Creative Erosion

We are approaching the halfway mark in our 2024 wandering. It has been quite a ride, and the road continues to challenge how I see the world and teach me new perspectives. We began our week at Country Roads Motorhome and RV Park in Lake Delton, WI. During that time, we wandered among the hordes of tourists who flock to these tourism meccas. Traffic, crowds, and meager information always make these stops a challenge. This area has been a tourist destination for over 150 years. But we saw one of the most unique landscapes in North America, and the Wisconsin Dells themselves did not disappoint. I have also come to appreciate the process of erosion and how it shapes our world and our lives.

 

Erosion is a natural process wrought by time that changes the landscape through wind and water. Many Native People of North America believe that nature can teach the attentive heart and mind a great deal about inner life. Erosion is also part of the human landscape. I invite you to ponder the gift that erosion bestows on our inner and outer landscapes.

 

Erosion can gradually wear away rock until the Grand Canyon forms in a desert. It can be a decades-long experience of a Glacial Flood that forms the Snake River/Columbia Gorge. It can be a millennium of glaciers scraping and scouring solid rock, creating the vast northern prairies with their gentle, rolling moraines. But, it can also be a day of mudslides that change the shape of the Pacific Coast. In the last week, I have come to appreciate how erosion has shaped and continues to shape Wisconsin in 2024.

 

Sunday was Father’s Day, and we enjoyed a quiet day, avoiding the hordes that had descended on The Dells. I grilled some ribs and relaxed in the RV Park. I heard from both of our children and a few of the grands. At the end of the day, I reflected on how my relationship with each one of these precious people has changed over the decades. Time erodes old ideas and patterns. New plains of relating have opened out of these eroded relationships. And, without any hesitation, I can say that the family landscape is much better than it has ever been. Time and the natural processes of life have caused shifts, and for that I am a grateful Papa and Grandpa.

 

Entering the Upper Dells

Nineteen thousand years ago, this part of Wisconsin was at the edge of a vast area of the Midwest that was never covered by glaciers. This area is called the Driftless due to the lack of glacial drifts of dirt and rock left behind by retreating glaciers. The bedrock of Cambrian Sandstone is very soft, having been formed under a shallow ocean of sand and silt 500+ million years ago. When the last of the glaciers began to melt 15,000 years ago, the water gathered into the ancient Glacial Lake Wisconsin that covered the area with 50-150 feet of water. When the ice dam that held the waters finally broke, the water rushed through the landscape, opening up the 5-mile-long gorge called the Wisconsin Dells. The gorge cuts through the pink, soft sandstone. A 20-foot dam was built on the modern Wisconsin River in the 1930s, and the Dells were divided into upper and lower levels along the flooded riverbed.

 

On Monday, we took the Army Ducks Boat Tour of the Lower Dells. These WWII-era boats are used nationwide for land and water tours. We had ridden them many times. This tour was an hour long and included a few points of interest, but it was mostly the experience of riding in the duck, complete with silly jokes from the guides. Unfortunately, the guides were not well-versed in the history or geology of the area, so we sat back and enjoyed the ride. Here are a few pictures from our morning on the Lower Dells.

 

 

Heading to the Water

A Split Rock

 

Our Tour Boat

On Tuesday, we booked a boat tour of the Upper Dells. This two-hour long tour allowed not only a view from the River of the 100 – 200-foot-tall cliffs, wildlife, and rocky shores. It also included two off-boat walks. The first was at Witches Gulch, and the second at Stand Rock. In the 1860s, this area was popularized by the photographer H. H. Bennett with his pictures and fanciful names he gave many of the features. This boat tour offered us some magical moments and a very comfortable river ride. Here are a few of the pictures I took along the River and some from Witches Gulch and Stand Rock.

 

These shots will give you an idea of how the River (now flooded by the dam) is still carving this gorge.

 

Downtown Wisconsin Dells, WI

Heading Upriver

Black Rock Face

Bald Eagle (Look Closely)

 

Witches Gulch

Witches Gulch, named by H. H. Bennett, is a mysterious slot canyon cut by a small creek that runs off the Ho-Chunk Land to the west. The Ho-Chunk are a tribe of the Anishinaabe People (that includes the Chippewa and Ojibwa of Minnesota and Northern Wisconsin) who migrated into the Midwest 3000 years ago. The Ho-Chunk (People of the Sacred Voice) and their brothers and sisters, the Winnebago of Nebraska, have lived in this area for thousands of years and maintain a community center in the Dells. Unfortunately, none of the touristy landmarks or guides even mentioned them. They prefer Bennett's marketing efforts to 3,000 years of life experience. Here is a link to a Wikipedia article on these people that you may find interesting. Ho-Chunk People

 

 

A Lush Slot Canyon

Gotta Watch Our Heads

The Creek

Getting Back Onboard

 

Leaping the Gap

The last stop of the tour was Standing Rock. When he saw the platform, Bennett decided to popularize this stop on the tour by asking his 14-year-old son to jump across the gap many times until he captured the picture above. His efforts at popularizing this area have led to the founding of a dynasty of tourism that continues to grow 150 years later. The Wisconsin Natural Resources Department protects the crumbling sandstone cliffs; the only way to see them is by boat. The trails are only available to those who pay a $40 fee for a boat tour. Yep, Bennett was a master marketer and has spawned several generations of people who have now built the "Water Park Capital of the World" that has nothing to do with the River itself. Here are a few pictures of the trail at Standing Rock.

 

Anvil Rock

Brown Water from Tannin in Tamarack Trees

The Dog Making the Leap

The Pink Sandstone under the Weathered Surface

 

Our 2025 Route

After two days of touristing, it was time for a break. Wednesday was a Chill and Chores Day, where I resumed work on 2025 planning. While attempting to book campsites for next Summer, I discovered a new trend in Corporate America RV Parks. Venture Capitalists have discovered RV Parks as an excellent investment opportunity. Inspired by KOA and Sun Outdoors, they are buying up mom-and-pop parks and small chains. They bring their greed to bear and have introduced software that no longer allows booking more than six months in advance. They want to avoid tying up sites at 2024 rates when they plan to raise them in 2025. (The same thing has happened in the rental market for apartments nationwide.)

 

This has led to a significant change in my planning process. I now record when the window for booking opens and set a reminder on my computer so that I can book the sites I want in the places I want to visit during the time of year we want to be there. Complicated? Yes. However, it is necessary when greed has eroded the hospitality industry and made it more about profit than providing a good experience of the outdoors for a reasonable return on investment. I also keep a journal of the trouble I have had in making a reservation, which is a more significant part of my review of the sites I book. If enough of us on the road give bad reviews for inconvenient booking practices, and it eats into their profitability, change will happen. Their greed will erode their profits, leading them to look at the guest's experience beyond their bottom line. Such is the nature of erosion in reshaping the landscape of life. Okay, the rant is over. I will return you to our regular scheduled programming.

 

On Thursday, our hopes for seeing the International Crane Foundation and the Historic Home of Barnum and Baily Circus in Baraboo were eaten away by a flare-up of my back problems. I spent the day resting, reading, surfing the web, and processing pictures. I had counted on another full day in the Dells to see and explore the area around Baraboo.

 

I woke up early on Friday morning and checked the weather. Overnight, the forecast for possible showers on Saturday had changed to a threat of severe weather. Saturday was our drive day to Bristol, WI, and I did not want to take Koko and Nakai through the hail and gusty winds. After talking with Marlene, we decided to book an additional night in Bristol and head out on Friday. The people in Bristol were very accommodating. We packed up, made an easy drive to Bristol via Milwaukee, and arrived in time to get set up without incident. With this move, we finished our Zig South. We will be here for 6 nights and have ample time to see some friends and explore the area between Chicago and Milwaukee. (We head North again on Thursday.) We are staying at Happy Acres Campground in Bristol, WI.

 

This week, I learned that erosion is a natural process we must accept as part of life. However, the erosion of our lives by greed does not have to be blindly accepted. By our resistance, we can erode their influence as well. Erosion does destroy old landscapes and alter the present. But it also creates a new future that can be beautiful. It all depends on what natural forces are used to change the world around us. May we each bring our own resistance and determination to bear on the world around us and improve our children's and grandchildren's lives.

 

Travel well, my friends.

Bob