Wisconsin Roadside Sandstone

This weekend on our way from camping to Devil's Lake our group saw some massive sandstone bluffs along route 60 along the Wisconsin River. The most impressive one was at the intersection of Route 60 and Cassel road. We asked around and found the landowner to ask permission to check it out. He was kind enough to allow us on his land. Unfortunately our excitement was quickly extinguished when we set up an anchor, rapped down, and an encountered a complete and utter choss-pile. I even dislodged a 500 lb block (intentionally). The bluff was ~ 100-120 feet tall and required a double rope rappel. The base of the cliff was littered with thorns, thickets, poison ivy, and hornets nests. The landowner told us no one had ever asked him to check out the bluff before. So although we didn't get a first ascent, we may have gotten a first descent. Has anyone else had a similar experience or gotten lucky with some roadside Wisconsin sandstone?

Note: I would strongly discourage anyone from checking out the bluff we did. It was a miserable experience and I would hate for anyone else to endure that.

There are many excellent sandstone crags in Wisconsin...Necedah is probably the best, or Govenor Dodge for bouldering (and a small sport wall).

I know about GDodge, Necedah, and Grandad's Bluff. I was asking if anyone had luck outside of those areas.

I'm gonna be vague about where, but yes! people have luck checking out rocks on private land in Wisconsin. There are more private land owners out there who are willing to have people explore their property than one might think! So do your homework, sleuth out who owns what, and ask away.

Hunting season (esp if you actually hunt), and winter are great times to explore.

Just because you are in Wisconsin does not mean the spirit of exploration is hopeless....

All the bluffs along Cassel Rd are basically vertical beach- rock crumbles under 10lbs of pressure or so. That stretch continues on over to Ferry Bluff- which is also not any good for climbing.

Iowa and grant county.....you were on the wrong side of the river....

jon jugenheimer wrote:Iowa and grant county.....you were on the wrong side of the river....

Are you referencing Governor Dodge and The Fishin' Crag? Is there more out there to be explored?

Much, Much more rock to be explored. Some is crap, some is really good. Some is on private land, some public. And man, if you are a boulder.....a lifetime of rock... I only look for rope climbing personally.

Alex Zucca wrote: Has anyone else had a similar experience or gotten lucky with some roadside Wisconsin sandstone?

Like many I've spent plenty of time looking at "alternative" crags in Wisconsin. Some legal, some not, some with landowner permission, some not. Lots of choss, and the occasional gem. You'll have the full spectrum of experience and rock quality exploring Wisconsin sandstone. Always fun.

The biggest ticks I've ever seen- scary big- were at the top of a then secret crag near Lyndon Station. Just another hazard of straying from the comforts of the East Bluffs.

Given the topic, this isn't really a thread hijack, but I have long wondered about the access situation to and the actual climbing on the sandstone towers outside Camp Douglas (I believe--I'm going back to 50 year old memories)off I-90 (?).It was a place that always intrigued me but I never actually tried to climb (too chickn) during my years in Wisconsin The fact that they aren't listed on MP or anywhere else that I have seen, has led me to assume that they are very off-limits, is this correct? If so, this is a real shame as they are quite impressive and hold a special place in Midwest climbing history having seen ascents by Fritz Wiessner and co. and the Stettner brothers in the 1930s--undoubtedly at quite a high standard of both difficulty and boldness for the era (well everything back then was pretty bold!!!!). Any information will be very much appreciated.

rockclimbing.com/forum/Clim…

Google is your friend. :)

Thanks, that's what I expected to hear. Given the interesting 'history' as well as the rarity of a true summit in the Midwest it is too bad that this is the situation there.

Not to knock this thread but how about them deep water solos along the wisconsin, I know a few walleye holes ;)

BUMP

I would be willing to explore some choss-pile rock with someone, for rock or ice purpose in this region in the future if people had interest. Presently experiencing some car woes, though and hail from Chicagoland..

I have driven west through the cornfields along highway 60 from Baraboo / Merrimac / Lodi to check out Natural Bridge SP and House on the Rock near Spring Green / Governor Dodge as part of a touristy weekend. There are a few standalone chossy, crumbly towers on properties standing in cornfields every now and then on the drive. If you dabble in this prepare to get dirty or scraped up by spiky vines

Further west, it seems there's SS cliffs, if not just small overhanging ravines all around Prairie du Chien, such as Pikes Peak in IA and Wyalusing. Wonder how much of this continues down to Illinois and the Mississippi Palisades. Googling these places and digging through people's place photos shores up the occasional exposed face or waterfall feature. I'm curious what info is out there about this stuff. Have a growing collection of dog-eared geography books hehe

What I really worry about is tickets / gear confiscation and dealing with three + state's (IA, WI, IL, maybe MN) legal perceptions of what's allowed. Have had my issues in exploring near Chicagoland and also don't want to push buttons and ruin opportunity for other climbers

Not sandstone, but if you want to expand your horizons beyond DL, Necedah, and the Dodge, Rock Springs has some worthwhile rock, much more than the Mountain Project page suggests. There is plenty of exploring to be done.

I helped out with some development of roped routes there awhile back and could put you in contact with some people who are (maybe) still involved if you're interested.

Edit: if roped routes is what you want, go to Abelman's Gorge, not the page I linked to.

Zach, This is somewhat of a thread hijack (again) but I am curious about the climbing in Rock Springs/Ableman's Gorge. I remember climbing there a couple of times in (I think) the spring of 1967. We saw no signs that the area had been climbed in previously (that doesn't mean it hadn't been) and I have wondered what development has occurred since, as it seemed to contain the tallest quartzite walls in the region. We climbed a couple of routes (my recollection is top-rope)on a buttress on the north (right heading west)side with sandstone low transitioning to quartzite for the upper portion. Across the road I remember doing a 2-pitch route on the tallest face--catching a factor-2 fall right off the hanging belay with a waist belay in the process!!!! My impression was that access there was pretty 'iffy'--especially due to the proximity of then-active train tracks. Obviously after so long the details are fuzzy, but I am interested in any information about both earlier climbing there and more recent developments.

I have heard of a 20 page guide to Abelman's, put together by a CMCer, reflecting routes that had been climbed by 1990 or so. There is a lot of stuff there that the DNR ignored when it implemented it's SNA climbing ban.

The whole gorge is SNA on the road side of the river. The other side is owned by the quarry and the University of Wisconsin

Check behind House on the Rock.

Oh Man.. Percussion Rock and Deer Shelter Crag are pretty impressive. Ask The Shoe Guy sometime if you ever see him...

Guys,

Many thanks for the leads. You are doing me a disservice, actually because now I will not do my job and spend days at work pouring over google imagery looking for rock - haha! So the SNA program is what is keeping a lot of these areas closed to climbing?

As soon as I looked up the Ableman's gorge there was all this text of rare shrubbery at the base on the DNR pages. And then there was the image result of a geologist posing in front of the damn thing with his chisel / hammer. Who is doing more damage here?

Has there been effort to gain access to climb in some of these areas by WCA??