Turkey Vulture Trail is most easily accessible from the winter
parking area, which requires a current Wisconsin State Parks
sticker to park a vehicle there. It can also be reached from the
main park (open approximately late April to late October) by
crossing Carter Creek at the bridge (pick up a trail map).
Please stay on the marked trails at all times until you are near
the cache, even though you may be tempted to take a more direct
route. Avoid walking in cross country ski tracks, if any are
present. Obey all park rules at all times.
The search for this traditional cache will take visitors to an
area of Roche-A-Cri State Park that many people don’t have the
chance to see if they limit their time to the park road and mound
area, with its many activities of camping, picnicking, hiking, and
climbing the stairway. If it’s your first visit to the park, by all
means enjoy all that it has to offer, but take some time to explore
this area south of the creek. The trail itself is easy terrain
(will be sandy in spots) and a nice distance to hike. Bring your
camera to remember your time here, and you may even get some shots
you want to enter in the park’s annual photo contest!
Trail maps, “The Visitor” newspaper, and Information on the
annual photography contest can be picked up at the kiosk in the
winter parking area or at the main office information board.
Turkey Vulture Trail is named for the large birds that call the
mounds in this area home. They can be seen perched on the rocky
outcroppings but are most visible when they are soaring on the warm
air thermals in early afternoon. The birds frequently “commute”
from Roche-A-Cri Mound to Friendship Mound half a mile south, and
then return home.
The trail makes a loop east into the woods along the high ground
overlooking Carter Creek. In spring wildflowers such as blood root
and hepatica make brief appearances to the tune of spring peepers
and wood frogs. In summer the canopy provides shade from the sun;
then the oaks blaze with all-to-brief fall color before winter sets
in. If there is good snow cover, this trail is the place to view
animal tracks, deer trails and deer beds, and maybe the critters
themselves. Hike or ski and see views of the mound and the creek
that are unavailable in the leafy seasons.
At the eastern end of Turkey Vulture Trail, the loop returns
west along the planted prairie area. Here nesting boxes are set up
for bluebirds and swallows, and the prairie plants put on seasonal
shows for the amateur and enthusiast alike. There is information on
the prairie planting near the winter parking area.
The Geocache Notification Form has been submitted to Park Manager
Joe Stecker-Kochanski of the Wisconsin DNR. Geocaches placed on
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resource managed lands require
permission by means of a notification form. Please print out a
paper copy of the notification form, fill in all required
information, then submit it to the land manager. The DNR
Notification form and land manager information can be obtained at:
http://www.wi-geocaching.com/hiding