These 7 parks offer some of the best views of the Mississippi River in Wisconsin

The Great River Road, which follows the Mississippi River along Wisconsin’s western border, is a scenic drive any time of year, winding past forested bluffs in the state’s hilly Driftless Region.  

The 3,000-mile national scenic byway follows the Mississippi for its entire length, through 10 states from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. The 350-mile Wisconsin segment mostly follows Highway 35 from Kieler to Prescott, sometimes squeezing between the river and its 400-foot bluffs and other times weaving into Wisconsin farmland.  

The drive is beautiful, but for some of the best views, you’ll have to get out of your car at a handful of parks and natural areas that offer soaring views of the river. 

Here are some of the best spots for bluff-top views, starting in the south and moving north.  

Nelson Dewey State Park 

This little state park outside Cassville often gets overlooked for the more popular Wyalusing State Park about 20 miles north.  

But if you’re looking for a quieter camping experience, a bit of history and some easy hiking, make Nelson Dewey your base camp and travel to Wyalusing during the day. 

The park is on a 500-foot bluff above the Mississippi River, with two miles of trails that offer views of the river valley. The 0.6-mile Mound Point trail passes a handful of Native American burial mounds that date back more than 1,500 years. 

Nelson Dewey has a 45-site campground, with four hike-in sites on the bluff that offer unobstructed views of the river. Site C is the best of the bunch, but from each you can watch the setting sun to the west. If you’re a light sleeper, bring ear plugs: Active train tracks run along the bottom of the bluff.

Also at the base of the bluff is Stonefield state historic site, which includes a re-created 1800s rural farming village and the former home of Gov. Nelson Dewey, the park’s namesake and the state’s first governor. 

Wyalusing State Park 

This park sits at the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers south of Prairie du Chien, with stunning views of both rivers from 500-foot bluffs.  

Catch some of those views, even better when the sun is setting, from lookouts on the Bluff Trail near the Wisconsin Ridge campground. That trail also leads to Treasure Cave, a small limestone cavern. 

Among the other trails at the park are the 2.4-mile Sand Cave Trail, which includes a small waterfall, and the 1.6-mile Sentinel Ridge Trail, which passes Native American mounds and a monument to the passenger pigeon, which went extinct in 1914. Part of that trail is paved and accessible. 

The Wisconsin Ridge campground has some of the most coveted sites in the state, with tent-door views of the Wisconsin River from the top of the bluff. On summer mornings, you'll likely wake up above the clouds. The sites at the park’s Homestead campground are not on the bluff, but they are bigger and more private. 

The park also has a boat ramp, an accessible fishing pier and canoes and kayaks available for rent. 

Rush Creek State Natural Area 

For a more rustic and less crowded hiking experience, stop by this large natural area north of Ferryville.  

Like most natural areas, there are no marked trails, but an old service road from Rush Creek Road winds up the 400-foot bluff for sweeping views of the Mississippi and a two-mile stretch of dry prairie on the bluffs along it.  

Look for bald eagles and red-shouldered hawks riding the thermals around the bluffs and wildflowers like little bluestem, blazing-star and bird’s-foot violet blooming on them. There have also been morel mushroom finds in the area.  

Grandad Bluff 

This city park is set back from the Mississippi, offering views of La Crosse, the river and Minnesota and Iowa in the distance from its eponymous 600-foot bluff.  

The park has restrooms, a shelter, a paved walkway to a large overlook area with coin-operated binoculars and a couple short trails that lead to other overlooks. 

Perrot State Park 

This park at the confluence of the Trempealeau and Mississippi rivers north of Trempealeau has a couple bluffs for great views.  

Three spurs of the Brady’s Bluff Trail travel to the top of the park’s tallest bluff and offer views from 460 feet above both rivers and 388-foot Trempealeau Mountain. The 0.5-mile west trail includes rock steps, walls and a shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s. The 0.7-mile east trail is a more gradual ascent (or descent). 

The 1.5-mile Perrot Ridge Trail climbs steep stairs to the top of 507-foot Perrot Ridge.

The flatter 2.5-mile Riverview Trail travels along the rivers, and connects the park entrance with the campground, where some sites offer views of Trempealeau Bay and Trempealeau Mountain. 

The campground also provides access to the 24-mile Great River State Trail, a limestone rail-trail that travels along the Mississippi River between Onalaska and the Trempealeau National Wildlife Refuge. 

The park has a boat landing on the Trempealeau River and canoes and kayaks available for rent, including an adaptive kayak.  

Buena Vista Park 

This small park is perched on a bluff high above little Alma, which is on the national register of historic places.  

You could hike up the bluff from town, or you can drive to the top and walk a short distance for views of the Mississippi River and Lock and Dam No. 4.  

Maiden Rock Bluff State Natural Area 

Like Rush Creek, the trails at this state natural area are rustic and unmarked. 

But the reward for trekking through restored prairie, savanna and patches of forest is a bird’s-eye view of the Great River Road curling between a 400-foot bluff and Lake Pepin, along the widest naturally occurring section of the Mississippi. The bluff is one of only six places along the river where peregrine falcons, a Wisconsin endangered species, naturally nest. 

Find the natural area at the end of Long Lane north of Stockholm. From there, follow the trail from the east end of the parking lot for the best views. 

If you follow Google Maps to Maiden Rock Bluff, it will most likely take you to the state historical marker and wayside on Highway 35 below the bluff. From there, you can see the bluff’s signature limestone rock face above. 

Contact Chelsey Lewis at (414) 224-2144 or clewis@journalsentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter at @chelseylew and @TravelMJS and Facebook at Journal Sentinel Travel.

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