A GORP Content Partner Adapted from Scenic Driving Minnesota by Phil Davies

Bluff Country Bliss Two Scenic Drives near Minnesota's Twin Cities

The North Star State offers motorists much visual delight: waves crashing and foaming against the rocky shore of the world's largest freshwater lake; forests of pine, spruce, birch, and aspen dotted with lakes and wetlands; stately bluffs towering above red-brick river towns and apple orchards; lush, gently rolling farm country punctuated by corn silos and wooden barns. Two drives near the Twin Cities capture this scenic richness. . .

Squeezed between the Mississippi River and towering, forested bluffs, the Great River Road (U.S. Highway 61) passes through handsome nineteenth century river towns, sleepy villages, and natural areas rich in wildlife. The 107-mile segment from Red Wing to La Crescent offers two optional excursions off US 61: one loops through lush meadows and wetlands in the Mississippi's floodplain, the other scales the bluffs, offering breathtaking views of the river valley and hillside apple orchards.

A National Scenic Riverway, the lower St. Croix River winds along the Minnesota-Wisconsin border, hemmed in by wooded bluffs and rocky escarpments. The St. Croix River Valley drive rambles along the alternately wild and pastoral St. Croix for 60 miles, visiting three state parks and picturesque river towns such as Hastings, Afton, Stillwater, and Taylors Falls.

The Great River Road
Red Wing to La Crescent via U.S. Highway 61

Special Attractions: Strolling, dining, and antique shopping in the historic towns of Red Wing, Lake City, Wabasha, and Winona; Frontenac, a village where little has changed since the 1880s; hiking and birdwatching at Frontenac and O. L. Kipp State Parks; biking on county roads and the Cannon Valley Trail; bald eagle watching at Read's Landing; spectacular views along the shore of Lake Pepin and from the blufftops on Apple Blossom Drive.
Drive Route Numbers: US 61; Wabasha County Roads 30, 184; Winona County Roads 7, 12, 1.
Location: Southeast Minnesota, in and around the Mississippi River Valley about 50 miles south of the Twin Cities.
Travel Season: Year-round, but special seasonal attractions include apple blossoms in the spring, vivid leaf color and fresh apples in the fall, and bald eagle watching in late winter.
Camping: RV and tent camping at Frontenac and O. L. Kipp state parks; Hay Creek Valley Campground on US 61 south of Red Wing; Pioneer Camp south of Wabasha; Winona KOA south of town on US 61.
Services: Plentiful gas, food, and lodging in major river towns such as Red Wing, Wabasha, Winona, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, La Crescent's big sister across the river.
Nearby attractions: Scenic sidetrips through woods, farmland, and small towns in the uplands west of US 61 (see Drives 2, 3); the Root River Trail, a bike route linking Rushford, Lanesboro, Preston, and other towns in the Root River Valley; historic river town of Hastings (see Drive 20); pretty villages of Alma, Maiden Rock, and Stockholm on the Wisconsin side of river; Laura Ingalls Wilder birthplace in Pepin, Wisconsin; river cruises and Granddad Bluff Overlook in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

See a map of this drive.

The Drive
Long before Mark Twain steamed up the Mississippi, the Dakota Indians relied on the river to trade with and make war on neighboring tribes; in his time river towns such as Red Wing, Wabasha, and Winona sprang up, important export centers for Minnesota lumber and wheat. Today these towns, with their superb nineteenth century architecture, restful river views, and home-style cooking, offer succor to travelers on one of the most stunning drives in the United States.

The stealthy rafts and white steamers have gone, but the rest of the sights that enchanted Twain are still there along the Mississippi south of Red Wing. "Majestic bluffs," as high as 500 feet in some places, were formed by an overwhelming torrent of meltwater that rushed east and south after the retreat of the glaciers. The broad floodplain is a boater's paradise and a refuge for bald eagles, trumpeter swans, canvasback ducks, beavers, and muskrats.

You know you're in bluff country as soon as you reach Red Wing, the starting point for the drive. US 61 seems to run right into Barn Bluff, a massive formation of sandstone and dolomite rising nearly 350 feet above the town. Henry David Thoreau listed wildflowers growing atop the bluff in 1861; you can follow in his footsteps by parking at the end of East Fifth Street and ascending steep trails to the mountain's broad, grassy top. The passage of more than 130 years has not diminished the view.

Beautifully restored buildings downtown include the Beaux Arts-style T. B. Sheldon Memorial Auditorium on Third Street and the stately St. James Hotel on Main Street, built in 1875. The tourism office hangs its shingle in a 1905 railroad depot in Levee Park— a great place to watch cabin cruisers and slow-moving barges plying the river. If your tastes run more to the material, browse for antiques on Main Street, or visit the Pottery District north of downtown. Outlet stores selling everything from galoshes to gargoyles have taken over the old Red Wing Stoneware Company factory, famous for its bluish, salt-glazed crockery. Potters still use local clay to turn out replicas of the traditional designs. The Pottery District is also the eastern terminus for the Cannon Valley Trail, a 19.5-mile bike path along the deep, wooded valley of the Cannon River.

Leave town on US 61, skirting the stratified flanks of Barn Bluff and swinging south at the foot of a chain of hills that rise in a wall of green above the rooftops. Unbroken hardwood forest drapes the steep slopes; at the top, outcrops of limestone poke out like the battlements of a gigantic castle. Where there's room between the bluffs and the road, corn grows in neat rows. Just over 10 miles brings you to Frontenac Station, a whistle stop on the St. Paul to Milwaukee rail line that consists of little more than a cafe, a gas station, and a few houses.

But the place is a thriving hub of commerce compared with Frontenac, a village two miles to the east that has managed to escape the twentieth century entirely. To get there, turn left on Goodhue County Road 2 (at the State Park sign) and follow it through marshland and pasture past the entrance to Frontenac State Park. A summer resort for America's elite in the 1870s, Frontenac is a tranquil relic today. There are no shops, offices, or streetlights on the gravel streets, just elegant 1860s-vintage homes, well-tended gardens and stunning views of Lake Pepin, a 2.5-mile-wide bulge in the river caused by natural damming of the Mississippi downstream.

Frontenac State Park, a sanctuary for migratory warblers and bald and golden eagles, completely encircles the village. Hiking trails lead to a high ridge overlooking the valley and In-Yan-Teopa, a giant boulder that was sacred to the Dakota and Fox Indians. CR 2 makes a right-angle turn in Frontenac and passes Villa Maria, a secluded conference and retreat center, on the return loop to US 61. At the junction a historical marker commemorates Fort Beauharnois, a French fur-trading post built nearby in 1727.

It's only 4 miles to Lake City, past inspiring views of the body of water the Dakota called Pem-vee-cha-mday ("Lake in the Mountains") and the distant bluffs of Wisconsin. On summer weekends white sails flit back and forth across the lake, chasing the fickle breeze. The town is known for its Haralson apples—roadside stands overflow with the crisp, tart variety in late September and October—and as the birthplace of water-skiing. Yes, it was on the shores of Lake Pepin, not Key Biscayne or Santa Monica Bay, that an 18-year-old boy wonder named Ralph Samuelson strapped a couple of 8-foot pine boards to his feet and sped into sporting lore in 1922. His feat is celebrated annually during Water Ski Days on the last weekend in June. The action revolves around the marina downtown, home to hundreds of powerboats and sailboats moored in perfect array.

For the next 10 miles the road clings to the shore of Lake Pepin, offering splendid vistas of the water—calm and brilliant on cloudless days—and advancing headlands cloaked in oak, basswood, hickory, and maple. Just past the fishing resort of Camp Lacupolis you can pull off the road and take in views of wooded islands, fishing boats, and perhaps a barge, toiling upstream with a load of gravel or coal.

Read's Landing, a cluster of houses long removed from its glory days as a staging area for huge rafts of northern pine headed to sawmills, marks the beginning of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge—nearly 194,000 acres of floodplain stretching south to Rock Island, Illinois. A labyrinth of islands, sandbars, backwater sloughs, and marshes, the refuge provides food and shelter for more than 270 species of birds, including great blue herons, common egrets, rails, bitterns, white pelicans, bald eagles, and trumpeter swans. Bald eagles frequent Read's Landing in the late winter, diving for fish and nesting in trees along the shore.

Just south of Read's Landing turn left on 5th Grant Boulevard West, cross the railroad tracks, and continue past a riverside cemetery and cornfields into Wabasha, a town of 2,400 that gained fame as the setting of the movie Grumpy Old Men. The film and its sequel were actually shot in Stillwater and the Twin Cities, but Wabasha, named for a dynasty of Dakota chiefs who once ruled the area, is well worth a visit. Turn right on Bridge Street to reach the town's classic Main Street, a parade of brick-and-sandstone facades dating to the 1850s. The Anderson House at 333 West Main is the oldest operating hotel in the state; the rambling three-story building opened for business in 1856. Specialties on the menu include roast mallard, Mississippi catfish, and double Dutch fudge pie.

Turn right on Minnesota Highway 60 and left on Wabasha County Road 30 (Hiawatha Drive) to leave town via the back door, through rich cropland in a section of the river where the bluffs veer away to the west. After 4 miles the road intersects with US 61 just north of the dusty hamlet of Kellogg. Here you have a choice: stay on US 61, skirting the bluffs inland, or strike out into the bottomlands, much of which is managed as a refuge for natural vegetation and wildlife. To take the low route, turn left on Wabasha County Road 18 into Kellogg, then bear left on Wabasha County Road 84. Sprawling fields of corn give way to prairie grass, wildflowers, and stands of pine and spruce, then to undulating sand dunes sparsely covered with grass and scrub. Otters, sandhill cranes, and Blanding's turtles—watch for the "Rare Turtle Crossing" sign—live in nearby McCarthy Lake Wildlife Management Area, a 2,800-acre expanse of floodplain forest, marsh, and sand dunes.

After 9 miles you're back on US 61 and heading toward Weaver Bottoms, a magnet in spring and fall for migratory birds such as trumpeter swans, great egrets, and blue-winged teals. At Weaver Landing there's an observation platform with interpretive displays that explain how the Bottoms, while still rich in wildlife, have become degraded by dam construction and repeated floods. For a sidetrip into the heart of bluff country, take Minnesota Highway 74 from Weaver to Whitewater State Park. The river has cut a dramatic path through heavily wooded limestone hills—prime habitat for ring-necked pheasants, wild turkeys, and white-tailed deer. Brown and rainbow trout can be tempted onto a hook in the Middle Branch of the Whitewater River. Otherwise, continue on US 61 to Winona past soaring, crenellated bluffs and Lock and Dam number 5—the structure responsible for high water levels in Weaver Bottoms.

Winona's name breathes romance. We-no-nah was a legendary Dakota maiden who, rather than accept an arranged marriage with a man she didn't love, leapt to her death from a high crag near Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.

The city enjoys an idyllic setting on bottomlands between the river and Lake Winona, a reflecting pool for 500-foot Sugar Loaf Bluff. Winona invites strolling and bicycling in Lake Park, with its bandshell, rose gardens, and downtown streets graced with grand buildings such as Winona National & Savings Bank, a rare example of Egyptian Revival style, and the lavishly decorated Watkins mansion. The helpful folks at tourist information (turn left on Huff Street, a causeway spanning the lake into downtown) can direct you to the sights. For an eagle's perspective on the city and its surroundings, drive up Garvin Heights Road, accessible from Lake Boulevard west of US 61. The views from a wayside park at the top extend for 50 miles, up and down the river valley and deep into Wisconsin.

The journey to La Crescent on US 61 and Interstate 90 is fast and scenic, with yet more vistas of islands in the stream and rock-turreted hills. An alternate route, part of which has been designated a state scenic byway, takes a more circuitous path up narrow, stream-cut valleys and along the blufftops. To head for the hills, turn right on Winona County Road 7 (9 miles south of Winona), and follow it through a lovely valley hemmed in by steep bluffs to the village of Pickwick.

Here, next to Big Trout Creek, stands a wonderful relic of Minnesota's industrial past: a six-story grist mill, built from native limestone in 1858. During the Civil War the mill's machinery, powered by a 25-foot water wheel, ground non-stop to feed Union troops. Much of that machinery, a Rube Goldbergian assemblage of chutes, metal cogs, belts, and pulleys, still resides in the cool interior. Pickwick Mill is being restored by local citizens, who are on hand to show you around from May through October.

Continue on CR 7 past some farmsteads to the head of the valley, where the road abruptly climbs the densely wooded bluffs and intersects with Winona County Road 12. The next 3 miles parallel I-90 over open, flat terrain; keep straight and bear left on Winona County Road 3 to reach O. L. Kipp State Park, a 3,000 acre preserve with magnificent views of the Mississippi River Valley from trail overlooks. The main route to La Crescent turns right on CR 12, crosses the freeway and heads due south to Nodine, a tiny place that revolves around a white clapboard general store with a single gas pump. Turn left at the gas pump; you're on Apple Blossom Drive, a state scenic byway that rides the ridgetops through countryside that rivals New England in its verticality and pastoral appeal. You'll have a hard time keeping your eyes on the road as the ground to the left drops away, revealing the immense Mississippi coursing 400 feet below. A warm snowfall of apple blossoms covers the hillsides in the spring, and in the fall, wooded ravines burn with russet, gold, and crimson.

Apple Blossom Drive continues on Winona County Road 1, eventually spiraling down sheer limestone cliffs into La Crescent, a town of 4,300 that bills itself as the Apple Capital of Minnesota. All those orchards up the hill bear fruit in the fall, providing the raw material for the La Crescent Apple Festival, held during the third week in September. The drive ends here; you can return to Red Wing and the Twin Cities on US 61, or pick up Drive 2, from La Crescent west along the Root River Valley.

Move on to:

St. Croix River Valley

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