Sunset From the East Bluff Trail at Devil’s Lake State Park

Devil's Lake State Park draws more visitors than any other state park in Wisconsin, with over three million arriving each year. The 360-acre lake at its center formed roughly 15,000 years ago when glacial debris blocked both ends of an ancient river gorge, leaving quartzite bluffs rising several hundred feet on either side. Those bluffs rank among the oldest exposed rock formations in North America, dating back nearly 1.6 billion years. The park sits within Wisconsin's Driftless Area, a region bypassed by glaciers during the last ice age, which left its river valleys and rock outcrops largely unaltered. Trails along the East Bluff and West Bluff give hikers elevated views of the lake below.