We were looking for a quick summer weekend trip to a new place and settled on a visit to the southwestern part of Wisconsin. There were a few parks in the area that we wanted to see and thought it would be a nice change of scenery to visit the Mississippi River region. We took the day off and headed out on Friday morning making our way through a heavy downpour to the southwest. By the time we reached our lunch rest stop at Vintage Brewing in Sauk City, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. We enjoyed a nice lunch and beers and stopped at a park alongside the Wisconsin River in neighboring Prairie du Sac. From there, we followed a winding country highway alongside the river heading downstream. Just in time, the sun finally started to come out. Upon arrival at Prairie du Chien (chien is French for dog), where the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi River, we stopped at the Fort Crawford Museum to tour the exhibits at the former site of a pre-Civil War fort established by Colonial settlers. Much of the fort is no longer there, but there were some interesting exhibits about the history of the site and region, including many on medical advancements since a famous military surgeon, Dr. William Beaumont, was stationed at the fort and conducted many long-term medical research projects (and also he interestingly did a stint at Fort Howard in Green Bay).
After the museum, we headed to Wyalusing State Park to do some hiking and check out some scenic views or the river. The weather was pretty hot so we kept our hikes short, but enjoyed the views (and some trains passing by down along the river) and also stopped to see the monument to the passenger pigeon. I was excited to see it as recognition of the human caused demise (extinction) of a species that used to be extremely common throughout the Midwest. Conservationist Aldo Leopold was present at the dedication of this monument and offered his words at the unveiling, now captured in his essay On a Monument to the Pigeon. Dr. Stan Temple gave some moving words at the rededication of the monument in 2014 for some more context (read more here). We were surprised that despite the Friday late afternoon visit that we pretty much had the place to ourselves and rarely saw anyone else.
After refueling and stopping for some snacks, we headed across the bridge over the Mississippi River to Marquette, Iowa and to our hotel for the weekend. Marquette was a pretty small, quaint riverside fishing and waterway shipping village where most attractions were really close by. Including a paddleboat casino!
The next morning, we took a short walk along the river and saw a huge purple martin colony. Next we drove up the road a few miles to Effigy Mounds National Monument. We enjoyed a nice hike along the North Unit of the property and learned about effigy mounds that were built by Woodland Indians (hunter-gatherer tribes) who relied on these lands from around 800-1,400 years ago. The mounds are a few feet tall- earlier versions were conical and later developed to formation in the likeness of an animal- often bears. These mounds were very common in southern Wisconsin and neighboring states, and were believed to be related to spiritual ceremonies and group identification, as well as burial structures. Unfortunately a lot of them have been destroyed as a result of development and land use practices. The park had some areas mowed around the mounds to get a good view, but it was easy to see how they could be missed if not clearly defined. Definitely a good learning (and nature) experience.
After the hike, we stopped at Old Man River Restaurant and Brewery in neighboring McGregor, Iowa. It turns out there was a car show going on so the touristy town was bustling, but we had no problem getting a patio seat and enjoyed a nice lunch and beers. Later, we stopped in a couple of antique shops back in Marquette and visited Eagles Landing Winery for some wine and music (excellent peach wine slushy!). Later that evening, we had a very nice sunset boat ride with live bluegrass music on the river with Maiden Voyage Tours. We saw several sites from the water, learned about shipping of cargo (mostly grain) on the river, and lots of bald eagles and other birds. The sunset was pretty awesome too.
On Sunday morning, we opted for a hike on the South Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument to the Marching Bear Group of mounds (for an aerial view). This unit is less often visited as compared to the North Unit, but was an enjoyable hike up the hill and we got to see some bird-shaped mounds as part of that larger complex of bears. Not many other people around After the hike, we started making our way back northwest, stopping in Madison (Wisconsin's state capital) for beers at Youngblood Beer Company right downtown and lunch at Scott's favorite Chinese place Ichiban Sichuan Restaurant. Nice weekend trip- the ol' Upper Mississippi did not disappoint!
