Devil's Lake is among the destinations featured in Outside magazine's June cover feature, "25 Weekend Escapes (for Under $500)" -- putting the Wisconsin climbing mecca in the company of Class V whitewater rafting in Colorado, kiteboarding North Carolina's Outer Banks, climbing Mount Rainier, and circumnavigating Oregon's Mountain Hood on a hut-to-hut mountain biking tour.
No telling how this might multiply visitor numbers to what is already Wisconsin's most popular state park, though the magazine's blurb headlined "Climbing the Cheese" notes that most visitors to the park cluster near its eponymous lake. This, the magazine suggests, leaves "some of the Midwest's best bouldering and trad climbing free for the taking."
The item goes on to favor climbing routes on the west bluff over the more crowded east bluff. It also notes the Chicago Mountaineering Club's significant presence at Devil's Lake, though it overlooks the UW-Madison Hoofers Mountaineering Club, which also convenes at Devil's Lake throughout the summer. Nor does Outside mention the classic Climber's Guide to Devil's Lake. The UW Press published an updated third edition of Sven Olof Swartling's indispensable guidebook last November, with new contributions from Green Bay climber Pete Mayer.
While drawing attention to Devil's Lake as a climbing mecca, the item steers readers toward accommodations at the Thunder Valley B& B and dinner at the High Rock Café, both in Wisconsin Dells -- perhaps suppressing added competition for campsites at Devil's Lake State Park. Fans of Baraboo's Java Café or Monk's Bar & Grill, however, might want to be prepared for a disproportionate number of Outside readers converging on tables there. Nothing wrong with that, mind you: I'm a subscriber myself.