to the northwoods, pt. 3

 copper falls

brownstone falls 

cascade falls  

 brownstone falls

Our first day trip adventure away from the secluded, peaceful cabin was to Copper Falls State Park located in the town of Mellen. Since this was located in the same town as our cabin we had a short 20 minute drive to the park. Research indicated that Wisconsin state parks are made to be quite accomodating to visitors. Short hikes to big beauty, many times the trails are at least partially paved or have a boardwalk. Since this was summer, albeit significantly cooler than at home by 20 degrees, and we battled the mosquitos and flies a bit, short hikes to big beauty were fine with us. We hiked about 2 miles and it was not strenuous.

The 3 main falls are Copper Falls, Brownstone Falls and Cascade Falls with nice views of rapids as well. We enjoyed seeing the "root beer" like waves made from the tannin in the sandstone, which is different than what we've seen from other waterfalls. This trail is named the Doughboys Trail because it was made by members of the Civilian Conservation Corps, many of whom were World War I army and marine veterans (the term "doughboys" referred to these soldiers). It provided a nice, easy morning adventure, we had ice cream at the visitor center and then made our way to another set of falls in the afternoon, which I'll share in the next post.