Dances with Dirt Devil’s Lake Half Marathon

July 13, 2024
Baraboo
Trail
Distances
Starting Time

7:00 AM

Fees

$69+

Perfect For

Ready to sign up?

100-500
Some Hills
High: 83°
/ Low: 59°

Several hundred runners turn out each year for the annual summertime Dances With Dirt Devil’s Lake races, which feature a full, 26.2-mile marathon, a 13.1-mile half marathon, a 50-mile race for both individual entrants and relay teams, a 10K race and a 50K ultra race along the challenging hills and trails of southern Wisconsin’s Devil’s Lake State Park.

The routes for all of the event’s races are gorgeously scenic, as they take runners through this roughly 10,000-acre park’s hills and trails and feature views of high bluffs and cliffs, ponds and lakes, all within a short drive south of the nearby city of Baraboo (the original home of the Ringing Brothers circus), just south of the Baraboo River and north of Lake Wisconsin.

Runners in both the full marathon and the half marathon follow an out and back course that starts inside Devil’s Lake State Park just off County Highway, near the entrance to the Steinke Basin Loop. Once out on the trails, runners will make their way through the Steinke Basin Loop, crossing County Road before continuing on the Johnson Moraine Trail, as well as along portions of the historic Ice Age Trail, which winds along 1,000 miles through the state and highlights how glaciers carved the landscape millions of years ago throughout this part of the country. Runners will trek through a combination of stretches out in the open air and through the tree-covered woods, along which the trails may be narrow or more wide-open, depending on where they are in the park. The trail will also take runners along the park’s South Bluff, which unfolds mostly along a downhill for the next mile or so and features gorgeous views of Devil’s Lake off to the west and the hills all around. Once runners reach the mile 5 marker, however, the course starts climbing uphill again, over the course of a long ascent upwards for the next few miles into the area known as the Steinke Basin. The course climbs uphill some more between miles 7 and 8, where there’s a smaller downhill and uphill, and then begins a steady descent as runners make their way back onto the Ice Age Trail, for the last stretch into the Steinke Basin Loop for the race finish.
Overview
Several hundred runners turn out each year for the annual summertime Dances With Dirt Devil’s Lake races, which feature a full, 26.2-mile marathon, a 13.1-mile half marathon, a 50-mile race for both individual entrants and relay teams, a 10K race and a 50K ultra race along the challenging hills and trails of southern Wisconsin’s Devil’s Lake State Park. The routes for all of the event’s races are gorgeously scenic, as they take runners through this roughly 10,000-acre park’s hills and trails and feature views of high bluffs and cliffs, ponds and lakes, all within a short drive south of the nearby city of Baraboo (the original home of the Ringing Brothers circus), just south of the Baraboo River and north of Lake Wisconsin.
Runners in both the full marathon and the half marathon follow an out and back course that starts inside Devil’s Lake State Park just off County Highway, near the entrance to the Steinke Basin Loop. Once out on the trails, runners will make their way through the Steinke Basin Loop, crossing County Road before continuing on the Johnson Moraine Trail, as well as along portions of the historic Ice Age Trail, which winds along 1,000 miles through the state and highlights how glaciers carved the landscape millions of years ago throughout this part of the country. Runners will trek through a combination of stretches out in the open air and through the tree-covered woods, along which the trails may be narrow or more wide-open, depending on where they are in the park. The trail will also take runners along the park’s South Bluff, which unfolds mostly along a downhill for the next mile or so and features gorgeous views of Devil’s Lake off to the west and the hills all around. Once runners reach the mile 5 marker, however, the course starts climbing uphill again, over the course of a long ascent upwards for the next few miles into the area known as the Steinke Basin. The course climbs uphill some more between miles 7 and 8, where there’s a smaller downhill and uphill, and then begins a steady descent as runners make their way back onto the Ice Age Trail, for the last stretch into the Steinke Basin Loop for the race finish.

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Dances with Dirt Devil’s Lake Half Marathon Course Map

Distances
1
Starting Time

7:00 AM

Fees

$69+

Perfect For

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