Natural Bridge & Governor Dodge State Parks
Devil’s Lake to Governor Dodge State Park | Hiking in Natural Bridge and Governor Dodge State Parks | May 2026
After our time at Devil’s Lake, we packed up and resumed our slow drive Southwest back to Iowa. At this point in our trip, we didn’t have a lot planned, just a basic route around random places we had starred on our map. We decided our focus for the rest of our time in Wisconsin should be to visit all the state parks that we could to make the most of the state parks pass we had bought. Today, we managed to hit two more on a short stretch of drive.
Our first stop was at Natural Bridge State Park near Leland, WI. This was a small, simple park with a trailhead right off the county highway, and a short loop trail through the woods. As we made our way back into the woods towards the park’s namesake, we joked about how the grass was a little long and that they would probably show up to mow soon. Sure enough, not long after, we heard the sound of a lawn mower echoing through the woods which lasted the rest of our time here, in what would have otherwise been a quiet and peaceful area. We joke that this is our curse — whenever we show up to a park with the intention of hanging out, it somehow is always mowing day. Or like at Devil’s Lake, they were mowing around the campground all 3 days that we were there. Without diving too deep in this tangent, I’ll just say that we are very anti-lawn culture and dream of a world where we can hang out outside and not listen to mowers. And I know the real solution to this is to go back to the desert. 🙂
Anyway, besides the noise, this was a pleasant hike and pretty easy, and the natural bridge made of standstone stands tall along the side of the trail and is quite impressive. We also took a spur trail up to an overlook, though it wasn’t as impressive as other overlooks we’ve found over the last few days at Devil’s Lake or Gibraltar Rock. Altogether this hike was just over a mile long with less than 200 feet of elevation gain.
Next, we drove further South to Governor Dodge State Park. On our way, we noticed several houses and buildings that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. We wondered if he was from the area, and later learned that he was — he was born in Richland Center, WI, and had designed homes and a school here in Spring Green, WI. It made the already scenic landscape even better with visually appealing homes.
When we made it to Governor Dodge, we parked near the trailhead for Stephen’s Falls and started on our hike. We first walked to the waterfall, going down a few switchbacks of rock steps to reach the bottom. It wasn’t huge, but it was a beautiful setting at the base of several tall cliffs covered in bright green moss. There was another trail that continued along the stream from here, but that one was closed at the time so we returned the way we came. Next, we walked through the nearby remains of a homestead that used to exist here. There were signs that told about the family that lived here, and a short interpretive trail around the land where their home had once stood.
Still wanting to continue our walk, we continued on the trail across the road and followed different trails all the way back to the campground. We had been hoping to make a loop, but we found that part of it was closed so we had to return the way we came. Unfortunately we didn’t record this hike, but the waterfall and homestead were the main highlights and are both pretty easy to reach as long as you can navigate down rock steps.
When we were finished with our long walk, we had dinner in the van and spent a little longer in the park before leaving to find a place to spend the night. We ended up at a rest area that was far enough off the road that we couldn’t hear the traffic, and we enjoyed a lovely sunset before turning in for the night.
