Copper Falls State Park & Highbridge Hills

My college friends and I were looking to have some weekend where we'd travel around to various disc golf courses across Wisconsin. We came across the Highbridge Hills Sports Complex (link), which offered 7 courses in a single area. One of which, Blueberry Hill, happens to be the highest rated disc golf course in Wisconsin.

So, this weekend, we packed up some camping gear, hopped in the car, and traveled high up north to check it out. We stayed at Copper Falls State Park, which also comes very highly rated. It's one of the top state parks in Wisconsin, and features tons of hiking, some waterfalls, and interesting wildlife.

Copper Falls

The first night, we were constantly woken up by these crazy howling sounds, which belonged to several Barred Owls yelling at each other over territory, or something.  After breakfast, we took to the trails that showcased the prominent waterfalls in the area: The Copper Falls, and the Brownstone Falls, both named after the color of rock underneath and surrounding them.

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The trails circle around the Bad River as it cuts through ancient volcanic rock, and formed a large gorge with rapids and waterfalls. Read all about it here.

High Bridge

After hiking, we went to High Bridge to play a round or two of disc golf. We played the 18 holes of the Blueberry Hills course.

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It was alright, but I wouldn't say it was the most amazing disc golf course I've ever played.

The website made it look like this whole area was some paragon of Disc Golf excellence, but it was quite far from the truth. The "club house" was just a shack at the top of the hill, with two older guys just hanging out talking about disc golf stuff over and over again. Blueberry Hill was rather unkempt. Much of the course was overgrown, and started choking out the fair way. Much of the ground was uneven, and easy to trip on. And it was usually a game to figure out where the baskets of each holes were.

For us, many of the holes were incredibly long. This course would probably test real professionals of the sport, but we're quite amateur. We play incredibly casually and don't have keep track of the score. Dave is the only one of us who can actually catch some distance on his drives, and he was still getting 4s and 5s on these (long) par 3s.

Also, the course was soaking wet from the rain or dew from the previous night, so feet were drenched by the time we finished. We decided to head up to Ashland, and venture around rather than play anymore. Then we drank for the rest of the night, and pretty much went home in the morning.

Camping was totally the highlight of the trip for me. :)

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