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My initial visit to Juneau County was a lot of fun. While in the central Plain Geographic Province, in the area of Mauston, I encountered fantastic buttes just jumping out from the flatlands. Wisconline.com talks to these buttes this way:
"Isolated, rocky hills which resemble ruined castles, grotesque towers and crags of sandstone along a line of bold, irregular bluffs, and an unusually flat plain which stretches away beyond the northern and eastern horizons."
Juneaucounty.com focuses in a bit more on this particular area, and provides an easy to understand description of these buttes. It says this:
"The rocky outcroppings, called buttes or bluffs, you see throughout the central and northern part of the county are really the tops of islands that dotted the surface of glacial Lake Wisconsin.
This is the "backside" of the butte easily accessible from Hwy 82. Note the large number of trees. Wisconline.com says, "The evergreen trees, clinging in precarious positions on the rocky buttes and mesas ... and the tamaracks on the swampy, level plain, are among the first forerunners of the northern forest." In the "gee-whiz" category, note the small orchard in the lower right quadrant of the photo. This next shot is from the "side," and you get a better view of the orchard.
Apples we think.
Apples for sure! They look like they're starting to ripen. The photo was taken on August 1, 2005.
This is the "frontside." We call it frontside because it faces the road. This photo was shot from Hwy 82. The rock formation is absolutely fantastic, and it does resemble a ruined castle. Let's take a close look.
Now remember the first shot you saw; this butte stands alone, amidst a rather large level plain. We understand these buttes are more common in the Camp Douglas area, about 8-10 miles northwest of Mauston on I-90.