We returned to our much loved Matthieson State Park this weekend to find that, again, the weather down in the dells was a complete surprise. A cloud was down in the canyon, and there was misty air swirling around everywhere, particularly stunning in the shafts of light that came down through the trees. We were able to walk all the way to the back waterfall on the upper dells, something we haven’t been able to do since a hard freeze several years ago enabled us to walk there across the ice. It was so hot, we didn’t mind getting wet wading through the river to get back there this time.
We also pushed ourselves through a lot of sweat and tiredness to do a second dells loop and explore the lower dells area. It was completely worth it–at the end of that trail there were caves to walk through and a waterfall / waterslide!
As for refreshments…we had lunch at Duffy’s tavern in Utica, and ice cream afterwards at the local ice cream shop. Apologies to the ice cream shop girls for my inexcusably complicated coffee order… my only defense is that it makes sense as an order in Starbucks. Sorry.
