Silver Mound
Thursday, July 25, 2024 6:19 PM
So while perusing the KOA pamphlet they give you on check-in, Brian noticed a trail pointing to ‘National Historic Silver Mound’, and being the curious fool he is, he tried to find out what it was. Turns out it’s an extremely important pre-historic site, probably the most important in Wisconsin. Early people used the quartzite to shape arrows, points, knives and other tools and then traded them all through the midwest. If you’d like to read more try here:
https://www.uwlax.edu/mvac/past-cultures/specific-sites/silver-mound/
Couldn’t find much information about getting to the site so he asked at the campground about it and the person knew about it but had never been there, just knew where the trail started. Brian being the adventurous type, decided to give it a whirl. The person who’s campsite the trail starts next to and been up it a bit and warned of swarms of bugs and a terrible trail, sounded like a perfect place to have an evening stroll.
I followed the trail until it turned into a small river, there were hills on both sides and all the water ran down to the center where the trail was. The comment about bugs was an understatement, and the woods were full of stinging nettles and huge raspberry bushes with lots of prickers. I had passed what looked like a deer trail a bit downhill and decided to try it. After a block or two uphill and along the side of the hill, Brian decided he’s no deer, and it was time to head back.
Even though I didn’t see much, it was cool to be in a place with so much history. Might be better in fall, perhaps we’ll come back again.