Devil's Lake State Park

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Devil's Lake State Park is a state park located in the Baraboo Range in eastern Sauk County, just south of Baraboo, Wisconsin. Devil's Lake State Park is the biggest state park in Wisconsin. It is around thirty-five miles northwest of Madison, and is on the western edge of the last ice-sheet deposited during the Wisconsin drift. This 9217acre state park is known for its 500ft quartzite bluffs along the 360acre Devil's Lake, which was created by a glacier depositing terminal moraines that plugged the north and south ends of the gap in the bluffs during the last ice age approximately 12,000 years ago. The sand at the bottom of Devil's Lake is thought to be deposited by glaciers. Devil's Lake is situated in the Baraboo Hills. The Baraboo Hills are thought to be much older than Devil's Lake itself; they are approximately 1.6 billion years old and were once part of the Baraboo Range which is thought to have been taller than the Rocky Mountains.In 1974, the National Park Service declared the Southern portion of the Baraboo Hills a National Natural Landmark. The Nature Conservancy also designated it as one of the Last Great Places; it is one of only 77 of these places in the world. Loess covers most of the hills and forms the parent material of a brown silt loam soil. During the fall, the park's brilliant foliage makes it a popular attraction. The lake is surrounded by a mixed conifer-deciduous forest and the Baraboo Hills are also home to one of the largest contiguous hardwood forests in the Midwest. Its scenic beauty along with its proximity to the Wisconsin Dells has made it one of the most popular of Wisconsin's state parks for both day use and overnight camping; the park receives over 1.2 million visitors annually.