Going Parking

Even though I had wanted to take the latest birthday granddaughter to celebrate her 6th birthday to the theatrical version of The Little Mermaid, Natureman had other plans.
My Mom had always warned me about guys who wanted to 'go parking'...
BUT he had his mind set on spending the day in one of Wisconsin's state parks. It is difficult to not take advantage of a beautiful fall day. 

It was also probably our last weekend to see the vestiges of fall as oak leaves are about the only leaves left on the trees. and our first visit to this particular park. 

Wyalusang Park outside of Prairie du Chien, WI was our destination with a whopping $3 'senior' car entrance fee. We started with the Bluff Trail and the million dollar view of the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. Pretty spectacular

Following the trail down a gazillion stairs and back up some we ended up inside Treasure Cave.
Literally. 

My Natureman

Natureman, in fact, borrowed a gal's phone for a light to crawl into the space and then decided maybe not.

The views were spectacular and the weather ended up being the sweatshirt weather type. Perfect hiking weather. 

 Take note if you venture to Wyalusang, the maps are a bit misleading, maybe drawn free hand(?)



On Sentinel Ridge we enjoyed the trail notes and monument commemorating the billions of passenger pigeons which used 850 miles of the Mississippi as their home and routing. With 
deforestation and hunting the pigeon population disappeared. Their swarming used to be like moving dark clouds as pictured on the right.


This ridge top trail meandered along the 1/2 mile prehistoric Bear Effigy mound. In 1829 the Winnebago Indians were sent westward to reservations after ceding their land to the Government but returned and stayed until the early 1900's. Many other folks besides the Winnebago used this same path throughout the ages; mound builders, Black Robes (the priests), French Voyageurs, lead miners (Fortunately no ore was discovered so they moved on), farmers, and hikers like ourselves. 

Although the forest ranger had suggested the Sugar Maple Trail, Natureman opted for the Sand Hill Cave Trail which was a couple of miles long. 

Big Sand Cave

Trickle, trickle

The caves were a bit disappointing after experiencing Treasure Cave as these were more outcroppings with a little sandy floor and some trickling water overhead. 

Natureman remembers a cave with drawings but the only thing on the sand cave walls were recent visitor names carved creating a modern day "parietal art". Perhaps those caves are closed to save them...

The Sand Caves are good shelter for a rainy/unbearably hot day regardless  Thank goodness there was signage / we would have walked right past these 'caves', especially the Little Sand Cave. 

I was glad to be heading back before nightfall came as the leaf laden paths would disappear.  Hey, we only saw a couple folks during the 4 hour visit. You know I've spoken before about how our walks become adventuresome hikes. Anyhow-

Wyalusang Park is a treat with picnic areas, campgrounds, tennis and basketball courts, canoeing, boat landing, bike trails besides a nice size pavilion, and place to have astronomy programs besides the varying 11 different trails totaling some 20 miles. It was a lovely introduction to a park about an hour from home and a good 'parking' afternoon.


We were blessed with a lovely Missisippi River sunset on our return to the End of the Rainbow Valley. 

Yep, this was probably the last Miata trip for the year before it's winterized. I do still hope to take the birthday girl to the play next weekend. :)