Today I met my hiking buddie in Baraboo and headed over to check out Ableman’s Gorge in Rock Springs.

 

Doing a little research beforehand found that pretty much every website says the same thing “Ableman's Gorge is a classic gorge cut by the Baraboo River through Baraboo quartzite, Cambrian sandstone, and conglomerate. The cliffs and rocky slopes rise about 200 feet above the river to form a wall nearly three-fourths of a mile long, oriented east-west, which then abruptly turns south for a similar distance. The site tells a fascinating geological story of changing conditions in an ancient sea that first rose quietly against a cliff of quartzite and then, as layers of sediments gradually decreased the relief between sea floor and land, surged against the top of the cliff, wearing away quartzite and depositing a layer of cobbles and boulders across its upturned edge. Erosional forces and a former quarrying operation in the southern part of the natural area have re-exposed these long buried layers.” The DNR and the UW own the land and it’s mostly used for geology research.

 

Getting there is easy, just take hwy 136 west out of Baraboo about 15 miles.  In the town of Rock Springs the road takes a right and the gorge is about a mile down the road from town. If you’re on the right road you can’t miss it! There is no parking lot so you will have to park on the side of the road. (We parked right next to the spring where apparently everyone in town comes to fill up on water) Once there you cross the road and head towards the cliffs. The trail into the gorge is unmarked but pretty easy to spot.  There is an interesting old stone shelter as you enter the gorge that creates some wonder. There are no signs and I could not find any info on the internet about what this shelter was used for or how it came to be so it will remain a mystery for now.  Directly behind the shelter the gorge is at its highest, almost ¾ a mile to the top. Further along the trail there is an interesting doorway into the hillside that was apparently a room used by the old quarry to store explosives.  The trail continues along the bottom of the cliffs for about half a mile and then crosses the road to Van Hise Rock.   Van Hise Rock is a remnant of a cliff that is composed of 2 vertical layers of pink quartzite and phyllitic quartzite.  The whole trail is less than a mile on level surface, very short and sweet. I only wish there was some signage giving more info about the history of the place.

 

It is a beautiful area but for some unexplained reason both my hiking partner and myself did not feel good while we were there. It was a very odd feeling that I have no explanation for. We both love to be out in nature and pretty much anywhere we go we can find beauty and peace but for some reason this place on this particular day did not feel right to us. We walked the trail and then walked back to the car along the road and left.  I felt a little sick to my stomach, lightheaded and anxious and had no desire to be there even with the beauty of the rocks and river. I know, it’s a little weird, but something just did not feel right to either one of us and we couldn’t figure out why. I am interested in going back sometime to see if it feels the same way again.

 

Since neither of us felt great we decided to leave the gorge and go a few miles down the road over to Pewit’s nest to have a picnic lunch. An interesting thing happened when we got to Pewets nest, we both starting to feel better. In fact we felt the way we usually do when we are out in nature, great! We spent over an hour just sitting against the rocks in the sun by the river talking and eating.  Such a different feel and energy to this place.  We had been there before so it’s not technically one of my 12 hikes but it is beautiful none the less and a great place to hang out for an hour or 2. (Pewet’s Nest is 2 miles south on county W out of Baraboo)

 

We had the whole day free and spent so little time at Ableman’s Gorge that we decided next we would head over to the Aldo Leopold Shack east of Baraboo. I have never been there before so I figured it could count as part of my 3rd hike.  (Although you don’t do much hiking there but you do have to park your car on the road and walk into the shack and then we walked down to the river and back so I’m thinkin’ that it qualifies  :)

 

For those of you who don’t know, this is the place that A Sand County Almanac was written about. We got there after closing time so the shack was closed up but it was still a cool place to visit.   It was pretty awesome to be standing there thinking about the man who did so much for land and wildlife conservation.

 

“We abuse land because we see it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”  - Aldo Leopold

 

Warning, this next part is going to be get a little philosophical, as it often does when we leave all the noise and distractions of the everyday world behind and just sit in the woods.

 

While we were relaxing next to the creek at Pewet’s Nest eating lunch we spent some time contemplating our experience at the Gorge. Here is what we came up with - If something does not feel right don’t do it, move forward towards what feels good! Can it really be that simple?

 

Why did we feel so icky while hiking in the Gorge?  We both felt it and tried to shake it but it stuck with us the whole time we were there.  Instead of wasting our whole day in a place that did not feel good we decided to just move on to a different location.  Once we moved on things felt better and we enjoyed a lovely day.  How often in our day to day lives do we pay attention to that feeling? The feeling that something just does not feel right without having any explanation. How often do we even notice it? As children we are born with this sixth sense, this gut instinct and we use it to navigate through our daily lives. But as we get older we learn to ignore it because we are taught to trust others more than we trust ourselves, to be pragmatic and sensible.  Before we know it we are spending most of our time doing things we don’t even enjoy and putting up with things that don’t feel good, that don’t nourish our souls, that don’t lead us to our dreams. We are living our lives to please others, doing what we feel we should do, not what we want to do. We learn to be responsible and realistic and before we know it we have lost track of who we really are and what really makes us feel happy and alive.  How does that happen? That sixth sense was given to us as a guide to make sure we live a safe, fulfilling, meaningful life and we ignore it.

 

So how do we reclaim this gift? How do we revert back to our basic instinct? I believe we first we need to spend time getting quiet and learning to recognize that feeling again. And maybe it’s not necessarily about noticing what feels bad but maybe it’s more about noticing what feels good and letting that guide us. I get sucked into the negativity and craziness of this life all the time and this was a good lesson to remind me that I need to spend more time focusing on things that feel good instead of all the bad stuff in the world. If something doesn’t feel right change it! If you can’t change the situation, change your attitude. Life is short and we all have choices. Choose to follow what feels good.  

 

We will probably never know why we felt so bad in the gorge, but as often happens while sitting in the woods, deep incites were discovered. For whatever reason there was a lesson in that experience for us that day. A very clear message that we needed to start paying more attention to what feels bad and what feels good and then put our energy towards that good feeling.

Thank you Ableman’s Gorge for the reminder!