Roche-A-Cri State Park
Special Events and Features

Special events

Special events are an annual feature at Roche-A-Cri State Park. Search for Roche-A-Cri on the statewide calendar of events for dates and times.

Pumpkin Walk/Haunted Hay Ride. Held on a Saturday in late October. Haunted hay ride through the campgrounds, games for the kids, candlelight hike, pumpkin judging contest and a bonfire. Refreshments will be available. Open house day - park vehicle sticker fees are waived.

Photography Contest. Held at both Buckhorn and Roche-A-Cri State Parks. Runs from October 1 through September 30 the following year. The four categories are: wildlife, plants, people using the park, and an open category. Ask park staff for contest information sheet.

Naturalist programs

Roche-A-Cri offers weekend interpretive programs conducted by park staff and volunteers throughout the summer. Check at the park office for a schedule of upcoming programs.

The goal of the interpretive program is to help visitors learn more about nature within the park setting. Hikes, evening programs, displays and roving contacts are among the tools our staff uses to reach this goal.

Activities are designed for visitors of all ages and are fun as well as educational. Special guest speaker presentations are also arranged. Program schedules are posted around the park and are available upon request at the office.

Accessible facilities

The main picnic shelter, and a paved picnic pad with an accessible grill by the office parking area, provides picnicking opportunities. Water is also available at the office picnic area.

Campsite number eight, which is available to accommodate RV, trailer or tent, includes a blacktop driveway, a hard surface pad with a grill adjacent to the tent area, and an asphalt path to the toilet. Electricity is available at the site for an additional $5 fee. Water is available near the office.

Visitors can park near the rock art site and use an accessible ramp to the observation deck. An accessible nature trail of .68 mile round trip leads to Chickadee Rock. The trail has a gravel base. There are six interpretive signs along the trail. A gravel path also leads from the winter parking lot off of Czech Avenue to the prairie project. There are benches for resting along the way.

Prairie and savanna restorations

Adams County was part of the original major region of prairies and open savannas in Wisconsin. Oak barrens and oak savannas were most typical types of prairie in the central sands area. Oak savannas are grasslands with occasional large oak trees predominating, while prairies are large grasslands without trees.

Without fire and grazing, forests replaced the open savannas and prairies. The change in habitat meant the loss of habitat for grassland songbirds, certain game birds, such as grouse and ring-necked pheasants, other insects and reptiles.

Roche-A-Cri State Park has several areas of prairie restoration. The Friends of Roche-A-Cri State Park have developed a prairie south of the park on Czech Avenue. Parking is available and a trail will lead you through the prairie. The trail has a gravel base for easy access and has an interpretive sign. Benches are along the way to relax and take in the sights and sounds of the prairie. The most common prairie grasses seen include little bluestem, June grass (exid DNR), Indian grass, and big bluestem. Forbs, or flowering plants, include lupine, thimbleweed, butterfly weed, sky blue asters, round-headed bush clover, blazing star, bergamot [exit DNR], dotted mint, yellow coneflower, black-eyed Susans [exit DNR], various goldenrods [exit DNR] and spiderworts [exit DNR]. Another area of prairie is being restored in the natural area east of the park.

In spring, when weather permits, prescribed burns will be used to remove brush, leaves and dead grasses. Studies have shown that doing this encourages the re-establishment of prairie grasses and plants whose root sytems and seeds are in the soil.

Some native prairie seeds will be planted. Seeds are obtained from a nursery specializing in prairie plants of this area, from Bureau of Endangered Resource sites, and through collection of seeds from the existing prairie areas here.

To learn more about prairie restoration, walk along the prairie areas in the park, check the park bulletin boards and office, and attend the naturalist programs on prairies.

Natural Areas

Roche-A-Cri Mound State Natural Area (No. 183) is a 25-acre parcel within the park that contains Roche-A-Cri mound with a mixed forest of old-growth pine and oak on the surrounding sandy terrain and talus slope. This mound is a late Cambrian sandstone outlier mesa rock outcrop and was once a rocky island in Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The summit now stands about 300 feet above the central sands plain. Its distinct long, narrow shape, the large cleft in the southern face, and flat-topped ridge bordered by craggy, precipitous cliffs made it a landmark for early travelers. A variety of early Native American petroglyphs and pictographs at the base of the southern face are easily viewed from an accessible platform. Turkey vultures use this high mound as a summer roost site.

Roche-A-Cri Woods State Natural Area (No. 362) is both within the park and adjoining it on the East side State Highway 13. Large white pine, white oak, black oak, red pine, and red oak dominate this 442-acre parcel. A diverse ground layer is present and contains at least 220 plant species. A forest of silver maple, green ash, and basswood border Carter Creek, a class II trout stream, which meanders through the area. Two native species prairies have been established in the eastern portion of this natural area.

Rock Art Site

Roche-A-Cri has the only interpreted rock art site in the state. The observation area is west of the office on the main park road. The accessible ramp and observation deck allow all visitors to view the petroglyphs and pictographs. Rock art consists of a number of crowfeet, arrows, lines, and unknown figures. The abundance of rock art suggests that this place had special significance to the ancient inhabitants of the region and remains a mystery. It is estimated that the petroglyphs were carved before 900 A.D. and pictographs appeared only 400-500 years ago. Interpretive panels present interesting facts, drawings of the art, and a map to help visitors locate carvings and paints on the mound. The Upper Midwest Rock Art Research Association [exit DNR] has held annual meetings here.

Historical Marker

This marker describing the park's glacial history can be found on the west side of the mound.

303-Step Stairway

A wooden stairway allows users to reach the top of the 300-foot high Roche-A-Cri Mound. The stairway has two rest areas along the way that feature splendid views and interpretive signs. An observation platform on top of the mound provides visitors with a safe bird's eye view of the area. Interpretive signs help visitors identify numerous land features easily seen from this platform area. Photo displays, featuring views from the mound stairway, are in the informational kiosk shelter at the base of the stairway.

You can give time or money to help the state park

If you enjoy Roche-A-Cri State Park, you may want to express your appreciation through a gift of money, materials, equipment or volunteer services. Gifts help Wisconsin State Parks provide facilities and services that otherwise would not be possible.

Money may be placed in the donation box in the park office or mailed to the park:

Roche-A-Cri State Park
1767 Hwy 13
Friendship WI 53934

Or mailed to the Wisconsin State Parks central office:

Bureau of Parks and Recreation
P.O. Box 7921
Madison WI 53707-7921

Money for projects also can be donated to the Friends of Roche-A-Cri State Park.

If you enjoy camping and meeting people from all over the country, you may wish to become a volunteer campground host. As a host, you will receive free use of a campsite in exchange for helping campers, providing information about the park and surrounding area and doing minor maintenance.

To get more information about the host program, to be a nature volunteer guide or do other work in the park, talk with the superintendent or submit a volunteer application. It could open the door to an unforgettable and rewarding experience in Wisconsin's wonderful outdoors.

Friends of Roche-A-Cri State Park

The Friends of Roche-A-Cri State Park work on park activities and special events. They have worked with park staff in organizing and running the annual Pumpkin Walk/Haunted Hayride and the park photography contest.

The friends have funded numerous park projects over the years. Their accomplishments include the construction of the park picnic shelter and its electrical service, prairie establishment, interpretive trail signage, electricity for the handicap accessible campsite and campground toilets, and a stone and wood entrance sign for the park.

For more information about the Friends of Roche-A-Cri State Park or any volunteer project, talk with staff at the park office or call (608) 339-6881 (summer) or (608) 565-2789 (winter).

For more information on Roche-A-Cri State Park, please call 608-565-2789, Joe Stecker-Kochanski, Buckhorn / Roche-A-Cri State Parks, or write to:

Roche-A-Cri State Park
1767 Hwy 13
Friendship WI 53934