Wisconsin Dells Boat Tour
The Wisconsin Dells is a scenic gorge area in the Wisconsin river that has been preserved as a public open space. Most of these photos are from a tour of the "Upper Dells" where the water is so calm that you sit on folding lawn chairs on the boat deck. I think the tour is worth the time if you are in the area.
Throughout most of the tour you can see interesting rock formations. There are stratified colors and sandstone formations, and it looks a tiny bit like parts of Utah in that respect. A lot more greenery though...
I think the tour is about two hours. The first part is a long trek along the shallow gorge. Nice view of fall colors. Then there are two stops along the way.
The first stop is a place called Witches Gulch. It has a very unique raised boardwalk path in between narrow rock openings and over water features. This is the place along the tour you most likely expect to see some trolls or something like that.
The second stop is at more of a cliff-side view. The feature here is the site of one of the earliest "action photos", where H.H. Bennett took a photo of his son jumping to Stand Rock in 1886. Nowadays, a German Shepard does it for the tourists.
Then you have a nice scenic ride back into downtown Wisconsin Dells. Aside from being an attraction, it is also the name of the town. Right off the main street, near where you board this tour, there is a scenic River Walk where you can take a peak without going on the boat ride.
There are a lot of water parks now surrounding the downtown area of Wisconsin Dells. Some of them are quite elaborate. Still, the main street itself has smaller motels and some Americana left to it. Lots of restaurants and shops catering to tourists. The complete set of photos is on my website page http://kimbriggs.com/photo/wisconsin-dells/upper-dells-boat-tour