Located on Hwy 136, just west of Rock Springs. The gorge was formed when the Baraboo River carved a path through Baraboo quartzite, Cambrian sandstone, and conglomerate. Shear cliffs rise about 200 feet above the river, and extend for three-quarters of a mile. "The site tells a fascinating geological story of changing conditions in an ancient sea that first rose quietly against a cliff of quartzite and then, as layers of sediments gradually decreased the relief between sea floor and land, surged against the top of the cliff, wearing away quartzite and depositing a layer of cobbles and boulders across its upturned edge," notes a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources description. Thousands of years of weathering and quarrying during the last century, have exposed virgin rock faces in the gorge. Ableman’s Gorge is owned by the DNR and the University of Wisconsin and was designated a State Natural Area in 1969.
