Mill Bluff State Park

Mill Bluff State Park is a unit of the Ice Age National Scientific Reserve, protecting several prominent sandstone bluffs 80 to 200 feet high that formed as sea stacks 12,000 years ago in Glacial Lake Wisconsin.

There are 10 named bluffs in the park. Mill Bluff, 120 feet high, is between the Interstate and State Highway 12. The park office is at its foot, and the campground is just to the west. Bee Bluff, although smaller and only 60 feet high, is the most visible bluff from the Interstate, as it stands adjacent to the westbound lanes. To the north is 170-foot Camels Bluff, two separate outcroppings that together resemble the humps of a camel. Nearby are Devil’s Monument and a 40-foot high pinnacle called Cleopatra’s Needle. The other, less accessible bluffs are Round Bluff and Sugar Bowl Bluff to the south, 140-foot Wildcat Bluff and Bear Bluff to the north, and 199-foot Long Bluff to the northeast. Also in the northeast is Ragged Rock, an 80-foot tall former bluff whose protective cap was worn away and is eroding into a conical mound.

Mill Bluff State Park has a rustic, family campground with 21 campsites that are wooded or partially-wooded. Six sites have electrical hookups. Campsites 7 and 10-21 are very flat and accessible. The park has vault toilets and hand pumps, but no showers [Note: showers are available for a fee at area vendors]. The campground is open late May through September.

Swimming is available in a 2.5-acre spring-fed lake south of the campground. Sand has been added to make a 250-foot beach. A 0.4-mile nature trail circles the base of Mill Bluff; the 223 stone steps built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s lead to its top. Eight/tenths (0.8) miles north on County Road W (Funnel Road) is a pullout for the 1.25-mile Camels Bluff loop trail, which passes between the two sections of Camels Bluff and leads past the base of Devils Monument and Cleopatra’s Needle. Because the bluffs are formed of soft sandstone and geologically unique, all climbing is prohibited.

Source: WDNR and Wikipedia