Announcing the 51st Annual WSS Hodag Hunt Festival September 11-13, 2015

  Why Devils River Campground:  Devils River campground is centrally located to almost 50 caves in the area. Amazingly, all these caves are within a short one-mile drive from the campground! Unlike years past, this year’s reserved camping sites will feature eight full- service electric and water sites. These large side-by-side sites will have plenty of room for multiple units or tents, so there will be plenty of room for everyone. Unique this year also, the sites are all a very short walking distance from the campgrounds’ bathrooms, free showers, and coin operated laundry facility. Camping attendees can arrive after 2:00 pm on Friday to start setting up for the Hodag Hunt Festival activities. Also of importance to the WSS is the fact that Devils River Campground is less than a mile drive from Cherney Maribel Caves County Park. The WSS has spent an exorbitant amount of time and energy since 2003 in restoring and preserving the nine caves that have been found in the park. The biggest cave restored so far in the park is Maribel New Hope Cave. It has become one of the most significant caves in Northeast Wisconsin and a must see. It has been restored to be about 800 feet of passages. Most of the passages are all walking or stooping passages. The caves also have crawling passages for the more adventurous cavers. The cave is highly decorated with many cave formations. The cave formations featured and will be seen are “Stalactites,” ”Columns,” “Helictites,” “Ribbons or Curtains,” “Cave Bacon,” “Soda Straws,” “Cave Coral,” and lots and lots of “Flow Stone.”  We also have a unique living cave formation of “Moon Milk,” which is rare in most caves found anywhere.    Caving Equipment Needs and Awareness: At a minimum for caving equipment needs, a protective hard helmet and hands-free lights of some sort are a must. Hiking boots, protective clothing, and knee pads are highly recommended for any of the Hodag caving trips. You will want to bring a camera, too, as there will be spectacular photo opportunities and memorable moments during the whole weekend of the 51st Hodag Hunt Festival celebration that you will want to capture for a lifetime.

   Please note, we do have two very important equipment requirements for everyone who is going into the caves during the Hodag Hunt: 1) Everyone needs to have clean caving equipment to protect against the spread of the devastating White-Nose Syndrome (WNS). See the WSS website information at (http://www.wisconsincaves.org/WNS) for the latest updates on WNS. The link also provides the latest caving gear decontamination protocols from the US Fish and Wildlife Service; and 2) No one may use caving equipment and clothing in Wisconsin caves that has been in caves outside of Wisconsin per Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources regulations. A decontamination station will be provided by the WSS to keep your equipment clean.

   Hodag Fun: The WSS uses the Hodag Hunt Festival weekend as a caving social gathering and uses the funds raised at the Hodag auction to support its various caving activities throughout the year. Besides great caving opportunities on both Saturday and Sunday, the WSS offers a great breakfast on both mornings, a banquet dinner on Saturday night, and an auction after our evening meal. Please do bring items for the auction and some extra money for the great buys and interesting finds you will see. Night activities include campfires at night and some spontaneous singing and playing of music if one is inclined to do so.

   Camping: The WSS fee for camping with full electricity and water hookups is on-site at $7 per night/person. Large families will only be charged a maximum of $28 per night/family. Individual sites are still available for the Hodag dates, but do get your reservations locked in early directly through Devil’s River staff (http://campdevilsriver.com/) as they do fill up quickly. Individual campsite fees are listed at $34/night on Fridays and Saturdays and $30/night for Sunday through Thursday.

   Registration: All participants for the Hodag Hunt Festival must register for the event. The Hodag on-site registration will begin Friday evening about 7:00 and continue through Saturday morning. On-site registration for ages 16 and above is $11, including the 2015 Hodag Hunt Festival Guidebook, and will also include a free 50th Hodag Hunt Festival t-shirt (while supplies last). There is no registration fee for kids age 15 and under.

   Banquet Meal: Our banquet and auction will be at Suster’s Arcade Restaurant, a short 4-mile drive in Denmark, WI. Suster’s Arcade Restaurant has bar none the best broasted chicken in the area! Our meal will be family style all you can eat fish and chicken for the special price of $15/per adult. Kids meals from age 0 to 4 are $5 and ages 5 to 8 are $8. The meal includes battered fish and broasted chicken and their family style bowl pass-around servings of coleslaw, potato salad, tartar sauce, rye bread and rolls, pickles, mashed potato, gravy, dressing, and sauerkraut. We also have the room reserved for the after-meal auction. They have two full service bars and an excellent waitress service, so you can sit down and enjoy your meal. Drinks will be at your own expense.

   Breakfast:  Both Saturday and Sunday mornings will feature an all you can eat breakfast put on by the WSS right at the reserved campsites. The breakfast is $5 per person/meal, and will include pancakes,