Gfp-wisconsin-wyalusing-state-park-river-valley

Wyalusing State Park is a

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

at the confluence of the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and

rivers in the village Bagley, just south of Prairie du Chien. Wyalusing means "home of the warrior" in the

Lenape language The Delaware languages, also known as the Lenape languages (), are Munsee and Unami, two closely related languages of the Eastern Algonquian subgroup of the Algonquian language family. Munsee and Unami were spoken aboriginally by the Lenape ...

spoken by Munsee-Delaware tribes who settled in the area in the 19th century after being displaced from farther east. bluffs dotted with prehistoric Native American mounds look out over the river valleys. Two park resources have been recognized nationally: the Wyalusing Hardwood Forest is a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best e ...

and the Wyalusing State Park Mounds Archaeological District is on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

Geology

The park is in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin, a portion of territory that remained ice free during the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, while land to the east and west was crushed by glaciers. The high bluffs along the Mississippi River and the large deep canyon of the Wisconsin River are evidence of glacial meltwaters reshaping this region.

History

John Nolen recommended Wyalusing as one of four locations for Wisconsin’s first state parks in a 1909 report to the State Parks Board. It became Wisconsin's fourth state park when it was established in 1917 on land originally belonging to former

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

Robert Glenn. Originally named Nelson Dewey State Park after Wisconsin’s first governor, it was changed to Wyalusing State Park in 1937.

Visitor Information

Hours

The park is open year-round from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Map

PDF Maps

Hiking Trails

Wyalusing has more than of hiking trails with varying difficulty. * Bluff Trail - * Mississippi Ridge Trail - * Old Wagon Road Trail - * Sand Cave Trail - * Sugar Maple Nature Trail - loop * Turkey Hollow Trail - loop * Walnut Springs Trail - * Whitetail Meadows Trail - or loop

Canoe Trails

* Canoe Trail - - Canoeists travel down stream (with the current) through the backwaters of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge until they reach an area of backwater that then leads back to the boat landing. At every major intersection of waterways, there are blue and white canoe trail signs. There are no signs at the end of the sloughs leading back to the canoe trail, only at intersections.

Fishing

*An accessible fishing pier is located at the boat landing.

Cross-Country Skiing

*During winter, there are a number of cross-country ski trails for all levels of skiing abilities. Trails are groomed for classic and skate skiing.

Bird Watching

Over 100 bird species have been observed in Wyalusing State Park, including yellow-throated warbler, prothonotary warbler, Bell's vireo, Henslow's sparrow,

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. dom ...

, red-tailed hawk and red-shouldered hawk, turkey vulture, and

bald eagle The bald eagle (''Haliaeetus leucocephalus'') is a bird of prey found in North America. A sea eagle, it has two known subspecies and forms a species pair with the white-tailed eagle (''Haliaeetus albicilla''), which occupies the same niche ...

. The area is listed as one of the “Wisconsin Important Bird Areas” by th
Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative
Th
Friends of Wisconsin State Parks
organization presented Wyalusing State Park System the 2018 Gold Seal Award for Best State Park System for Eagle Watching.

Camping and group camps

Camping

There are two main campgrounds: Homestead and Wisconsin Ridge, offering a total of 114 campsites.

Hugh Harper Indoor Group Camp

The Hugh Harper Indoor Group Camp is the largest of only three indoor group camps in the Wisconsin State Park system. It has four dorm buildings (two are fully accessible) that can house up to 27 people each. There are two bathrooms in each dorm that have showers, toilets and sinks.

Astronomy Center

The Lawrence L. Huser Astronomy Center is located inside the park. It is one of only two astronomy observatories located in Wisconsin state parks and features a 16-inch telescope. Groundbreaking for the Center took place in October 1999 and it was dedicated on June 8, 2003. It is named for Lawrence Huser, a park ranger who worked at Wyalusing for 30 years, beginning in 1952. The Center and observatory are run by th
Starsplitters
a local nonprofit group that conducts free seasonal astronomy programs at the Center.

Passenger pigeon monument

In 1947, the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology (WSORC) erected a monument to the now-extinct

passenger pigeon The passenger pigeon or wild pigeon (''Ectopistes migratorius'') is an bird extinction, extinct species of Columbidae, pigeon that was endemic to North America. Its common name is derived from the French word ''passager'', meaning "passing by" ...

in Wyalusing State Park. It is the only monument in the United States dedicated to the passenger pigeon. The inscription on the monument, drafted by ornithologist Arlie W. Schorger, reads: "Dedicated to the last Wisconsin Passenger Pigeon shot at Babcock, Sept. 1899. This species became extinct through the avarice and thoughtlessness of man."

Aldo Leopold Aldo Leopold (January 11, 1887 – April 21, 1948) was an American writer, Philosophy, philosopher, Natural history, naturalist, scientist, Ecology, ecologist, forester, Conservation biology, conservationist, and environmentalist. He was a profes ...

wrote the essay “On a Monument to the Pigeon” on the occasion of the dedication of the monument in 1947. A version of this essay appeared in his book A Sand County Almanac. The monument was restored and rededicated in 2014, in observance of the centenary of the pigeon’s extinction. At the rededication ceremony, Stanley Temple, Beers-Bascom Professor Emeritus in Conservation at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

and Senior Fellow at the Aldo Leopold Foundation, delivered a keynote speech.

References

External links

Wyalusing State Park
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Friends of Wyalusing State Park

Starsplitters at Lawrence L. Huser Astronomy Center
{{authority control Archaeological sites on the National Register of Historic Places in Wisconsin Driftless Area IUCN Category V National Natural Landmarks in Wisconsin Protected areas established in 1917 Protected areas of Grant County, Wisconsin Protected areas on the Mississippi River State parks of Wisconsin National Register of Historic Places in Grant County, Wisconsin 1917 establishments in Wisconsin