Vetsch/Vollenweider/Stoney Point Park Hike (MN)

This weekend marked the first in a series of three early morning hikes in city and state parks to track down the ever-changing landscape of spring ephemerals. These hikes are offered by our Driftless Drifter Hiking Club which is sponsored by our school district's Community Education Department.*

In our small community of La Crescent (population 5,274), we are fortunate to have two large bluffland city parks that give recreational users a chance to climb bluffs and get to amazing overlooks and sandstone formations. One of these parks is Vetsch Park , just west of the downtown area, which also encompasses another park (Vollenweider) and city property (Stoney Point). That's where we hiked on Saturday!

Vetsch Park is part of an old apple orchard that the city was able to acquire from the owner. It has a huge swath of pollinator prairie plants at the entrance to this 25 acre park.  From there, multiple trails ascend up through the hardwood forests of Vetsch and Vollenweider to Stoney Point, an iconic sandstone monolith that affords sweeping views of the city, MN bluffs and Blue Lake. 

There are no trail markers or named trails so it's always an adventure to head into the park (the city has plans to untangle the trails and improve trail markers in the next few years). While there are a number of old orchard roads, interested residents have bushwhacked deer trails into narrow trails that cling to the sides of the steep bluffs which hikers, bikers, runners and others have used. The trails meander back and forth and can offer hikes from 2-4 miles as you wander them.

The park is a paradise of wildflowers, mushrooms/fungi and wildlife. Ruth Nissen and Betsy Knowles, two community members who serve on the city's Natural Resources Advisory Group, have spent the past few years searching out and identifying the wildflowers blooming during the growing season. Their 109-page Vetsch Park and Stoney Point Guide is available online and is amazing! From the common to the rare they have created a who's who and what's what of the wildflower world all the way up and on Stoney Point.

Ruth and Betsy guided us on this first hike in the series as we discovered a number of spring wildflowers. They talked about the different pollinators for many of the flowers; the geology that lends these flowers their unique home, their identification work and much more over the two hour hike. They also mentioned how quickly many of these ephemerals bloom and then lose their blooms. Hiking every few days opens up constantly changing blooms. Below is a perfect example - Betsy walked the trail again after our hike. What a difference a few hours make:

9:00 am unopened Jack-in-in the Pulpit
Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

11:30 am - opened Jack-in-the-Pulpit!
Image - Betsy Knowles

THE HIKE

Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN

From the park entrance, follow old orchard roads up through the orchard into Vollenweider Park or through the pines in Vetsch park onto challenging, narrow trails that climb steeply up to the spectacular views on top Stoney Point (a scramble at the end up this sandstone rock formation. 200 foot elevation gain. Trails are unmarked and multiple trails can be confusing. Head upwards is my best advice until the city marks the trails! Note that the park abuts private property on the south side so be courteous of all posted signs.

Location: 

722 N. 2nd St. Follow North 2nd St west until it ends at the water plant. Ample parking.

* The Driftless Drifters is a member-led hiking club program sponsored through the La Crescent-Hokah Community Education Department of MN ISD 300. Begun in 2021, the group goes on weekly "under 5 mile" hikes around the Driftless area and weekly "Ambles - shorter hikes on flat surfaces for hikers looking for a slower pace. All hikes feature learning opportunities as they identify flora, fauna and fungi around the area. New members are welcome - the fee for the club is $14 /yr (July through June). Members have access to a weekly newsletter with hike locations and tips as well as additional pop-up hikes. Contact Community Ed at 507 895-5150 to join.

I Spy On the Trails - Week of April 23, 2023

Part of the fun of hiking in a season like spring is that every day brings new sights on the trails around you. Each week, I will be sharing some of the plants, birds and wildlife that have been peeping up or returning to the the woods and wilds around the Driftless area.

Wildflowers:

• Bloodroot -  near the end of their bloom time but not the end of their spectacular foliage
• Dutchman's Breeches - nearing the end of their glory but still profuse in some spots
• Ramps - tis the season. Remember, if you gather ramps, only take a few from any patch (and never in MN state parks) to ensure their continued robust presence. And plant a few in your own landscape. They love shaded, north-facing areas with plenty of moisture.
• Rue anemone - carpets of them
• Hepatica - just getting started
• Spring Beauty - these multi-headed flowers are just coming on
• May Apples - their "umbrellas" are up but are not yet fruiting
• Lyre-leaved rock cress
• Virginia waterleaf
• Bellworts - just starting
• bluebells - a few are peeking through. Mid-May is the hot time and Carley State Park in MN is the place to be. Check out their Bluebell Festival and be treated to carpets of bluebells at this tiny gem of a park.

Dutchman's Breeches
Image-Marge Loch-Wouters

Wild ginger
Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

Wildlife

• blue-winged teals
• eagles
• coots
• mallards
• spring peepers
• sandhill cranes
• trumpeter swans
• Canada geese
• egrets
• great blue herons
• beavers
• muskrats
• turkey vultures
• wild turkeys
• yellow-rumped warblers
• kinglets
• eastern towhee
• palm warbler
• buffleheads

The Mississippi River

In the Driftless region, the Mississippi River plays a significant ongoing role in our geology and trails. For the past 3 weeks, our immediate La Crosse/La Crescent area has experienced slowly rising waters moving towards a crest of 15.89 feet on Thursday April 27. The waters are now sloooowwwwly starting to recede. That process takes between 2-3 weeks. Left behind are massive debris, mud and sand on trails and in homes near the river. This will be either the third or fourth highest water level here since statistics began being kept in 1874.

Part of everyday over the past three weeks, I have walked and observed where the river is at and how it continues to creep up and now back. Many favorite wetlands hikes have been inaccessible. Wildlife has been displaced - our local police department has noted that they have picked up the bodies of four beavers along a busy wetlands thoroughfare that have been displaced by the rising river. I see geese near the roadway that have lost their nests but remain nearby on higher ground.

Mississippi River on April 28, 2023

Image - National Weather Service

We haven't seen a flood of this magnitude since 2001. It is humbling to see what Old Man River can do. And I am grateful that our area has left many wetlands intact thanks to the advocacy of community folks and scientists in the area. The damage to human dwellings and infrastructure could have far worse otherwise.

Seems like the river took over the "overflow parking."
I *guess* we invited it...
Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

This week's hikes: Vetsch Park (MN); Sugar Creek Bluff (WI), Fish Farm Mounds (IA); Lytle's Landing Eight Mile Bridge segment of Great River Trail (WI)

Reno Spillway Hike (MN)

Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

The Mississippi River plays a big part of hiking in the Driftless region. It's surrounding bluffs provide great challenging bluffland hikes up to the top to view the river and region. Lowland hikes along the wetlands and river bottom provide abundant wildlife and an ever-changing scene of river and plant life to observe.

One of my favorite seasonal lowland hikes is along the Reno Spillway in the Reno Bottoms, south of Brownsville MN. The spillway is part of a long dike road that stretches from the foot of a bluff all the way to the back gate of Lock and Dam #8 in Genoa WI. 

Image- Marge Loch-Wouters

This 6.8 mile out-and-back gravel road was originally built to bring building material for the lock and dam construction back in the 30's. This in-and-out hike can be tailored so that you can turn around at any point making it be the mileage you want to go for lavish vistas of the river, bluffs and wildlife refuge.

The road, which borders the U.S. Wildlife Refuge, is an area used by fishers, walkers, hikers, bikers and occasional service vehicles for the lock and dam, Fish and Wildlife Service and the regional power company. But those vehicles are rare.

Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

What is prolific are wildflowers, migrating waterfowl, eagles and other wildlife - plus an up close and personal view of the Mississippi River, the MN bluffs and a chance to walk almost halfway across the river as you zigzag towards the lock and dam.

It's often a rare treat to hike here. Because it is a spillway,  the Mississippi  River water often overtops the "release valve" of the lowest parts of the trail. Sometimes one can wade through; other times the volume and force of the water cuts the hike short.

When the moment comes to walk the spillway, people head there - especially to catch the spring and fall migrations of trumpeter and tundra swans, pelicans and ducks. Lucky hikers are treated to hundreds of waterfowl flying overhead to their wintering grounds or spring nesting sites.

There is also a canoe access point for a canoe trail through the Reno Bottoms of the US Wildlife Refuge.  That canoe access sign on the highway marks the entrance to the trailhead

THE HIKE

Reno Spillway

Flat trail on up to 6.8 miles of gravel trail and rough cement (on the spillway portion of the trail). Many wildflowers, migrating waterfowl, hardwood floodplain forests, aquatic plants. This hike can go from easy to more challenging depending on whether you head to the lock and dam at the end.

Location:  Follow MN Hwy 26 south about 7 miles south of Brownsville. Look for the canoe access sign and turn left (when heading south) and park in the dirt lot at the bottom of the road.

Image - Lavon Court

It's Tick Time Again

I know. Ugh, right? 

Ticks and lyme disease are something to be aware of but not scared of.

While ticks are active April through October, spring is especially the time to be aware of their activity. As temperatures rise into the 40's, ticks become active outdoors again.  Of course, that's the time we want to be on trails and in the woods enjoying early wildflowers, migrating warblers and foraging for edibles like morels, fiddleheads and ramps.

The black-legged deer tick is the primary carrier of lyme's disease. But don't despair. Usually, a tick has to be attached to you 36 to 48 hours or more before the Lyme disease bacteriumcan be transmitted. If you remove a tick quickly (usually within the first 24 hours), you reduce your chances of getting Lyme disease.

Here are a few quick pre- and post-hike prevention tips that can help with peace of mind and no ticks attached to you!

• Wear light colored clothing (easier to find ticks on them).
• Tuck pants into socks. 
• Spray boots and pants legs with a Picaridin or DEET-containing insect repellent.
• After hikes, toss your hiking clothes into the dryer on high for a 10 minute spin (it kills the little beasties)
• Check your body carefully for any tick action post-hike
• Shower/wash hair (usually it takes from 24-36 hours after a tick attaches. A good scrub helps to dislodge them).
• Consider spraying a set of "hiking clothes" with Permethrin. 

What do you do if you find a tick on you? The safest thing is to grasp it firmly near it's mouth parts with a tweezers and pull it gently out. Save the tick to bring with you to urgent care if you develop a fever or rash so the tick can be tested.

With a few precautions or a general awareness, you can enjoy the outdoors even in the tickiest springs. So get out there and hike!

RESOURCES

This 2022 New York Times article has some recommendations on very effective brands of insect repellant sprays for skin and clothes and where to purchase them.

The CDC has a very informative Lyme's Disease section on their website if you want to dig deeper into identification, prevention,

Keeping Track of Seasons

Image from the Season Watch website

In my last blog post, I talked about how things change so rapidly in spring. But, of course, change is part of every season. What we observe in each month makes up the subtle rhythm of life around us in nature.

Our observations of day-to-day and week-to-week changes in the natural world is called phenology - the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals. While it's a big word, we all do observe what's around us on hikes and walks. A warbler! Are those gnats that are circling in front of me as I walk in the wetlands? There's the first garter snake! Pussywillows! Ramps! Morels! Canvasbacks! The herons are back!

There is a new educational website resource, built in part by a couple of MN Master Naturalist volunteers,  called Season Watch. It focuses on these very changes. You can browse species of plants and animals, see graphs made with historical data, and satisfy your curiosity about the future of Minnesota environments and climate change.  

I also want to recommend a wonderful book that is written for MN but useful for WI Driftless folks as well. 365 Days of Northern Nature has a day-to-day informational reflection with photos of some aspect of the season (bird, plant, insect, nature pattern) that you can see at that time of year on your walks and hikes.                                                                                                                                                                         I spend a little time each day referring to the book and learning as I read. It keeps me alert on the hike. It is the same kind of learning I get when I hike with friends on the trail or in the hiking club. Alot of the pleasure I get from the hike is finding out what is out there and discovering a little bit more of the world around me.                                                                                                                                                 All these resources and our own observations make up the school of the natural world. And it's knowledge worth knowing.

Holland Sand Prairie Amble (WI)

Newly blossomed daffodils burdened with snow.
Image - Marge Loch-Wouters

Ambles are what we in the Driftless Drifters* call hikes that are up to 2.5 miles long on flatter trails. They are perfect for people who like a slower pace, are recovering from illness or injury or just like to spend time enjoying nature. 

We just got a surprise snowy, blowy 11 inches of snow yesterday. While it was fun to see the snow, it meant a cancelled hike today.

I belong to the Driftless Drifters Hiking Club in La Crescent MN. The group is sponsored by our school district's Community Education Dept (smart people!)*. 

One of the types of hikes we offer is called a Monday "Amble." This weekly hike is 60-75 minutes long, usually under 2.5 miles on flatter trails and at a slower pace for people who are rehabbing or just prefer a slower, more reflective experience.

This Monday's hike was set for Holland Sand Prairie SNA (State Natural Area), a property of the Mississippi Valley Conservancy near Holmen WI. This lovely prairie tract is small but is an ideal location to spot Pasque flowers. These are flowers that love high, sunny slopes and ridge tops so aren't always accessible for hikers who "Amble." It's mostly the bluff hikers who are treated to this lovely early flower.

A profusion of Pasque flowers
Image - Kris Lawson

Two friends scouted the trail on Friday and were treated to a literal blanket of Pasque flowers. Perfect! Our Amblers would get a primo seat at the Pasque flower feast!

But the weather had other ideas. Like the snow-covered daffodils in my yard above, those beautiful Pasque flowers are buried in snow. As ephemerals, they may not last much beyond the week.

It reminds me of how spring brings so much change but we have to be quick to catch all the wonders that we come across. From birds returning to nest, insects re-emerging, buds breaking open to leaves,  frogs and snakes coming out of their over-wintering spots and flowers and plants erupting in a constant stream, we need to keep our eyes open to the wonder.

I hope you are out on the trails discovering the wonders that spring holds.

THE HIKE

Holland Sand Prairie SNA Hike

Fairly flat with some rolling hills on 1.8 miles of grass/dirt trails for views of a beautiful sand prairie on this Mississippi Valley Conservancy property. Many wildflowers year round. This is a easy short hike for any age.

Location: W7781 County Road MH, Holmen WI

Follow Hwy 53 north to County Rd MH. Turn left onto McHugh Rd and follow it to the trailhead, which is just past (west of) Beaver Builders’ Supply. Trailhead and parking area are on the left (south) side of MH. 

* The Driftless Drifters is a member-led hiking club program sponsored through the La Crescent-Hokah Community Education Department of MN ISD 300. Begun in 2021, the group goes on weekly "under 5 mile" hikes around the Driftless area and weekly "Ambles - shorter hikes on flat surfaces for hikers looking for a slower pace. All hikes feature learning opportunities as they identify flora, fauna and fungi around the area. New members are welcome - the fee for the club is $14 /yr (July through June). Members have access to a weekly newsletter with hike locations and tips as well as additional pop-up hikes. Contact Community Ed at 507 895-5150 to join.