Weekend trip - LOTS of photos

Last weekend the wife and I took a trip to the Wisconsin Dells area to check out an area that MJS1973 had been to a few weeks ago and got some great captures from. Well our day started out at 7am for a 2 1/2 hour road trip. We had a list of places to go and started with Devil's Lake State Park, a place we have wanted to go to for some time. It is a lake with a bluff on each side of it (east and west sides). They have a great trail system that goes around the lake with options to climb the bluffs or go around them for a flatter trail.

Shots 1-4 are shots along the hike to the top of the east bluff. Some great scenery up there, bit of a tiring trail (1.5 miles to the south part of the lake - seemed like going uphill the whole way)

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After reaching the top we start our descend. The descend was a bit more straight down than the ascend was. The trail was basically steps put into the rocks.

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We made it to flat ground again and had to cross the railroad tracks.

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Well on the south side of the lake they have a beach and campground area so with that was concession stand. We took a short break then continued on.

A couple shots as we walked around the south side of the lake. Then we decided to take the easy path back on the west side. This place is amazing! A place we will definitely visit again and take some different trails.

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After we left Devil's Lake we went to a small place called Parfrey's Glenn. With going here meant more hiking:cryin: I was wore out from the hike around Devil's Lake already. So off we went .7 miles hike each way. Here are a few shots from there. Another place that was just amazing! Well worth the hike! The trail is nice, limestone most of the way. Pretty flat and some nice photo ops along the way. As you get back there the walls on the sides of the stream start rising then you get to the end and it is just great:thumbsup:

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After Parfrey's Glenn took us to a small place called Pewit's Nest, this is the place that MJS1973 had been to and I suggest you take a look in the nature and wildlife area to see his shots http://forums.photographyreview.com/...ad.php?t=33928
We got to this small parking area that you could drive by very easily if you weren't looking for it. Seen a few motorcycles and a couple cars there and once again started hiking back to this place. Well we got back there after a short hike - 5 min. at the most on flat ground. Not as nice of a trail as we have had before but easy to follow and got us back there. Went up the hill to the top and there were a couple other people up there (guy taking photos and his wife). So I looked around for a place to get some shots of this ,once again, AMAZING place. Found a nice place to go down to on the edge of the cliff overlooking the creek. Got down there and took about 10 min worth of shots or so then packed up and got up to the top of the hill again. Well wouldn't you know it, that other photographer up there was MJS1973 himself :thumbsup: So we sat around for a bit and chatted with him and his wife. Had fun talking with them and wished we had more time, but they were hungry and going to eat (which we had done before we went there) and we had more places on the list to see yet. So we parted ways and continued on. By the way the motorcycles were his and his wifes :thumbsup:

Unfortunately the sun was bright and we caught alot of hot spots all over the place. I figured I would attempt an HDR image and the 1st one here is what I came up with. We will return to this place and try to catch it on a cloudy day.

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Well after Pewit's Nest we headed to a place called Baxter's Hollow. Come to find out it is a conservatory for birds. Well we hiked back a bit and didn't spend much time there. Got these couple of shots before we left. After we left here we went to Mirror Lake State Park to catch the sunset but the place wasn't as nice as we thought it would be. So we ended our day for photo's and stopped at the casino, made our donation, then grabbed some food once again and headed home. We finally pulled back in to home at 12:30am tired and ready for bed.

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Ben,

It was so refreshing to go through your photos. They are all great shots......I could almost feel the fresh air! It sounds like you had a wonderful time - you certainly picked some beautiful places to go.

I enjoyed viewing these - but the first set stands out in my mind. The colors and scenery are so awesome. I appreciate you're sharing them here - and seeing your photos inspires me to begin planning for some time off. :cool:

Liz

Very nice series you have here Ben! I haven't tried to do anything with my pics from that day yet. I'm glad we got the chance to chat for a while too. This series makes me want to get up early this weekend and head back up there. I haven't been to Parfrey's Glen in a couple years. Too bad I have a wedding to go to this weekend. :(

Liz - thanks for the compliments. We had just a wonderful day, very tiring, but got to see alot of very nice places! It was nice to get away and not think about the daily grind.

Michael - Thanks - pewit's nest was a challenge, my photo club is talking about a trip up that way in the fall after they seen my shots. As I said at pewits, we will have to get together and shoot, do lunch or dinner or whatever. Thanks for the compliments - I don't know if my shots are as good as your thread in nature and wildlife are though ... you got great captures there.