Wintertime is Hiking Time!

Mathy Quarry Snakeroot Trail
Image -Kris Lawson

With Thanksgiving and the December holiday seasons hard upon us, it's easy to turn inward towards family, warmth, curling up under a blanket to read, craft or just enjoy toasty warmth. 

But don't forget to find some time to bundle up and get out on the trails!

In November and December, be sure to check your state for gun deer season times. If you are in the Driftless area, the gun seasons for deer are often on different weeks from state to state. If you can, pick hikes in a nearby state that isn't in gun hunting season (In 2025 - Minnesota: Nov 8-16, Nov 22-30 and Nov 29-Dec 14. Wisconsin: Nov 22-Nov 30; Dec 11-14 and Dec 24-Jan1. Iowa: Dec 6-10; Dec 13-21). If not, for your safety, always wear some blaze orange and choose hiking trails that are not on or near public lands.

As you plan your hikes, think about weather conditions and temperatures. Mild temperatures invite us to explore favorite spots with dramatic features (rocks, running water, great vistas and more). It's see-through season - with no leaves, hidden views are revealed. With the understory more clear and often snow-covered, it's a great time to explore off-trail without the worry of bugs and tripping hazards.

If you think about your hiking destinations in some of these terms, you'll find an endless array of possible hikes. Here are a few suggestions to help you get started! Click on the hike title to find directions and descriptions of trails.


MIGRATION HOTSPOTS
Late November hiking affords dramatic migration action from many waterfowl including trumpeter and tundra swans. Hikes where you can look at these waterfowl or stop at an overlook on the way to see them are especially fun. So try:

Swans at Reno Spillway

Reno Quarry (MN) - Stop at Brownsville Overlook to see the last of the swans, geese and ducks as they rest and eat along their migration route. Then hike the quarry for the Mississippi River views and marvel at the rocks on the trail spur north of the quarry.

Reno Spillway (MN) - If the spillway is open, take a walk right along the Mississippi River and see the thousands of ducks between the MN and WI bluffs. This graveled hike is a gentle, flat one.

Sugar Creek Bluff SNA (WI) - Heading south from La Crosse, stop at the Shady Maple Overlook just south of Goose Island to see swans and other migrating waterfowl. Then continue on to this Mississippi Valley property south of Ferryville and enjoy a gentle hike out to outstanding views of the river and woods.

LOOK OUT FOR THOSE ROCKS
There are so many geological formations that are hidden by trees on trails. Fall and winter are ideal times to hike trails that reveal these massive cliffs and rocks. A few trails to try:

"Spinal column" rocks at Reno Quarry

Beaver Valley State Park (MN) - The rim trails of the park are full of dramatic rocks; but so too is the trail that runs on either side of the trout stream. With leaves down, the rocks and narrow valley walls are breathtaking.

Yellow River Forest - Luster Heights Unit (IA) This area is relatively flat with some rolling hills and magnificent views of the Mississippi River. The rocks are pretty spectacular too! This is also a great snowshoe area.

Lost Creek Trail (MN) - This is a fun late fall hike with great stream crossings and lovely views, not least of which is a series of towering limestone cliffs that are hidden during the growing season. The cliffs are about 2.25 miles in and make a great place to turn-around at this out-and-back hike that starts at the Ninebark trailhead. Closed during MN’s gun season.

Greens Coulee/Savannah Oaks (WI) - This Mississippi Valley Conservancy boasts some impressive ups and downs, a view or two and a great mushroom rock formation. Invasive buckthorn makes the trail to this rock tough in the growing season but with no leaves, the rock is easily visible. It’s worth the hike!

VIEWS TO DIE FOR
Ok, not really, but there are some spectacular views to be had when the leaves are off. They show a different face of familiar places and vistas that go on forever. 

Reno Quarry, MN overlooking 
the Mississippi River

Yellow River Forest - Paint Rock Unit (IA) - With its high bluffs and climbing trails to get to the fabulous rim trails, cool weather is a perfect time to tackle these bluffs. The views that greet you of the Mississippi are worth the price of admission.

Great River Bluffs State Park (MN) - Many iconic overlooks await you on these forest trails. The south trails have some steep and rolling spots so cool weather is your friend. It is another off-trail gem of a park for snowshoeing.

Levis-Trow Mounds Recreation Area (WI) - Great shared trails that climb up and down towards the
rim. Amazing vistas on these high mounds offer views of the flatter glaciated land with the Driftless area's bluffs rising in the distance. Also has amazing rock formations!


WINTER WONDERLAND
Snowshoeing is so much fun in the Driftless. And half the fun of being on 'shoes is that you can literally go wherever you want. You can stay on trails or explore off-trail to your hearts content. I'm an inveterate off-trailer, seeking deer trails and drifts to follow. A winter day on snowshoes is a day worth living! Try some of these:

Apple Blossom Overlook Park, Dakota MN

Apple Blossom Overlook Park (MN) - A wonder of prairie flowers in the summer and a fun challenging snowshoe in winter. The off-trailing here is great fun . I only attempt the steep Dakota Overlook trail in winter to the little quarry and often follow the old road down to the highway. Owls await the silent.

Mathy Quarry Snakeroot Trail (WI) - a beautiful hiking trail that winds through prairie, pines, birches and woods. A winter wonderland in the snow indeed

Pine View Campground (WI) – Inside Sparta’s Fort McCoy is a lovely winter hike, following the winding, nascent La Crosse River (here just a stream) through the woods to small Trout Falls.

Halfway Creek (WI) - This wide trail is great in summer but in winter it is a snowshoeing off-trail dream. You can follow along the creek, cross the bridges and explore the other side of the winding water. Though some snowshoe on the trail, I say why bother. Let hikers have it while you live the snowshoeing dream.


PROTECTION FROM THE WIND
Trails along bluffsides can be great in the winter. They offer protection from sharp winds. Often these can be bike trails which are far quieter in the winter. Try these:

Checking "bacon ice" at Vetsch Park, La Crescent MN
Image - Bonnie Lyman

Hixon Forest Hiking/Bike Trails (WI) - These trails are really delightful in winter when the snow is on the ground. You can use spikes on tamped down trails or snowshoes in fresh snow. Break it up a bit. Stinky/Chicanary. Another day do Twister/SpillHill/boB. Then try Prairie/Twister/Mr. Hyde. All of these trails are bluffside trails and offering wind protection depending on the direction of the wind.

Hixon Oak Trail (WI) - A hike-only trail that offers alot of rolling hills. I do this one with spikes since it is well tramped down and this gives me needed traction.

Phelps Park (IA) – The limestone cliffs and cliffside ravines of this Decorah city park are a joy to hike in any season but late fall (before the snow flies) provides grand views uninterrupted by leaves - and often a glimpse of deer from it’s narrow trails (watch for a trail review in coming weeks).


SUNSHINE IN THE OPEN AIR
Sometimes on a mild winter day, it's nice to have some sunshine even if it is a bit weak. Try these to catch some vitamin D’s:

Noon shadow on winter solstice
Bluffside Park, Winona

MacGilvray's Seven Bridges (WI) - A lovely walk or snowshoe across six historic bridges through wetlands and woods near Holmen WI

Wildwood Loop (MN) - High atop Winona’s Holzinger Trail system are these loop trails. On a sunny winter day, you get views of Winona and surrounding bluffs.

Chickadee Trail (MN) – a great snowshoe on this Bluffside Park rim trail in Winona. Add the Troll trail on the winter solstice on a sunny day and, at noon, see your longest shadow of the year!

Holland Sand Prairie (WI) - While the snow-covered prairie sleeps, it’s a wonderful time to step out and explore the open rolling sand dunes of this Mississippi Valley Conservancy property. Deer trails can show you the way on a windless day.

Cedar waxwing, at Yellow River State Forest IA
Image - Kris Lawson

No matter what you prefer, I hope you get out during our coldest months. And don't forget to start planning your "First Day Hike" for New Year's Day!

Ice Caves at Kickapoo Valley Reserve
Image - Kris Lawson

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Looking for more area hikes? Please stop by the web version of the blog and under the "Labels" tab on the right hand side of the blog, click on "find-a-hike". There are over 75 hike descriptions and lists of hikes to try!

Portions of these lists are reprinted from 2024.

Naturalist's Corner - A Subtle Observation of Nature

In this month's column, we welcome Bruce Ause, a marvelous naturalist and educator. Bruce spent 30 years as the Director at Red Wing's Environmental Learning Center. He lives in Wacouta MN, not far from Frontenac State Park where he leads weekly interpretive hikes during the warm seasons.  I encourage you to subscribe to his blog Wacouta Nature Notes where he shares his observations of nature year-round. In this recent post, Bruce shared a perfect example of how phenology, the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals, can inform us of the subtle shifts that occur around us. Keeping our attention on small things opens a whole new pathway to understanding our world more deeply. And Bruce does this beautifully in this observational blog post, reprinted with permission.

Fall Colors Later In Wacouta This Year

by Bruce Ause

Wacouta Nature Notes blog

On average, peak colors usually arrive around mid-October locally. However, due to a combination of the lingering effects of unusual summer conditions and a lack of a significant drop in temperatures, peak colors were at least a week later in 2025.

A view from the top of Rattlesnake Bluff

Here is the fall color scene from the top of Rattlesnake Bluff 300 feet above State Highway 61.

Fall colors as seen from Wacouta Road

Here is the scene of Sevastopol bluff with the impressive Wacouta prairie in the foreground. It is hard to imagine the full recovery of this prairie after the prescribed burn this past spring. I have received numerous reports from folks walking on the trail of sighting up to 9 pheasants residing in the prairie.

Fall colors from the east end of Lakeview Avenue

During the spring and summer months, most of the food production necessary for tree growth occurs in the leaves. This process of photosynthesis takes place in the cells containing pigment known as chlorophyll.

As we head into the fall season with shorter periods of daylight and cooler night, the leaves respond by producing fewer carbohydrates and chlorophyll starts to deteriorate. Yellow pigments called carotenoids in these beautiful hard maples now become much more noticeable. 

Sevastopol Bluff with Wacouta Bay in the foreground

The colors on the north facing bluff were so much more vibrant than those on the south facing bluffs of Wisconsin on November 3.

Low river level at head of Lake Pepin

With the river level for most of October below 3 feet, the impact on various wildlife varied. Over the years, my last sighting of turkey vultures was October 15th. My last sighting this year was October 17th.

In my last post, I commented on all the white pelicans I had been observing at the lower end of Lighthouse Island. In recent years, with higher water levels and the start of the waterfowl hunting activity most pelicans started migrating by mid-October. Today November 3rd, there was still a flock of pelicans resting on that island. With the low water levels, fishing must still be good for these birds.

On the other hand, local beavers are facing a difficult situation going into winter. For their lodges to be safe from predators, the entrances must be underwater. With the current low water levels, that is not the case.

Beaver cutting

With the low water, beavers can still locate a food source quite easily. In this case, the bark from this fallen tree was quickly eaten. 

Beaver

The challenges facing beaver under the low water conditions are where can they build their feedpiles of branches for the upcoming winter? In more normal conditions, beaver establish the food supplies at the edge of their lodges. When hungry during the winter, they swim out from the lodge under the ice to bring food back into their living quarters. That is no longer possible.

Buck rub

With decreasing daylight by the first of November, whitetail deer enter the rutting season. To claim territories and prepare for future confrontations, bucks will spar with small saplings and leave their scent.

Interesting deer sign

On Saturday morning November 1st, I received a phone call from a nearby friend, Brian Schreiber. Earlier that morning, Brian and his wife Grete while out for their morning walk on Ski Road, noticed some very unusual activity in their recently picked soybean field.

He asked me to come over and confirm his suspicions. There were three possibilities.

1. UFO activity

2. Given the fact this occurred the night after Halloween, maybe some prankster activity.

3. Evidence of quite the fight between two large bucks. Of all the time I have spent in the woods during the fall, I have never observed such a confrontation.

All images - Bruce Ause

Yellow River State Forest IA Hike - Paint Creek Unit

Heading up the bluff

As we enter into Minnesota and Wisconsin's November gun deer hunting seasons, I look to nearby Iowa, whose gun season starts in early December, for some great hikes. 

November is a marvelous time to hit the trails on the bluffs of Yellow River State Forest in Harper's Ferry.  It's see-through season with great views of  the Mississippi River and bluffs of Iowa and Wisconsin. Rock formations are easily seen and green surprises can be found on the ground along the trails.

Paint Creek unit map

The Paint Creek Unit is the largest of the state forest's units at over 5000 acres. It features a couple of campgrounds and multiple hiking, backpacking, biking and horse trails. The trails in this unit sprawl over large parts of this unit.

Forester trail rocks

A great way to get a taste of these trails is to start at the Forest headquarters with the fun 2 mile Forester/White Pine loop that gives you a chance to enjoy a variety of features and some good elevation gains. There are a number of trails you can access from here to head to the firetower, overlooks, and backpacking sites that can add additional miles to your hikes.

Bulblet bladderfern

The Forester trail starts beyond the headquarters along a wide forested path near a small outhouse. Soon you come to a dry and rocky section of the trail that has evidence of former flooding. As you cross this section the path narrows and you begin to climb rather steeply for about a half mile gaining a quick 350 feet. While it sounds daunting, the rock faces and views of the forest you are leaving below, give you plenty of time to stop and appreciate the views along the narrower portions of the trail.

The wide White Pine trail

Once at the top, you will be on on old logging roads. You can hike into an area of backpacking sites called Camp Glen Wendel. Forester and White Pine trails intersect here.  They create a smaller loop where you can explore and find a small pond or rest on benches at backpacking sites before coming back to White Pine Trail which will complete your loop.  This wide grass and dirt trail slowly descends 350 feet over the final mile. Watch for a faint trail to your right that takes you across a dry creek bed back to your car. Your hike will be between 1.8 and 2.3 miles depending on how much you explore at the top. 

One caution. You'll want to make sure you don't follow Forester trail in the small loop all the way back down or you end up at a parking lot on B25 where you'll have to walk east on the road shoulder back to your car. Keep an eye out for a trail marker for White Pine that heads east and all will be well (see map above)!

A small pond at Camp Glen Wendel

THE HIKE

After a level start, a good aerobic half mile hike up 350 feet up a lovely forested bluffside reveals large rock formations, surprising small greenery (ferns, hepatica!!, false anemone) and a couple of large backpacking sites. The 1.8-2.3 mile hike is moderate in difficulty at the beginning, easy at the top and easy downhill on the slow mile-long descent.

Location

728 State Forest Road, Harper's Ferry IA  GPS: 43.8373983, -91.3015158

Additional posts describing Yellow River Forest trails:

• Paint Rock Unit
• Luster Heights Unit

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

Hepatica - what?!?!

Looking for more area hikes? Please stop by the web version of the blog and under the "Labels" tab on the right hand side of the blog, click on "find-a-hike". There are over 75 hike descriptions and lists of hikes to try!

I Spy on the Trails - October 2025

A common milkweed's delicate seeds

The hot temps of late September quickly moderated into a more seasonal string of 60F days before heating up to 70s the first half of the month. 

Then October decided to be a bit more seasonal in the second half of the month. We saw the daytime temps slowly drop down through the 50s and into the 40s before rallying at the end of the month to sunny 50s and 60s .

Significant wind accompanied the temperature drops. Those winds spread fluffy seeds of native wildflowers far and wide. They also contributed to massive songbird migrations south. The woods and prairies are so quiet now. A few rain fronts sweeping through kept things moist - including mushrooms popping up. 

A frosty fog morning for hikers
Image -Nola Larson

Frost finally came and nipped us overnight in the third full week of the month.  It jumped started one of the most dramatic patches of bluff color towering above the west end of the I-94 Wisconsin/Minnesota bridge. It's been a glorious week while driving into Minnesota. 

A bee’s frosty end
Image - Michael Ross

The annuals, plants, herbs and mushrooms along with insects including worker bees were dealt a cold frost blow in many places. It’s always a sad moment.

The milder days around the Mississippi River basin slowed down the leaves in their color change. The delay muted some of the colors to more russet tones. I expect we will still see some jewel-like colors but any rain or significant wind will soon be stripping the trees. Expect more leaf-showers during your hikes and drives!

I was happy to have enough improvement in my knee that I could tackle a few bluff hikes this month. Having a rest day between hikes seems to help. I volunteered for some seed collecting with The Prairie Enthusiasts this month. Seed heads are everywhere and it's great fun to actually be able to identify the seed stage of favorite forbs. It was a great month of learning their forms.

My Nature School guided hike was at Iowisota. Linda and Dennis Haugen, the owners of the education and retreat center, took us on a saunter around the lower valley of their bluff property and taught us to identify trees by their bark and shape. I still have alot to learn but these two forest service retirees were outstanding guides to help us really see the trees.

I hope you plan to continue your hiking as we go into the time change and the "see-through" season of bare trees that reveal rock formations and wider viewsheds. And remember, crisp weather means no bugs and less sweat on those bluff trails!  See you there!

Plant Observations

Flowering/mature plants:

• alyssum, hoary

  

  Aromatic aster

  
  
• aster, aromatic
• aster, blue-wood
• aster, calico
• aster, hairy
• aster, New England
• aster, shotrts
• aster, skyblue
• aster, smooth blue
• aster, white arrowleaf
• chickweed, water
• compass plant
• evening primrose, common
• everlasting, sweet
• fern, bladderwort brittle
• fern, bladderwort, bulblet
• fern, cinnamon
• fern, interrupted 
• fern, lady
• fern, northern maidenhair
• fern, rockcap
• fern, spinulose wood

  

  Rockcap fern

• fleabane, daisy
• goldenrod, elmleaf
• goldenrod, giant
• goldenrod, gray
• goldenrod, showy
• goldenrod, wrinkle leaf
• goldenrod, zigzag
• partridgeberry
• partridge pea
• spiderwort
• sweetfern
• sunflower, false
• yarrow

Sprouts/past bloom:

• anemone, false rueartichoke, Jerusalem
• asters (by end of month)
• blazing star, Ontario
• blazing star, rough
• boneset, false
• boneset, tall
• bushclover, roundhead
• clover, purple prairie
• clover, white prairie
• coreopsis, prairie
• goldenrods (by end of month)
• hepatica, sharplobed
• hyssop, yellow giant
• indian tobacco
• milkweed, common
• milkweed, whorled
• snakeroot, white
• sunflower, wood
• thimbleweed, tall
• verbena, hoary
• virgin’s bower

Fruited:

• barberry
• rose, prairie
• wintergreen

  

  Prairie grasses

Grasses/sedges:

• grass, bluestem, big
• grass, bluestem, little 
• grass, Canadian wildrye 
• grass, prairie dropseed
• grass, side-oats grama
• indiangrass, yellow
• switchgrass

Fungi/moss/lichen:

• fungus, dog's nose
• fungus, jelly tree ear
• fungus, snow
• ghost pipe
• moss, shining club plus MANY others
• mushroom, artist’s conk
• mushroom, bitter oysterling (styptic panus)
• mushroom, deer

  

  Fly agaric mushroom

  
  
• mushroom, dryad’s saddle
• mushroom, fly agaric
• mushroom, golden oyster
• mushroom, honey 
• mushroom, lung oyster
• mushroom, nitrous bonnet
• mushroom, puffball
• mushroom, resinous polypore
• mushroom, scarlet elfen cup
• mushroom, taeny grisette
• mushroom, turkey tail

Wildlife Observations (seen, heard, detected)
Birds:

• blackbird, red-winged
• blue jay
• bluebird, eastern
• chickadee, black-capped
• crow, American
• eagle, American
• goldfinch, American
• grackle, common
• indigo bunting
• junco, dark-eyed
• kinglet, gold-crowned
• nuthatch, red-breasted
• nuthatch, white-breasted
• pelican, American
• robin, American
• sparrow, clay-colored
• sparrow, chipping
• sparrow, savannah
• sparrow, white-throated
• warbler, yellow-rumped
• woodpecker, red-bellied
• wren, sedge

Waterfowl:

• crane, sandhill
• pelican, American
• swan, trumpeter

Reptiles/Amphibians:

• frog, northern leopard

Mammals

• deer

Insects/arachnids:

Katydid at Iowisota

• bumblebee, black and yellow
• bumblebee, common eastern
• butterfly, clouded sulfur
• Butterfly, eastern comma
• butterfly, orange sulfur
• butterfly, pearl crescent
• caterpillar, wooly
• dragonfly, autumn meadowhawk
• Fly, marginalized calligraphy
• katydid

What are YOU seeing on your hikes?

A month of hikes
Hikes below in colored, bold type or underlined have links to previous posts OR descriptions/location of the trails found online.

Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Visitor's Center, Brice Prairie, WI; Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI (2); Necedah National Wildlife Refuge Visitor's Center, Necedah, WI; Lower Hixon Forest Trails, La Crosse WI; Upper Hixon Forest, La Crosse WI, Reno Spillway, Reno MN; Iowisota Retreat and Education Center, Lansing IA; Bluffside Park, Winona MN; Levis Trow Mounds, Black River Falls, WI (2), Yellow River State Forest, Harper’s Ferry IA

Welcome to MN at the west end of I 90 bridge

The "I Spy on the Trails" column is a phenology (the study of seasonal changes in plants and animals) journal to chronicle year-round the weather, plant life and wildlife I observe while hiking. It is very useful in helping me compare observations from year-to-year. The column is published monthly from September through April and then twice-a-month from May through August when warm weather brings the natural world back to vibrant life.

Getting up close and personal with moss
Image - Nola Larson

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters