Roche-A-Cri Mound

State Natural Area (No. 183)

Location: Within Roche-a- Cri State Park, Adams County. T18N-R6E, Section 30. 25 acres.

Access: Access: From the intersection of County Highway J and State Highway 13 in Friendship, go north on 13 2 miles to the Roche-a-Cri State Park entrance. Park maps are available at the contact station. Follow the park road to the northwest base of the mound. A 303-step stairway leads to the summit. For the eastern portion, go north from the park on Highway 13 0.7 miles, then east on Cypress Avenue 0.4 miles to a parking area south of the road.

Visitation Guidelines: Roche-A-Cri Mound is open daily 6:00 a.m. to sunset. Visitors must remain on the trail. Pets, food, and beverage are not allowed in the natural area. A State Park sticker is required.

Description: Probably the most conspicuous and beautiful rock in Wisconsin is bold, irregular Roche-a-Cri, a late Cambrian sandstone outlier mesa of the retreating Magnesian Escarpment. Named by early French explorers, Roche-a-Cri or “crevice in the rock” refers to the large cleft in the rock structure that is visible from a distance. Three complete erosion cycles are evident within the rock strata. The distinctly shaped mound was once a rocky island in the former Glacial Lake Wisconsin and is long and narrow with a flat-topped ridge bordered by craggy, precipitous cliffs. The summit stands about 300 feet above the Central Sands plain and offers excellent views of several other late Cambrian sandstone crags and towers including Pilot Knob, Mosquito Mound, Rattlesnake Mound, and Dorro Couche. These white rocky battlements punctuate the even, green plane that surrounds Roche-a-Cri. Vegetation at the top of the mound consists of scattered red, black, and white oak with red, white, and jack pine. Plants characteristic of bracken grassland, sand barrens, cliff and dry forest, and prairie communities grow here too. Turkey vultures use the high mound as a roost site. Below, lies a long and steep talus slope, which harbors a small, narrow rock shelter containing rock art. “Crow feet” petroglyphs are present at the base of the mound and protected by a fence as they have been partially destroyed by vandals. Roche-a-Cri is owned by the DNR and was designated a State Natural Area in 1983.