Category: Conservation

Common Questions of Climbers

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Devil’s Lake: a geologic wonder

Devil’s Lake is an endorheic (closed drainage) lake in south section of the Baraboo range. The lake is 374 acres and is no more than 47 feet deep at any one place. The water quality is considered moderately clear and is home to many fish species including pan fish, large-mouth bass, northern pike, trout, and walleye.  On a typical day, you’ll find a number of people fishing along the shoreline.

Devil’s Lake is a deep chasm with no visible inlet or outlet. The name, is really a misinterpretation of the Ho Chunk tribal name “Tawacunchkdah”, which means “sacred” or “spirit” lake. Tawacunchkdah is significant in Ho Chunk tribal culture because spiritual voices are heard during celebrations.

Devil’s Lake was once a part of the Wisconsin River prior to the Ice Age, more than 10,000 years ago. A large lobe of the glacier passed the Baraboo Hills to the south and deposited a terminal moraine on the south end of the river. Another moraine terminated on the north end causing the river to divert. The left-over water formed Devil’s Lake.

For more history on the area, visit these sites:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Lake_(Wisconsin)

http://pages.uwc.edu/keith.montgomery/baraboo/baraboo.htm

Purple Quartzite, Why Purple?

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Why is Purple Quartzite, Purple? Have you heard of the one-eyed, one-horned flying purple people eater? Well, then keep reading. Just kidding, that has nothing to do with this.

In the last post, we looked at how Quartzite is formed, the type of rock, and other rock you can see at Devil’s Lake.   If you missed that, see here. What we didn’t answer is the question “Why is it purple?”

Let’s take a quick step backwards—Purple Quartzite is VERY unique.  Almost all Quartzite is white or gray.  What is crazy, is that often Purple Quartzite is referred to as Baraboo Quartzite because Baraboo, Wisconsin and Devil’s Lake State Park in particular, has the largest display of the rock in the purple color in the world.

So now to answer the question we started with… “Why is Purple Quartzite, Purple?”

IMG_6325The color of the rock at Devil’s Lake State Park is due to iron being present when it was formed.  Likely there were other specimens in addition to the iron (which would likely make a more reddish color) that were present that helped make the deep purple colors that can be found.  This could have been the flora and fauna that existed in the location at the time (a loooooooooooooooong time ago).

Something else that is interesting to note is that the Iron and other “things” that helped make the purple color, had to have been specific to the Baraboo area.  History and the geography tell us this because the bluffs you see at “The Lake” were at one time part of a larger mountain range that reached up to the Wausau area (and probably taller than the Rockies!).  The Quartzite that you find in that area, however, is grey in color (due to the lack of that same iron content).

Baraboo HillsSo imagine Wisconsin with a massive mountain range, really really tall and really really big extending almost the entire state on a diagonal.  Yep, that is likely what it used to look like here.  Thanks a lot glaciers for stealing our mountains and leaving us with hills ; ). (Note: truly magnificent, hills).

 

 

Purple Quartzite of Devil’s Lake State Park

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Taking on "False Perspective" a tough one at Devil's Lake

Taking on “False Perspective” a tough one at Devil’s Lake

Also referred to as Baraboo Quartzite

When heading to a climbing location, we typically stop to take in a view or two. A common question we hear is “what type of rock is this?”  Typically, between the huffs and puffs of carrying a 40 pound bag up a steep stair master (don’t worry, your guide will do that), we give a brief but compelling tail of the rock.  Since there aren’t a lot of huffs, puffs, or grunts going on while sitting here at the computer, it gives us a moment to dig a little deeper. The rock, Purple Quartzite of Devil’s Lake State Park is pretty unique.

The metamorphic rock, has been rumored to only be found in three places in the world with Devil’s Lake being the most climbable.  Metamorphic rock means that it was altered from another type of rock by extreme conditions (heat, pressure, superman, etc) to become what we see currently.

Sometimes mistaken for red or pink, it is indeed, Purple.  Purple QuartziteOther colors found in the park can range from white to green.  Green is typically the lichen that forms on the rock.  There are several areas in the park that also are tan and more textured.  This is actually Sandstone.  So back to that metamorphic business… Quartzite was actually Sandstone at one point.  A long, long, long, lonnnnnnnnnnng time ago, the earth went through a lot of changes.  There was a whole lot of pressure and a whole lot of heat and a whole lot of time.  What came out of the oven was Quartzite.  There was likely more sandstone in the park at that tQuartzite with Sandstoneime, however much (or all) of it was underwater.  Sandstone is very soft compared to quartzite.  So the water washed away much of the sandstone but left the quartzite.

Next time you head to the park, try to find the patches or full climbing areas that are sandstone.  They differ greatly in texture, look, feel, and climbing from the Quartzite we all know and love.