milwaukee Journal referred to the rock formation as one of "Wisconsin's natural wonders" and a "Wisconsin treasure". [12] World Atlas has said the formation is the signature feature of Devil's Lake State Park. [13] The most photographed rock formation in the park, it stays in position because of the weight of the quartzite—165 lb (75 kg) per cubic foot. [14] Visitors often climb on the Doorway and take photographs; [15] [1] as safety gear is not always used, some visitors have been seriously injured or killed after falling. [4] [16]
Quartzite is a hard, non-foliated metamorphic rock which was originally pure quartz sandstone. Sandstone is converted into quartzite through heating and pressure usually related to tectonic compression within orogenic belts. Pure quartzite is usually white to grey, though quartzites often occur in various shades of pink and red due to varying amounts of hematite. Other colors, such as yellow, green, blue and orange, are due to other minerals.
The Driftless Area, also known as Bluff Country and the Paleozoic Plateau, is a topographical and cultural region in the Midwestern United States that comprises southwestern Wisconsin, southeastern Minnesota, northeastern Iowa, and the extreme northwestern corner of Illinois. The Driftless Area is a USDA Level III Ecoregion: Ecoregion 52. The Driftless Area takes up a large portion of the Upper Midwest forest–savanna transition. The eastern section of the Driftless Area in Minnesota is called the Blufflands, due to the steep bluffs and cliffs around the river valleys. The western half is known as the Rochester Plateau, which is flatter than the Blufflands. The Coulee Region is the southwestern part of the Driftless Area in Wisconsin. It is named for its numerous ravines.
Devil's Lake State Park is a state park located in the Baraboo Range in eastern Sauk County, just south of Baraboo, Wisconsin. It is around thirty-five miles northwest of Madison, and is on the western edge of the last ice-sheet deposited during the Wisconsin glaciation. The state park encompasses 9,217 acres (3,730 ha), making it the largest in Wisconsin. The state park is known for its 500-foot-high (150 m) quartzite bluffs along the 360-acre (150 ha) Devil's Lake, which was created by a glacier depositing terminal moraines that plugged the north and south ends of the gap in the bluffs during the last ice age approximately 12,000 years ago. The sand at the bottom of Devil's Lake is thought to be deposited by glaciers.
Interstate Park comprises two adjacent state parks on the Minnesota–Wisconsin border, both named Interstate State Park. They straddle the Dalles of the St. Croix River, a deep basalt gorge with glacial potholes and other rock formations. The Wisconsin park is 1,330 acres (538 ha) and the Minnesota park is 298 acres (121 ha). The towns of Taylors Falls, Minnesota and St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin are adjacent to the park. Interstate Park is within the Saint Croix National Scenic Riverway and the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve. The western terminus of the Ice Age National Scenic Trail is on the Wisconsin side. On the Minnesota side, two areas contain National Park Service rustic style buildings and structures that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Devil's Lake is a lake in the South Range of the Baraboo Range, about two miles south of Baraboo, Wisconsin, in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States. It has no surface outlets, so by some definitions, it is endorheic; however, it possibly drains by underground channels into the Baraboo River, which would make the lake cryptorheic. The lake is one of the primary attractions of Devil's Lake State Park. It is also a popular recreation destination for watercraft, fishing, hiking, and climbing.
Blue Mounds State Park is a state park in Rock County, Minnesota, United States, near the town of Luverne. It protects an American bison herd which grazes on one of the state's largest prairie remnants.
Rib Mountain State Park is a 1,528-acre (618 ha) Wisconsin state park near the city of Wausau. The park includes a ski resort, Granite Peak Ski Area, concession stand, picnic areas, a reservable amphitheater, a former quarry, observation tower, and 15.1 miles of trails. The park is ten miles (16 km) north-northwest of Central Wisconsin Airport.
Mill Bluff State Park is a state park in west-central Wisconsin, United States. It is located in eastern Monroe and western Juneau counties, near the village of Camp Douglas. A unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, the park protects several prominent sandstone bluffs 80 feet (24 m) to 200 feet (61 m) high that formed as sea stacks 12,000 years ago in Glacial Lake Wisconsin. As a result, these bluffs are steep and angular, dissimilar to the rounded terrain more typical of the eastern half of the United States. The bluffs served as landmarks to both early pioneers and travelers today on Interstate 90/94, which passes through the park.
Natural Bridge State Park is a 530-acre (214 ha) state park of Wisconsin, United States, featuring Wisconsin's largest natural arch. Directly beneath the arch is the Raddatz Rockshelter, a rock shelter once used by Paleo-Indians and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is located southwest of Baraboo between the unincorporated communities of Leland and Denzer, in the town of Honey Creek.
The Baraboo Range is a mountain range in Columbia County and Sauk County, Wisconsin. Geologically, it is a syncline fold consisting of highly eroded Precambrian metamorphic rock. It is about 25 miles (40 km) long and varies from 5 to 10 miles (16 km) in width. The Wisconsin River, previously traveling in a north to south direction, turns to the east just north of the range before making its turn to the west towards the Upper Mississippi River. The eastern end of the range was glaciated during the Wisconsinian glaciation, while the western half was not, and consequently, marks the eastern boundary of Wisconsin's Driftless Area.
Van Hise Rock is a rock monolith located along Wisconsin Highway 136 near Rock Springs, Wisconsin. The rock is a geologically significant outcropping of Baraboo Quartzite.
Wisconsin, a state in the Midwestern United States, has a vast and diverse geography famous for its landforms created by glaciers during the Wisconsin glaciation 17,000 years ago. The state can be generally divided into five geographic regions—Lake Superior Lowland, Northern Highland, Central Plain, Eastern Ridges & Lowlands, and Western Upland. The southwestern part of the state, which was not covered by glaciers during the most recent ice age, is known as the Driftless Area. The Wisconsin glaciation formed the Wisconsin Dells, Devil's Lake, and the Baraboo Range. A number of areas are protected in the state, including Devil's Lake State Park, the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore, and the Chequamegon–Nicolet National Forest.
Arches National Park is a national park of the United States in eastern Utah. The park is adjacent to the Colorado River, 4 mi (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. The park contains more than 2,000 natural sandstone arches, including the well-known Delicate Arch, which constitute the highest density of natural arches in the world. It also contains a variety of other unique geological resources and formations. The national park lies above an underground evaporite layer or salt bed, which is the main cause of the formation of the arches, spires, balanced rocks, sandstone fins, and eroded monoliths in the area.
The Sioux Quartzite is a Proterozoic quartzite that is found in the region around the intersection of Minnesota, South Dakota, and Iowa, and correlates with other rock units throughout the upper midwestern and southwestern United States. It was formed by braided river deposits, and its correlative units are thought to possibly define a large sedimentary wedge that once covered the passive margin on the then-southern side of the North American craton. In human history, it provided the catlinite, or pipestone, that was used by the Plains Indians to carve ceremonial pipes. With the arrival of Europeans, it was heavily quarried for building stone, and was used in many prominent structures in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and shipped to construction sites around the Midwest. Sioux Quartzite has been and continues to be quarried in Jasper, Minnesota at the Jasper Stone Company and Quarry, which itself was posted to the National Register of Historic Places on January 5, 1978. Jasper, Minnesota contains many turn-of-the-century quartzite buildings, including the school, churches and several other public and private structures, mostly abandoned.
Pewit's Nest State Natural Area is a nature reserve in Wisconsin, USA, that includes a deep gorge formed during the retreat of the last glacier. Pewit's Nest is outside Baraboo in Sauk County. At one time a waterwheel and mill were located on the site and an individual lived in the solid sandstone. The name of the site was a result of early settlers calling it "Peewit's Nest" after the abode, ten feet above a deep pool of water, resembling the nest of a phoebe. The water-wheel once turned lathes for repairing or manufacturing equipment, but no evidence of it remains. Pewit's Nest is owned by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and was designated a State Natural Area in 1985.
Gibraltar Rock State Natural Area is a natural area in southern Wisconsin, United States, which is 68 acres (28 ha) in size, and is located along the 1,000-mile-long (1,600 km) Ice Age Trail.
Baraboo Quartzite is a Precambrian geological formation of quartzite, found in the region of Baraboo, Wisconsin. While pure quartzite is usually white or gray, Baraboo Quartzite is typically dark purple to maroon in color, due to the presence of iron (hematite) and other impurities. Baraboo Quartzite may display strata created by progressive deposition of layers of sand in the original sandstone from which the quartzite was formed. Specimens of Baraboo quartzite may also display ripple marks that appear visually similar to the patterns one might see in the sand at a beach. Ripples indicate that the sandstone from which the quartzite was metamorphosed was originally water-laid sediment.
Point of Rocks is a geologically significant outcropping located along U.S. Route 12 (US 12) in the Town of Baraboo in Sauk County, Wisconsin, United States, southwest of the city of Baraboo. The formation is made up of Baraboo Quartzite and is part of the Baraboo Range; it dates from the Precambrian and is roughly 1.7 billion years old. Along with the nearby Van Hise Rock, the formation was instrumental in the University of Wisconsin–Madison's development of the field of geology in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The formation is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The geology of Wisconsin includes Precambrian crystalline basement rock over three billion years old. A widespread marine environment during the Paleozoic flooded the region, depositing sedimentary rocks which cover most of the center and south of the state.
Ableman's Gorge is a 127 acres (51 ha) Wisconsin State Natural Area located near Rock Springs, Wisconsin. This 200 to 400-foot wide and 200-foot high gorge is cut by about 1 mile (1.6 km) of the Baraboo River in an "L" shape. The Natural Area is named after Stephen Van Rensselaer Ableman, who settled Rock Springs in 1851 and named the community after the gorge area.
Media related to Devil's Doorway at Wikimedia Commons