Upper Wisconsin Dells

Our Family in the Upper Wisconsin Dells

Last week we decided to take advantage of a Wisconsin resident discount and took a boat tour of the Upper Wisconsin Dells. I don't know what I was expecting, but we were blown away by how beautiful it is up there. I am not talking about the city and the amusement parks and all the tacky tourist shops, I am talking about the actual Dells that drew people there in the first place. The water in the Wisconsin River is a little bit brown for my taste but the scenery was stunning. The tour ended up being just a bit longer than two hours. I was worried Madelynn would not last that long having to sit relatively still on a boat. But luckily the weather was not too hot and there was a lot to see. We also got to get off the boat at two different places.

This was the boat we took our tour on. We got to sit in the second row on the top.

The first place we got off the boat was a slot canyon which was called witches gulch (Gulch Creek) and was probably my favorite part. There was a thin wooden walkway that is suspended a few feet above the river and winds all the way up the canyon. It was seriously beautiful and nice and cool at about 10 degrees cooler than out on the river. It reminded me of a smaller, greener version of the Narrows at Zion which I also love. The other spot we were able to get off was a place called Stand Rock where they have German Shepherds and in our case, the dogs trainers, jumping from the edge of a cliff over to freestanding rock tower about 5 feet away.

This is Stand Rock, where the dogs and trainers jump to.

This is the entrance to Witches Gulch

They had the tour set up to be a money trap, but If you ignore all the concession stands and the souvenir books and photo's it was not too bad. We learned a lot of interesting history and heard some funny and cheesy jokes and stories, got some fresh air, saw some gorgeous scenery and all in all had a wonderful time.