Let's Get Hiking - and Learning!

It's time to check on what's up in the learning department in the Driftless - and nearby areas. What kind of events, field trips and programs are popping up just waiting for you to take advantage of them? 

On a Friends of the Blufflands field trip exploring
the process of restoring prairie remnants in Hixon Forest
Image- Larry Sleznikow

I have been having a great time learning at events like these so far this summer.  Many of the programs I run across are free and feature wonderfully knowledgeable leaders, guides and docents. And most get you actively outdoors. What's not to like?

Here's a few coming up:

The Driftless Region - Wednesday August 9   6:30 - 7:30 pm

Join Armand Bartz at this Chautaqua series talk about the region at the Ferry Ville WI Village Hall. Bartz works for the WI DNR and  is the manager of 7 State Natural areas in the Driftless region. I went on a 4 hour-guided hike up a bluff with hime this spring and he is a font of interesting knowledge on all aspects of the region. Free. No registration required. Sponsor: Ferryville Tourism

Geo Walk to Chimney Rock   Friday August 18    6-7:00 pm

On this hike in Whitewater State Park, we will travel through time to learn about the geologic processes that formed the beautiful Whitewater River Valley. Find out how oceans, glaciers and raging rivers have shaped this landscape.  Distance - 0.7 Miles, Elevation Gain 200 ft. Uneven surfaces. Free. Registration required. Sponsor: Whitewater (MN) State Park

Prairie Polinators Walk   Saturday, August 19      10:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m 

La Crosse Blufflands-North: Cty Rd FA Trailhead (Mathy)

Guided wildflower walk with MVC staff and several leaders of Friends of the Blufflands will share their knowledge of the prairie pollinators and the beneficial roles they play in La Crosse’s bluffland ecology. It's an easy hike out onto one of the northernmost sections of the beautiful La Crosse Blufflands seeing rock outcroppings, blufftop prairies, and the remains of a rock quarry. Free. Registration required. Sponsor: Mississippi Valley Conservancy. 

Chasing the Driftless and it's Geology    Saturday, August 19   9:30 - 10:15 am 

Escape the heat and join Ranger Katy Julian at the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge La Crosse Visitor's Center (N5727 Cty Rd Z, Onalaska, WI) and learn how Mother Nature sculpted the land known as the Driftless area. Gain a greater understanding and appreciation for many of the unique features we have right here in our own backyard of the Driftless area. Free. No registration required. Sponsor: Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge

Prairie Loop Bird Walk   Saturday August 19   8:00am -

Walk the Prairie Trail and along the forested edge of Pleasant Valley Lakelet. Hope to see and hear prairie and forest birds including meadowlarks, Dicksissels, bluebirds, raptors, various sparrows, and other grassland birds. Bring binoculars. The trail is mowed grass without much elevation change; however, it is a bit lumpy. The walk is approximately 2-4 miles long. Depending on group preferences and how many birds we are seeing, this can take 2-4 hours, but you can leave whenever you would like. No need to register but if you have any questions, email janetmalotky@gmail.com. In Partnership With: Frontenac State Park Association. Free. Sponsor: Frontenac (MN) State Park

Nocturnal Insects   Saturday August 26    7:00-9:00 pm

Viterbo Biology Dept, along with the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration would like you to join them for an evening on FSPA land on St. Joseph Ridge (W2658 WI-33, La Crosse, WI 54601) to learn about moths and other nocturnal insects. After a short presentation, we will explore the ridgetop looking for as many different organisms as we can see, cataloging them by taking a picture and posting it to the iNaturalist app. Here’s hoping we see more fireflies than mosquitoes! Free. Registration required. Sponsor: La Crosse Area BioBlitz

Cassville Mushroom Foray     Saturday, September 9   9:30-11:30am

Join us for a mushroom foray – a morning of foraging for wild mushrooms along a bluff that's high above the Mississippi River, near Cassville in Grant County. Guided by members of the UW-La Crosse Mycology Club, the workshop will give participants the opportunity to share their findings and get assistance with mushroom identification from knowledgeable mycologists. Free. Registration required. Sponsor: Mississippi Valley Conservancy. 

Insects at Myrick Park.   Saturday, Sept 9   10am- noon

There will be pulse-pounding displays of some of the most glorious insects on Earth, and Barrett will discuss examples of ways in which insects have affected our culture and history, from fashion to food, music to movies, and politics to espionage. Weather-permitting, Barrett will lead an insect walk, pointing out insects and sharing tales of their natural history along the way. If you join Barrett on his walk, please bring closed-toed shoes for your safety. Free. Registration required. Sponsor: La Crosse Area BioBlitz

Fungi   Saturday, September 9   2-4:00pm

Fungi play many important roles in the environment as decomposers, pathogens, and essential partners of other organisms. Todd will talk about fungal biology, then we will collect fungi in lower Hixon Forest, and then discuss our finds. Please also feel free to bring along mushrooms or other fungi for identification and/or discussion. Please bring closed-toed shoes and a mask for your safety. Free. Registration required. Sponsor: La Crosse Area BioBlitz

75th Anniversary Celebration  Saturday, Sept 16   

8:00am - 10:00pm

Join Wildcat Mountain State Park and the Friends of Wildcat Mountain State Park in celebrating our 75th Anniversary! Fun and activities for all ages. Activities will include a trail fun run/walk, guided hikes, kid’s games, food and drink vendors, horse-drawn wagon rides, educational presentations, music, pumpkin carving/jack o’ lanterns and star gazing. And, as a special gift to our guests, park admission is FREE that day. Free. No registration required. Sponsor: Wildcat Mountain (MN) State Park   

Tree Steward Training  Saturday, October 14        9:00am - 1:00pm

La Crescent will be hosting a Tree Steward training. Completing the training is a great opportunity to learn more about tree varieties, tree science, and tree care. You will have opportunities to volunteer within the community to be stewards of the city's tree stock. Registration required. The cost is $25.

Sponsor: City of La Crescent MN

Be sure to check often with local hiking groups, universities, naturalist-interest groups, nature conservancies, nature centers and their Friends groups, state parks, US Fish and Wildlife centers and others in your area to see what is on offer to help you understand the natural world around you better.

Where IS the Driftless?!?!

The "driftless" is a rare unglaciated area primarily located in west central and southwestern Wisconsin along the east side of the Mississippi River and just kissing northwestern Illinois. While both southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa seem to share the same characteristics of the Driftless, they are actually not part of the unglaciated area and are outside the actual Driftless area.

From Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. The Driftless Area. Educational Series 057.
Carson, E. C., Curry, B.B., Kerr, P.J. Lusardi, B.A.  University of WI Madison, 2023.

That can sometimes be hard for people to wrap their heads around. The area is a special gem of steep bluffs towering over the Mississippi River and a winding network of long valleys, bluffs and steep hills continuing outward from the river that create a magnificent landscape. It is a challenging environment in which to build, farm and recreate in. We all want to claim it as our own and have a fierce love of this landscape.

Alot of areas in southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa across the Mississippi River sure look like the Driftless area to the west in Wisconsin and Illinois. There is a tendency - which even I have shared - to claim these nearby areas as part of the Driftless. But they actually experienced glaciation during the Pre-Illinoian Glaciation era (500K-2,600K ago). These areas don't display the lack of glacial sediment or "drift," as it was called in the mid-19th century, that the Driftless does.

A just-published pamphlet "that describes and outlines the boundary of the unglaciated Driftless area based on modern geologic evidence" breaks down the differences in easily understood language. Titled The Driftless Area: The Extent of unglaciated and simitar terrains in Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota, and authored by members of each states' geological survey team, this brief pamphlet (2 pages of text and 2 pages of citations!) is a perfect short explanation of what is the Driftless area - and what isn't.

Because the Driftless area in Wisconsin and Illinois never experienced glaciers, it is truly "the Driftless."  The rugged landscape of bluffs, steep hillsides and coulees displays no evidence of glaciation. Rather the landscape was formed by rivers cutting down through the sediment and forming deep valleys. 

In surrounding areas in portions of southeastern Minnesota and northeastern Iowa, there is clear evidence that the Pre-Illionoian glaciation left glacial landforms and sediment.  However, because they are Mississippi River-adjacent, they were also steeply cut into by rivers and so they are topographically similar to the Driftless.

The four-state geological survey team suggest that it would be more accurate to say these areas display "Driftless-style topography." They are not truly Driftless.

From Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey. The Driftless Area. Educational Series 057.
Carson, E. C., Curry, B.B., Kerr, P.J. Lusardi, B.A.  University of WI Madison, 2023.

I'm perfectly good with being Driftless-adjacent in Minnesota. I'll be keeping the blog title as is but I'll be going back and adding a "Driftless area" tag to all blog posts of hikes that are truly in the Driftless. I also edited the blog's header slightly to reflect more accurately the distinction.

The more we know, the more we grow!  I love how scientific knowledge keeps evolving as research and knowledge is continually added to. It helps us to better know the world around us even as it refines - and sometimes - shakes up our understanding. 

Hixon Forest Hickory Trail (WI) Amble/Hike

Ambles are gentle 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 a little extra time on shorter trails enjoying nature. 

When one is planning these gentle hikes, it's good to make sure, in this hilly part of the Driftless, that hikers can enjoy some of the same fun as those who can tackle longer, steeper trails. That means finding rim trails accessible at the top to get hikers up to the good views; mixing in low prairie and wetlands hikes with forested hikes that often feature more rolling hills and small climbs in the lower portions of the bluffs.

Hixon Forest, a huge tract of forested bluffland in La Crosse WI park system, has a number of multi-use trails (bike/hike) and a few hike-only trails running throughout it's trail system. There is both an upper and lower trail system plus newer Gateway trails. All these trails combine to make a number of fun hikes possible in the hiking/biking trail system. This post focuses on just one possibility!

The Hickory Trail in lower Hixon is a great bluff trail to enjoy an amble with a bit of elevation thrown in. It gives Amblers some rolling hills and a few elevation gains on the lower side of the bluff. This particular trail has plenty of fungi and spring ephemerals and nice shade for summer hiking.

To make this a loop trail, start the hike on the Bicentennial trail from the Lower Hixon parking area. This wide trail hugs the border next to a nearby golf course. This part of the trail is multi-use and features a a grass and dirt, wide old road bed. The trail gradually narrows and starts to slowly gain some elevation. Continue on until you hit the junction for the Hickory Trail heading to the left (the blue trail on the map).

Golden oyster mushrooms

This hike-only portion of the trail climbs up a little higher on the lower bluffside from here. Once up, you turn towards the left following the trail to enjoy a rolling walk along a narrow dirt path. The hardwood forest is a feast of wildflowers in the spring and a wonderful shady hike in summer. The hike brings you down again to the parking lot for a 2.6 mile amble.

If you want to add miles and challenge, once you've turned south on the Hickory Trail, you can look for the trail junction to the Savanna hike-only trail and head up to the top of the bluff where you can follow multi-use trails like Vista to a number of beautiful overlooks before heading down and back.  

THE HIKE

Hardwood forest, rolling hills and some great fungi possibilities, spring wildflowers and solid trails make this a fun Amble or family hike.  The 2.6 mile trail  has a total of 250 feet elevation gain, the majority of which are gradual. One long elevation climb of about 100 ft halfway through the hike to access the Hickory trail can be taken slowly by Amblers and the rest is all downhill to the trailhead. 

Location: 2600 Old Quarry Road

From the southside of La Crosse, take Losey Blvd south on Hwy 16. Just past the stoplight at La Crosse St, you go over a railroad overpass. Turn right almost immediately at Bluff Pass Rd, then another right at Milson Ct. That road ends at the large parking lot. There is a porta-potty available at the trailhead.

On the trail checking out the fungi
 

Additional posts describing Hixon Forest trails:

• Oak Trail
• Remnant Prairies Amble/Hike
• Prairie/Twister/Mr. Hyde/Obi/Twister Loop
• Twister/Spill Hill/boB/Chicanery/Stinkys Trails

• Stinkys/Chicanery/Quarry Trails
• Wilder Way/Xe Xete/Ni Tani Amble

 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!

What's in Your Pocket? Apps on the Trail

Or rather, what's in mine? 

In the grand tradition of EDC (every day carry), I want to share my favorite trail apps (at the moment).

While I'm a certified MN Master Naturalist volunteer, that doesn't mean I know ALL.THE.THINGS. It just means that I am willing to be a life-long learner in the natural world. Part of that learning goes on while I am on the trails during my various hiking adventures each week. As the seasons turn and various flora and fauna go through their life cycles and nesting cycles, my eyes and ears are attuned to what I'm seeing.

A typical scene when I am on my hikes
 id'ing stuff with my iphone
Image - Lloyd Lorenz

The challenge for me, as well as for many of us, is figuring out exactly what I am seeing and hearing. You would think I would know every natural thing I see (and have seen) by now. But I don't.  I'm STILL learning.

I always carry my trusty iphone, a favored piece of hiking EDC gear, to help me identify or verify what I see/hear. I never leave home without it!

Each season, I re-acquaint myself with what I encounter. The further into the season I go, the more I remember - although hiking companions hear me muttering identifications as I practice on every hike. And, for what I don't know, my apps and photos help me make the identification.

Here's what I use: 

iPhone 13 Pro Max photo app

This iphone version has a really excellent camera system and editing options that allow you to crop and straighten pictures. It also has a pretty good identification feature that gives you a first ID of flowers and fauna on the trails. I click on the bug or plant icon and I get a quick result that I can then add to the notes field.

This is a great "out-in-field" way to capture what flowers I am seeing while I am hiking. I also use it to record what I am seeing from trail-to-trail and day-to-day. 

Since I do weekly or bi-weekly phenology journal, it also helps me easily refer back to what I've been encountering.

I like to cross reference the ID with other apps I use once I'm back home to make sure the phone has the correct ID. Then I type the verified identification in the photo notes line. Pretty sweet!

Seek by iNaturalist

This app is a pretty huge delight on the trail. You just aim your camera at the plant, insect, fungi, amphibian, mammal, mollusk, reptile, bird, arachnid, fish (or other species). The app will often identify it on the spot. It then pops it into your observations which includes the date observed, its taxonomy, seasonal observations based on other users, range map of observations near year, similar plants and a short snippet from wikipedia (be sure to donate to them). If the identification isn't returned, you can forward the photo to the iNaturalist community for an ID. 

My only hesitations on this app is that the camera doesn't do great close-ups and it's hard to move photos from the iphone into this app. So it can be futzy on the trail. But for instant ID, it rocks.

PictureThis

I actually pay for this flower identification app for alot of its features. It is pretty darn good at flower identification accuracy. It is easily used to check IDs from my phone photos after the hike (or even on it, if I have cell service). I appreciate that feature because it two quick clicks from the photo to my confirmed id.

The identification includes a range of names for the flower including its scientific name. It has a FAQ area that often includes interesting tidbits that I can use when I am doing interpretive hike programs. They include characteristics of the plant, sometimes poems and symbolism, its taxonomy, range, where it is native, cultivated, considered invasive, garden use, and care guide.

It also saves my observations in "My Garden" so I can refer back when I am about to guide a hike. that I have scouted for flower and plant IDs. I can do my prep quickly and easily! All this info really helps me learn the plant better so the cost is worth it to me.

Merlin

Of course, you all yell! 

I have learned more bird song/call identification from this app than ever before. Created by the magical folks at Cornell Lab of Ornithology, this is most hikers' favorite app.

I really appreciate the sound ID, since birds often escape my eyeballs (except when I am with MN Master Naturalist friends and bird gurus Janet Malotky and Steve Dietz when all birds appear before my eye and binoculars). *

With Merlin, you can track not just what you are hearing, but locate the bird by following its sound to actually see them. Plus the app let's you hear recordings of birds to help you attune your hearing to the birds you are likely to hear at various times of the year.

AllTrails

Finally, you only have to hike with me for 4.5 minutes before you discover my sense of direction is absolutely nonsensical. If it's not a loop or an out-and-back, you may find me wandering 5 years later. It's why I heavily scout hikes I lead. I want to make sure no one follows me into the land of the lost!

For me the AllTrails app works swell. Like all crowd-sourced apps, you have to be on your toes - one person's hike doesn't always match another's or has weird names that don't really quite match the trails you are on. You can pre-download the map you want to use as the guide as long as you are aware you may want to hike that trail or trail system slightly differently.

On the good side though, you can just set the app to navigate and it will often display the trails you are on with names. While it sucks up battery while on the trail tracking your whereabouts, it has kept me on the straight and narrow every time I have used it.

I appreciate that it tracks mileage and elevation and that you can save your hike if you choose to. I use the app alot not just on the trail but for the blog to remind me of information. You can choose to review your hike after you are done or just look at the info and delete it.

What are YOUR go-to apps that help you stay on the trail, identify or make your hikes easier while you're hiking. Feel free to let me know in the comments or the next time you see me on the trails!  

*P.S. I really recommend going on one - or more - of their bird hikes at MN's Frontenac State Park. You will be gobsmacked and feel amazing at what you see thanks to their guiding.

Checking that ID
Image - Kris Lawson

I Spy on the Trails - July 8-15, 2023

The past two weeks brought us some of the nicest hiking weather of the summer. It truly felt like June-in-July. There were a few rain showers so lawn mowers were again heard in the neighborhoods. But drought remains. Nights have been cooler than usual but we are bracing for the high temps that have plagued people elsewhere in the country for the upcoming week. We are thankful for better air quality these two weeks despite the continuing Canadian wildfires.

The rain has had a great effect of native prairie plants.  They are blooming everywhere and I have shifted my hiking destinations to get up to goat prairies and along flat sand prairies and planted pollinator gardens to enjoy the riot of color and re-discover rare natives. In other hikes, I have favored early mornings and shady hardwood forests.

Wildflowers

Spotted bee balm

• Wild bergamot
• Butterfly weed
• Lead plant
• Black-eyed Susan
• Compass plant
• Purple prairie clover
• Prairie coneflower
• Wild white indigo
• Prairie sage
• Little bluestem
• Big bluestem
• Tall cinquefoil
• False boneset
• Spotted bee balm
• Thimbleweed
• Prairie rose
• Deptford pink 
• Poppymallow

Poppymallow

• Hairy puccoon
• Oxeye daisy
• Yarrow
• Spiderwort
• Hoary alyssum
• White prairie clover
• Purple prairie clover
• Hoary vervain
• Self-heal
• Flowering spurge
• Motherwort
• Ferns (Maidenhair, Interrupted, Lady, Ostrich)
• Coreopsis
• Spotted beebalm
• Tall anemone
• Hawks-beard
• Golden oyster mushrooms
  
  
  
• Evening primrose
• Canada lettuce
• Goldenrod (pre-bloom)
• Horseweed
• Germander
• Sweet Joe-Pye-weed
• Grey-headed coneflower
• Great mullein
• White vervain
• Tall hairy agrimony
• Catnip
• Evening primrose
• Yellow salsify
• Tickseed coreopsis

Wildlife (seen/heard/detected)

Monarch butterfly

• Red-eyed vireo
• Eastern Towhee
• Spotted towhee
• Eastern Pewee
• Common yellowthroat
• Field sparrow
• Goldfinch
• House wren
• Clay-colored sparrow
• Chipping sparrow
• Arcadian flycatcher
• Scarlet Tanager
• Tufted titmouse
• Nuthatch
• Chickadee
• Downy woodpecker
• Wood thrush
• Red-winged blackbird
• Catbird
• Yellow-bellied sapsucker
• White-breasted nuthatch
• Blue jay
• Cedar waxwing
• Buckeye butterfly
• Short-horned grasshopper

Short-horned grasshopper

What are YOU noticing on your hikes?

Two weeks of hikes: Upper Hixon Prairie Loop/Boulder Trail, La Crosse (WI), Lower Hixon Hickory Trail, La Crosse (WI), Holland Sand Prairie, Holmen WI, Wildwood Trail, Winona (MN); Savanna Oaks/Greens Coulee, Onalaska (WI);  Grand Crossing Trail, La Crosse River Marsh Trail, La Crosse WI; Kickapoo Caverns, Wauzeka WI.

Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters

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.   

Greens Coulee/Savanna Oaks (WI) Hike

A view from the north bluff

For those who love bluff hiking and steep slopes these two bluff gems are for you. Within this Onalaska city park are 82 acres protected by the Mississippi Valley Conservancy featuring remnant prairies and oak savannah that stretch through Greens Coulee. There are many trails to take between the two.

There are two bluffs in this city park with a trailhead running up to each bluff and connecting trails between them. The south bluff climbs to 1212 feet, one of the region's higher bluffs. The view on this bluff gives an expansive look at Onalaska, the Mississippi River and the distant MN bluffs. 

North bluff trailhead

Most of the main trails are wide old logging roads with narrower and often steeper side trails. You have to love  elevation gains on this hike. There is no switchbacking here; only gently curving trails that you head pretty much straight up or trot down! My AllTrails app indicated we had a nearly 700 ft elevation gain while hiking up and across between the two bluffs - and we started at the Cliffside Dr. trailhead at higher elevation! 

Remnant goat prairie

From the higher MVC Cliffside Dr trailhead at the North bluff, you can head through hardwood forests lush with ferns and along a ridgewalk to a beautiful remnant prairie full of wildflowers. Continuing on the trail ends at a stunning outlook of southern Onalaska and views of the MN bluffs.

North overlook
Image -Nola Larson

The second, lower Greens Coulee trailhead at Stonebridge starts in a bit of a wetlands and heads steeply up on a trail that brings you past a municipal water structure to a great outlook looking to the southeast. The trail continues around the south bluff to another outlook. Then head north and take various spur trails to the north bluff with views of west Onalaska.

Mushroom rock

While there are also quarries and interesting rock formations along the trails, it is hard to see many of them except in winter. From the south bluff heading north, there is a great ridge walk up and through a remnant prairie that continues to one of the fun rock features (that you have to walk through a "buckthorn tunnel"" to get to). Halfway along this trail you come upon a huge dolomite mushroom rock. Winter is also a good time to seek this out when leaves are down (note microspikes are a must if you come north up the ridge trail to get there).

Descending with the
rope railing
Image - Greg Watson

If returning to the Stonebridge trailhead, hikers can choose the lower loop down from mushroom rock and take a shortcut down another steep spur that has a rope anchored down it as a railing to help you keep your footing. It is a fun feature and works for this very steep spur. You have to give those that maintain the trail credit for their work!

THE HIKE

If you like steep with the reward of views and goat prairie flowers, this is the bluff hike for you. There are enough trails and spurs to let you hike anywhere from 2-4 miles up and down between the two bluffs and scrambling up and down "shortcuts" and ridgewalks - plus around loops on logging trails and narrower spurs. The views are stellar; the rocks/quarries (when leaves are off) are fascinating and the goat and remnant prairies lush during the summer and fall months. 

Location: 

Stonebridge Ave parking area: From La Crosse, take Hwy 53 North to the Main St exit. At the bottom of the ramp, turn right at the light. At the roundabout turn onto Green Coulee Rd.* Go .6 mi to Clearwater Dr. Turn right and go .2 mi to Stonebridge Ave. Turn left and go .25 mi to the trailhead and a small parking lot on the right. 

MVC Clifford Dr parking area: Follow the directions above to *. Then go 1.25 mi and turn right on Clifford Dr. The trailhead is at the Clifford Dr cul-de-sac, and you may park there from May through October.

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!

Holland Sand Prairie (WI) Hike/Amble

Post-burn. Midsummer prairie flowers

Midsummer is the time that native wildflowers shine on prairies as well as in planted pollinator gardens that bask in the strong sunlight. These native plants thrive in difficult conditions like the drought and hazy wildfire skies. They are especially beautiful when the prairies they grow in have been burned and renewed.

I always make sure my hikes in July and August feature ample opportunities to climb to goat prairies or stay lower on restored prairies alive with native flowers and their pollinators. The Mississippi Valley Conservancy's (MVC) Holland Sand Prairie hike is a jewel among these types of hikes.

Located just north of Holmen WI, this small state natural area (SNA), with about 1.75 miles of trail, lies on a river sand terrace that has been restored. This wind-blown sandy soil was deposited thousands of years ago.

Native plants

This soil is perfect for those who want their eyes bedazzled by a dizzying display of native flowers. The trail follows the boundary of the property with housing development and road along three sides. There is also a trail that bisects the property to bring you near to more flowers. But it is to the interior that one's attention is drawn. 

Over 150 species of native plants have been noted on this site. Species we saw in a recent walk included: wild bergamot, butterfly weed, lead plant, black-eyed Susan, purple prairie clover, prairie coneflower, white indigo, little bluestem, big bluestem, tall cinquefoil, false boneset, spotted beebalm, thimbleweed, prairie rose, deptford pink, poppymallow, hairy puccoon, oxeye daisy, yarrow, spiderwort, hoary alyssum, silver wormwood, white prairie clover, hoary vervain, flowering spurge. The prairie was alive with flowers.

Prairie after spring burn
Image Kris Lawson

The prairie was burned this spring - a fact you would never believe when looking at the lushness of the spreading plants. It really speaks to how prairies respond to fires to clear old growth to allow for seed to easily sprout. 

There are a couple of benches near the few trees on this site plus a stand of pine and another stand of mostly oaks. With little shade, this hike or gentle Amble (perfect for families and slow savoring), is wonderful in early morning and evening. It is also a site one can return to often from early spring pasque flower spotting to midsummer's profusion of blooms to fall asters.

The property is well maintained and managed by the MVC, town of Holland, the Prairie Enthusiasts and the Friends of Holland Sand Prairie

THE HIKE
A short under two mile hike around the boundary of this property and through the middle provides a stunning array of native wildflowers at any time of the growing season. Bring your flower apps to identify over 150 species of plants during the growing season. The rolling sand and mown grass trails have a bit of up-and-downing. Caution: badger holes and critter tunnels mean watch your step on the trails. Can be ticky even in dry conditions.

Location: W7781 County Road MH, Holmen WI
From La Crosse, take Hwy 53 north to County Rd MH. Turn left onto McHugh Rd and follow it to the trailhead and parking lot on the left (just past Beaver Building Supply).

Tall cinquefoil

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!