The Mississippi River in spring

While the media tends to focus on the debilitating effects of flooding – and there are many – the villages and cities along the river in Driftless Wisconsin remain open for business. For example, while “Main Street” – a residential street running along the river’s backwaters – lies partly under water, the shopping district in Prairie du Chien on Blackhawk Avenue remains high and dry and waiting for you to jingle their door bells. All we ask is that you avoid flooded areas and admire the river’s mischief from a distance. I did just that recently, traveling to Pikes Peak above McGregor, Iowa, which keeps watch over Driftless Wisconsin from its southwest corner. It was a calm day with little wind to ripple the water or keep eagles aloft. A solitary cardinal greeted me with a perky melody at the park’s spectacular overlook. From up there, the river appeared relentless as it spilled across the valley floor, coating every low-lying island and flood plain in its path.

There are plenty of such places along the Great River Road from which to admire the river. Highway 35 extends along the river’s eastern bank with waysides and overlooks scattered along the way. Ferryville’s Observation Deck oversees Lake Winneshiek, one of the widest expanses of the Mississippi River in Driftless Wisconsin. It features a historical marker commemorating native son Patrick J. Lucey, Wisconsin’s 38^th Governor.

Once the water recedes by early May, Blackhawk Park near De Soto offers an intimate up-close look at the river and her backwaters. A favorite of fishers and campers, Blackhawk Lake features 173 campsites and a boat launch in the heart of the Mississippi bottoms.

Further upriver, Genoa gives you a working knowledge of the river’s most frequent travelers: fish and tug boats. The Genoa National Fish Hatchery offers public viewing of its fish restoration and stocking facilities on Monday through Friday from 8 am to 3:30 pm. Nearby Genoa, Lock & Dam # 8 provides a bird’s eye view of tugboats and barges in the process of “locking through” one of Driftless Wisconsin’s two dams operated by the Corp of Engineers.

Back at Pikes Peak, I ventured down to Bridal Veil Falls, which contributes a meager trickle to the flooding down in the valley. A lonely snow bank sat hidden behind the veil of water. The Driftless landscape collects these last remnants of winter and sends them on their way down to the Gulf of Mexico.