Wisconsin’s Great River Road, Day 1

My recent discussion of the Great River Road was a bit of a setup. We took a short journey along Wisconsin‘s portion of the road, and into Iowa over the weekend. The scenery along the bluffs of the Mississippi River could only be described as spectacular; soaring cliffs towering over the ever-changing nature of the river itself.

We encountered remarkably little traffic. There were a number of motorcycle convoys as apparently this is a well-known touring road, but few automobiles and no trucks. I would have thought differently on a summer weekend and I’d prepared myself mentally. That was surprisingly unnecessary. That happens so rarely and I made sure to savor our good fortune. I don’t know if that was due to the economy or to the timing of a big 3-day holiday next weekend, but either way we cruised along roads practically by ourselves.

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Day 1, Saturday, involved a leisurely amble from Prescott to La Crosse, a distance of about 200 kilometres (125 miles) along winding country roads. This provided plenty of opportunities to stop anywhere we liked at the many overlooks, historical sites and quaint riverside towns. We spied a bald eagle soaring above. The previous day we’d spotted a black bear sitting right by the side of the road not paying us any attention as we drove right past him. He didn’t mind us and we didn’t mind him.

The Bow and Arrow

We arrived at the "Bow and Arrow" outside of Hager City. An archeologist in the early 20th Century observed this rock formation and remarked upon its unusual shape, as if it were a bow and arrow pointing towards Lake Pepin. Later archeologists speculated that perhaps it might be a bird effigy.

It is definitely not a natural formation. Humans places these stones here in a particular pattern, but nobody knows who did it, or why they did it, or what it’s supposed to represent. Native Americans do not remark upon it in their folklore and this is the only boulder formation of its type in Wisconsin. The manifestation of an ancient sacred site? The handiwork of bored early explorers of European descent? The mystery remains unresolved.

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Lake Pepin

We followed the mountainside arrow, continuing downstream until we arrived at Lake Pepin itself. One often thinks of this river as being universally monolithic, the fabled "Mighty Mississippi." It’s a powerful force even way up here at its northernmost extremes but with lots of variation thrown in. It breaks into numerous paths as it diverts around networks of channel islands, it devolves into marshland as it courses though sloughs, it takes the appearance of an unobstructed pathway in places, and it creates lakes at others.

A dam forms where the Chippewa River dumps sediment from a sizable section of Northwestern Wisconsin into the Mississippi. The resulting backup creates Lake Pepin, the widest natural spot anywhere along the Mississippi River.

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Lock and Dam Number 4

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers keeps the river navigable commercially. This involves a series of locks and dams on the upper Mississippi, many of which can be visited along the roadway. We stopped at Lock and Dam Number 4 in Alma, Wisconsin and arrived just in time to watch a lock in operation. Water filled a large rectangular basin in a matter of minutes. The lock door swung open and workers guided a tug and its barges slowly into the slot. The process repeated at a second step and soon the tugboat and its cargo passed the dam successfully. Another tug sat just downstream ready to repeat the process in reverse.

We continued onward to La Crosse (see part II)

The Great River Road

The Great River Road is a bit of a misnomer for it isn’t a single road. Rather it’s many different roads cobbled together along a common theme, tracing a scenic route along the Mississippi River. This scenic designation runs contiguously through ten of the United States and by extension into two Canadian Provinces, a total length of 3,765 kilometres (2,340 miles).

SOURCE: Wikimedia Commons, released to the Public Domain

Travelers focus on special signage to remain on course, a unifying element making it difficult to get lost even with frequent route number changes. Drivers easily recognize the vintage river vessel framed by a ship wheel in its distinctive green hue. Of course, seeing "Great River Road" arcing across the top half in a large font gets the point across too. The logo displayed above is generic. Actual roadsigns also have the name of the State or Province arcing across the bottom, or may convey other information such as at the northern terminus in northwest Ontario.

The logo evokes a historic nineteenth century period when steam-driven paddlewheelers delivered passengers and goods alike, deep into the North American interior. Back then the river was the road. Today the road follows the river.

Mississippi is thought to derive from an Ojibwe Indian word misi-ziibi, meaning "Great River" so the name chosen for the road provides additional historical context.

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The Mississippi River forms a border between several of the mid-western and mid-southern States. That might pose a dilemma. On which side of the river should the Great River Road run? That’s not an issue for portions of Minnesota and Louisiana where the river is wholly encompassed within their respective borders, but it could be problematic for the much larger stretches of river shared by two States. The Great River Road is intended to be a tourist draw in addition to recognizing remarkable history and scenery. Which States should be able to reap the economic benefits and which should not?

Actually they all benefit. The Great River Road runs on both sides of the Mississippi River simultaneously. Travelers have the option of riding on the western bank or the eastern bank, or switching back-and-forth when reaching any of twelve official bridge crossings or one of several ferries.

Ontario and a corner of Manitoba in Canada also benefit although neither of them actually contains territory within the Mississippi River watershed. In fact, as I noted in an earlier article, only two tenths of one percent of the Canadian landmass — a tiny chip of Alberta and Saskatchewan — drains to the Gulf of Mexico. Never mind. If they’d like to be part of the Great River Road, let’s add them to the list and give them a scenic designation. It’s the least we can do.

Within the United States, each of the States has its own commission to administer its section of the Great River Road. These, in turn, coordinate their efforts and work in cooperation through the Mississippi River Parkway Commission (MRPC). They all work together to forge a common identity and brand, for their individual and mutual benefit.

It sounds like an ideal time for a road trip.