Wyalusing State Park

Wisconsin

May 2011





Wyalusing State Park is at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. It lies just south of the town of Prairie Du Chien. I've been visiting here in early spring, ever since a "field trip" with the Institute of Environmental Studies at UW Madison introduced me to the place when I was a college freshman.
That was... let's see...
oh, never mind.




I think the month of May is a great time to camp out here, on top of the river bluffs. It's late enough for the trees to be leafing and the migratory birds to be returning, but the mosquitos and RV campers haven't gotten intolerable yet.




There used to be many miles of trails at several different levels along these deeply wooded bluffs. Most of them have now been abandoned by the Park Department and no longer officially exist. A torrential rainfall several years ago cut big gulleys across the bluff trails and washed out several footbridges. It's too much trouble to restore them now, since the rangers top priority is to collect camping fees from RV campers who require electrical hookups so they won't miss a single episode of Dancing With The Stars !

In spite of global warming, there are still a few maintained trails that pass by a couple of sandstone caves...




At Picture Rock Cave, a trickle of water splashes onto the rocks below...




Layers of brightly colored sandstone tell a geological tale of ancient seas that once covered what the French explorers called Oui-sconsin.




Still, I have to admit that this place is mostly for the birds...




Here are some images of spring in Wyalusing...


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