Perot State Park

After a long stretch of dismal weather, the skies turned blue, and we took the opportunity to hitch up the Brew Hut/Scamp and make our way to the shores of the Mississippi River for a mid-week vacant campsite at Perot State Park.

Wisconsin State Parks seem particularly busy this year.  Advanced reservations are required--even for the weekdays.  Weekends?  Forgetaboutit.  Many of the state parks are booked every weekend for the rest of the summer.  That's okay, we prefer mid-week getaways when the parks are just a little bit quieter.

We stayed for three days and headed home on Friday morning.

To get to Perot, we drove to La Crosse, Wisconsin and then north to the small town of Trempealeau.  Drive to the shores of the Mississippi River and turn right.  The campground is a couple of miles up the park road. 

The state park has a variety of hiking trails, but most of the ones near the river were closed due to flooding. That left the bluff trails, which are short but steep.

Brady Bluff trailhead

Some of the bluff trails were wooded; others were exposed and rocky.  The views were always good.

The generous spring rains brought beautiful spring flowers.

The Town of Trempealeau is fortunate to have a really fine historic hotel with beautiful views of the river, reasonable drinks, and occasional live music.

 

I think we all enjoyed ourselves and will be back again someday.

May Days

We've had a cold and wet spring, not conducive to much enjoyable outdoor activity.  But better days have arrived in the last couple of weeks.

Yesterday, my "country neighbor" moved his young steers into the woodsy field next to our front yard. 

"Davey", the hardest working farmer that I know, has his own calendar for farm activities.  These calves kept the barn (and a wellhead) above freezing all winter long.  A couple of weeks after the last danger of frost, Davey scoops out the barn, spreads the manure on his 20 acres of corn fields, and moves these guys across the road.  

I'm not sure what triggers his date for planting corn.  All of the big farms have the corn planted, and it's coming up ankle high already.  I've seen Davey planting corn in early July some years.  I think it's highly dependent upon his old equipment working (which includes his body because he is in well into his 70's).  

After getting my golden geezer card for reduced camping rates following my 62nd birthday, we haven't done much camping yet this spring.  The good spots for reduced rates within a few hours are mostly along the Mississippi River.   Between campground "repairs and upgrades" and flooding, those campgrounds have all been closed and won't open this year until late June for the most part.  

We did make one Scamping trip last week to Perot State Park, which sits on high ground above the Mississippi River north of La Crosse, Wisconsin. That trip will be the subject of an upcoming blog post.

 

Mississippi River Bluffs

After a short stop at the Grant River Recreation Area, I continued meandering north on the Great River Road, mostly on Hwy 133, until I reached Governor Nelson Dewey State Park.  I could find only a few short trails on top of the bluffs here, which I hiked quickly.  Then I found a picnic table and made breakfast, consisting of French press coffee, fried eggs and toast, all prepared on my little Coleman backpack stove.

I brewed the coffee with home roasted Brazilian from Thursday morning.  I was lazy and ground for french press before I left.  Coarsely ground coffee stales more slowly than finely ground coffee, due to differing amounts of oxidation (less surface area exposed for coarse).  This cup tasted particularly good in the crisp morning air and brisk wind on top of the bluff.

My intended destination was Perot State Park north of La Crosse, but I never got there.  Continuing on the Great River Road, I found myself at the entrance of Wyalusing State Park, just south of Prairie du Chien, WI.  I’m not sure if I ever visited this park before, but I immediately fell in love with an available campsite on top of the bluff.  When I found out that there were more than ten miles in hiking trails also, I booked the campsite for two nights.

Wyalusing is a historically important park   Below these bluffs, you can see where the Wisconsin River meets the Mississippi River.  On May 17, 1673, Father Jacques Marquette’s expedition left St. Ignace, Michigan at the northeast tip of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  The men followed close to Lake Michigan’s shoreline into Green Bay and then entered the Fox river, which empties into the Wisconsin River near Portage, Wisconsin.

They continued to canoe to the place below, where the train now crosses. On June 17, 1673,  Father Marquette wrote:
“After 40 leagues…we happily paddled into the Mississippi with a joy I am unable to make known.”

Today, these  trains run frequently, all day and all  night.  On of the advantages that my Ford Escape has over a tent is soundproofing.  I slept without any interruption both nights of my stay. I like the sound of trains, just not when I’m trying to sleep.

These bluffs also mark the Passenger Pigeon Memorial.   A memorial plaque states:

“Dedicated to the last passenger pigeon shot at Babcock, September 1899.  This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man.”

That afternoon and evening, I read the latest C.J. Box novel from my chair at the top of the bluff.  I dined on ravioli with butternut squash, and French bread with goat cheese, washed down with a tin cup or two of Rodney Strong’s Cabernet Sauvignon.  The sunset was amazing.