The Baraboo Hills is designated as one of the Last Great Places on Earth by the Nature Conservancy. Since the founding days of the Wisconsin Chapter of The Nature Conservancy, these forest-covered quartzite hills have been a conservation priority. Hemlock Draw is one of the original tracts to be purchased and held in trust. In partnership with the Wisconsin DNR, Hemlock Draw is protected as a State Natural Area.
This 1100+ acre reserve is positioned immediately adjacent to Natural Bridge State Park and Pine Bluff State Natural Area, each acting as links in a green chain that extends from Honey Creek SNA to Devil's Lake State Park. Hemlock Draw features a dramatic topography of deep valleys and sea stacks that wind along Honey Creek. These valleys are the perfect home for towering hemlocks, whose shallow roots make them vulnerable to toppling over in strong wind.
Two challenging hiking trails wend their way through a scenic portion of Hemlock Draw, a two-mile loop and a 1-mile spur. These trails are especially popular in winter when the valleys collect snow that melts off ledges and sea stacks to create ice formations and shallow ice caves. Trails in natural areas do not feature any man-made amenities such as bridges or boardwalks. You will have to ford Honey Creek several times. In spring when the water is flowing deep this can make the trails difficult or impassable.
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| Winter hiking and snowshoeing trail at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
Clearly, from my photos, you can see that I chose an atmospheric foggy winter afternoon to explore Hemlock Draw. The conditions could not have been more ideal. The previous two weeks had brought over a foot of snow to south central Wisconsin. After a deep freeze, the air temperature swung 80 degrees, from -35 to +45. The snow and ice rapidly sublimated, darkening these still valleys with thick fog.
I was itching to get out onto a trail to enjoy the unseasonable heat wave. The trails at Hemlock Draw make for the perfect winter hike, except for the one downside that the heavy wet snow was deep and difficult to trudge through. I don't have snowshoes as we usually don't have the right conditions for them in southern Wisconsin, but on this occasion they would have been enormously helpful. So, this trek into the Honey Creek valley, which would normally be a moderate hike, became a test of my strength and endurance. I took well over two hours to complete 4-miles. Up against dusk on this late afternoon hike, I was pushing to move as fast as I could muster with a heavy winter day pack and the snow weighing me down.
I explored quite a bit off the trail, using the mostly-frozen Honey Creek as a route deeper into the valley in search of the most impressive frozen falls. Despite having to backtrack several times, this bushwhacking paid off.
I found one glimmering ice cave that was a difficult scramble to reach on the side of a steep face. Despite facing the ice-covered ravine walls with a pair trekking poles and razors strapped to the soles of my shoes I twice lost my footing and slid back down rapidly on my stomach, once as far as sixty feet. Another missing piece of gear that I could not anticipate a need for was an ice axe. Still, I persisted in reaching the overhang ice cave, a small reward for my efforts.
Alongside Honey Creek I found my way to a few impressive ice flows sculpting the sides of river dells. One of these was the show stealer. Its size and blue hues became visible from 300 yards off in the dark fog covered forest. I cursed myself for putting so much effort into scaling the ravine walls to the small ice cave while this more monumental ice formation was reached by an easy walk along the frozen surface of Honey Creek. If I had more daylight hours I would have followed Honey Creek deeper into the remote areas of the reserve where more of nature's sculptures were sure to be waiting.
I turned my attention to completing the Buck Fever Loop. From Honey Creek, the Buck Fever trail winds up an abrupt 600-foot incline. Even in summer months, this would be an athletic climb. In almost any other conditions I would not have blinked at completing a 2-mile loop, but Winter's early dusk was closing in. The air temperature was dropping. I was blazing the first set of tracks into this deep wet snow which obscured rocks and loose stones below. If I lost track of the trail blazes hammered into trees every 100-300 yards I was in serious danger of finding myself lost in the thousand-acre reserve on a foggy winter night, a prospect I was keen to avoid.
My feet weighed down by heavy snow, I hoofed it up 400 feet of incline in 15 minutes. My heart was pounding out of my chest. I looked left and right. The colorless winter forest scene gave no indication of place or direction. No trail blazes were in view in front of me or behind. Silent and still, the fog thickened forest closed in.
I had to fly the rest of the way by instruments. With a compass and photo I had taken of the map at the trailhead I navigated generally in the directions I expected the trail to take. It should be noted that DNR and Nature Conservancy maps are as precise as cartoons. Ten minutes later I leaned my trekking poles against a tree for a break to catch my breath, and to my surprise, a trail blaze was nailed to the back side of that very tree. Back on track, I was able to complete the loop and regain the Houston and June spur that I had entered the property on.
My impression of this thick and ancient forest will forever be colored by this monochromatic winter excursion. The dark silhouettes of trees emerged from the fog like ghosts. The only sounds on this still day were my footsteps in wet snow and the gurgle of Honey Creek flowing beneath its iced surface. Hemlock Draw is a bizarre fantasy landscape, filled with cold anthropophobic wonders. I will be sure to revisit this place in each season, to see it wake from its dreamlike winter stillness.
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| Ice Formation along Honey Creek |
Buck Fever Hiking Trail
COUNTY: Sauk
COMMUNITIES: Leland
TOTAL MILES: 1.8-mile loop
DIFFICULTY: Difficult
The descent into Honey Creek Valley from the Buck Fever Road is easy on a wide two-track trail. The loop joins the Houston and June Jones Trail for a bit before climbing a difficult 500-600 foot climb from Honey Creek on a winding forest trail. The parking lot at the end of Buck Fever Road is closed in winter.
Houston and June Jones Trail
COUNTY: Sauk
COMMUNITIES: Leland
TOTAL MILES: 1-mile linear (2-miles out-and-back)
DIFFICULTY: Moderate
The wide and level Houston and June Jones Trail is only made moderate as it includes three creek crossings. The creek is able to be jumped in some seasons, while in others this trail may be impassable by a flooded Honey Creek. Parking for this trail is on shoulder space along a gravel road. Three cars maximum.
Directions and Trail Map
Click Map Image to load the full interactive map.
Address for your GPS: 1 Buckfever Dr. North Freedom, WI 53951
| coordinates: 43.374733, -89.941039 |
| From Wisconsin Dells | 30 Minutes |
| From Milwaukee | 2 Hours |
| From Madison | 50 Minutes |
| From Green Bay | 3 Hours |
| From Wausau | 2.5 Hours |
| From Minneapolis | 4 Hours |
| From Chicago | 3 Hours |
Photos
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| Ice Cave at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Trees on the hillside at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Hemlock Tree at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Ice Cave at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |
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| Hiking trail at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Trail map for Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Ice Cave at Hemlock Draw State Natural Area |
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| Ice Formations beside Honey Creek |