Devil's Punch Bowl
Geological Formation near Menomonie, WI
Map to the Devil's Punch Bowl
History and Description
First of all, it should be understood that the current geological landscape of Wisconsin represents
a complex series of geological events that began ~4.6 billion years ago. Most of the surface
features around Menomonie can be associated with recent (within 100,000 years) periods of
glaciation.
About 500 million years ago, an ancient sea laid down sediments that were eventually buried and
lithified into sandstone rock. The Menomonie area is part of the Central Lowlands Province.
This area consists of flat or gently folded sedimentary rock of the early paleozoic era or older.
There were multiple transgressions and regressions of ancient seas during the paleozoic era. And
numerous geological events happened before the paleozoic era (between 2.4 billion years and
600 million years). Some of these include mountain building, ancient seas, volcanic activity,
and periods of erosion.
The Devil's Punch Bowl which is located about 4 miles south of Menomonie, is formed out of
the Eau Claire Sandstone Formation that was part of sea deposits laid down about 500 million
years ago. Some trace fossils have been found in the rock strata. This is about the time in earth's
history that clear, fossil records of life first appeared. The rock strata was eroded away by the
outwash of melting glaciers about 10,000 years ago. Prehistoric people were believed to
frequent the area (about 1,000 to 2,000 years ago). An Elk Antler armband was found within
some Native American burial mounds near Wakanda park. These bands were carbon-dated to
either 750 AD or 1208 AD (source: Dunn County News, 9/14/97). In more recent times, the area
was known as Black's Ravine. Samual Black was the owner and a Civil War Captain. He would
use the area for different types of gatherings. Peter Stoll eventually owned the ravine and
donated it to the township of Menomonie which subsequently donated it to Dunn County. At
one time, the ravine was owned by UW-Stout and became a popular student party location in the
early 1900's. The current owner is the Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy of Menomonie.
People aren't certain how it original got its name. Some believe it was because of the mascot of
UW-Stout which is the Blue Devil and others think it was named after popular western
geological formations such as the Devil's Tower in Wyoming.
Brochures to raise awareness and funds to expand and preserve adjacent land have been created
by the Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy (500 East Main St., Suite 307, Menomonie, WI,
54751). Wisconsin Farmland Conservancy is a regional land trust, serving western and
northwestern Wisconsin. WFC is dedicated to preserving the rural character of the landscape,
and assists landowners who want to protect their property from development. For more
information, see www.wi-fc.org.
[Most of the above information was taken from two newspaper articles: Big Step Forward: Project makes rare
geological formation more accessible by Pamela Powers (page 1A, Leader-Telegram, 10/11/00) and Devil's
Punchbowl gets a steppingstone for future by Deb Anderson (page B1, Dunn County News, 10/11/00)]
Ice Formations of the Devil's Punch Bowl
Taken on December 25, 2004.
Video showing the ice formations at Devil's Punch Bowl during the winter. (10 Mb in size)
Some Pictures taken on the same day.
My kids standing in the main bowl area.
The air temperature was about 15oF and a hard freeze had happened a few nights before. Even
with these cold temperatures, the water could be heard trickling out of the walls. Some of the
area is not frozen because warmer groundwater is feeding into the area.
Some more ice formations.
Looking along the wall, one can clearly see the location of springs. The water trickles out of the
wall and freezes into these formations.
Two locations along the South wall showing heavier water flow from a spring.
Close-up view of the ice formations.
Virtual Tour of the Devil's Punch Bowl
Pictures were taken on 10/12/00
The stone parking lot for the Devil's Punch Bowl is on your left as you drive South on Paradise
Valley Road.
Sign at road side and near parking lot. Please be respectful of the natural beauty of the site when
visiting.
Looking East down into the "Bowl" from the rim.
Sandstone cliffs on the North side of the "Bowl".
Another view of the Sandstone cliffs looking North on the Southern rim.
Down in the Bowl. The day this picture was taken, the sandstone cliff on the right side of the
picture had been weathered and the surface was broken off giving one a clear view of the reddish
colored sandstone.
Looking West from inside the Bowl. The person in the picture provides a perspective of the
scaling.
The day this picture was taken, the weather was un-seasonably warm. However, as one walked
around the bottom of the Bowl, the temperature was markedly cooler. Cooler as a result of the
shade and the groundwater trickling out of the rock formation. A variety of vegetation and
miniature eco-systems can be observed.
Step-like features from the weathering of the sandstone by mostly water flow. Most of the
weathering can be contributed to post-glacial flooding about 10,000 years ago.
Another view of the Western cliff with water flowing over it. A water pool is at the base of the
cliff. (Trash bags are from recent efforts to clean-up the area.)
A close-up view of the Western cliff face that usually has water dripping precipitously down its
face. During the winter this cliff exhibits some fascinating ice formations.
View of the Southern part of the Bowl.
Another view of the Bowl area looking West. The new access steps are shown in the upper right
corner.
Stream valley looking East. The stream flows into the Red Cedar River.
The Wisconsin Conservation Corps (WCC) is shown rebuilding the 41 foot wooden stairway to
the Devil's Punch Bowl.
Workers in the WCC are shown replacing the old steps with new ones.
A view of the new wooden steps while under construction.