July 10-12, 2015, Wyalusing State Park, Bagley, WI

Wisconsin River

We spent the weekend car camping at Wyalusing State Park, which is at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi Rivers. The park offers beautiful views of both rivers from the bluffs above, has about 14 miles of hiking trails, multiple playgrounds and has a signed canoe trail through the sloughs and down the Mississippi River. The camping accommodations are fairly typical of a state park, and there are two campgrounds. The Wisconsin Ridge Campground overlooks the Wisconsin River and has some nice views, but the campsites are wide open and right on top of each other. The Homestead Campground is, by comparison, more secluded and wooded. However, most of the sites are small and close to the campground road.

Mississippi River

We have not spent much time in Southwest Wisconsin, despite it being only about a two hour drive, so we decided it would be nice to visit some of the parks in the area. We were told that Nelson Dewey State Park has some really nice walk-in sites, but they were reserved. Wyalusing State Park had some non-reservable sites in the Homestead Campground available, so we loaded the boat and camping gear and headed out on Friday evening hoping to snag one of them. I was pretty excited as I had heard the park was beautiful and that these sites were primitive and secluded. However, upon arrival to our site, I felt entirely deflated. Obviously, my definition of secluded and primitive is much different than others'. 

Our campsite was basically a small opening right against the campground road. Often the state park sites have a fairly long driveway followed by a clearing, which offers a wooded feel with at least some privacy. However, this site had little privacy and really not enough room to setup a tent and a tarp. After seeing the Wisconsin Ridge Campground, though, I can see why people would call this secluded. Anyway, after pouting for awhile about the quality of our site, I decided to make the best of it and setup for the night. 

The mosquitoes were not terrible, but they were annoying enough that I changed my mind and decided we needed a fire for the evening. I drove down to the concession outside of the park since I was told the park concession closed at 8pm. The store outside the park offers ice cream, firewood, ice and other novelties, maybe it was maple syrup or honey, I can't recall. Anyway, with wood in hand, I built a fire and we sat around the campsite until later than usual. It was probably around ten when Lorraine went to bed.

Signage along the canoe trail

The canoe trail is probably what first attracted me to the park, so we planned on spending a good portion of Saturday paddling the Mississippi and its backwaters. I found a few descriptions and a map of the canoe trail online, and it seemed that it would be a 6 mile paddle, but I also saw it listed as 9 miles. Either way was fine for me, but the satellite images showed the sloughs might be a bit confusing to navigate, and by one account there might be some carry-overs or at least bottom dragging if the water was low.

Sloughs of the Mississippi at Wyalusing State Park

However, despite fairly low water levels, we didn't have to get out of the canoe once. Also, the trail is extremely well-signed, so getting lost would be difficult. The trail was fairly nice and twists through the backwaters where a variety of wildlife can be observed. We saw eagles, herons, a fawn and some river rat, probably a muskrat. According to my GPS, we paddled 5.1 miles. I'm glad to say that I paddled down the Mississippi River, but I didn't particularly enjoy that section as it was windy and choppy. Nonetheless, I'd recommend the paddle if you're in the area.

"Keyhole" near Treasure Cave

We didn't do much else during our stay, but we did take in some of the views, walk down to Treasure Cave and eat car camping food. The views really are nice, and Treasure Cave is a short walk down a bunch of steps, including a few flights of steep (as in like a ladder steep) wooden steps. The cave isn't big, but it's not claustrophobic either, and since it's so close to the parking lot, it's worth the little bit of effort.  

We headed out Sunday morning, having escaped the weekend without any thunderstorms despite the forecast calling for high chances of bad weather. That really eased the pain of not having a good spot for rigging a tarp. On the drive back, I wanted to follow along the Wisconsin River, so I had to wing it as I didn't plan too well for that. We did get quite a few good views of the river and the many paddlers headed down it, and it really whets my appetite for a river canoe camping trip. Our return route brought us right by Carl's Paddlin shop, so I had to stop in, take a look and chat. While coveting the boats, I stumbled across the Grey Owl paddles and took home a Northern Lights. I can't wait to get her wet!

Paddling the Mississippi River

GPS of Wyalusing State Park Canoe Trail