The Driftless Area offers beautiful rural bed and breakfasts, places to call home for a couple of days while enjoying your loved one’s company. Curl up to your own fireplace and soak in a hot whirlpool tub. Be pampered at breafast with unique country cuisine prepared for just you, not for a noisy room full of diners.

If you choose your lodging wisely, you can hike right outside your door.  Whether it’s snowshoeing in the winter months, or hiking down private forested trails in the warmer weather. You may be dazzled by a palette of gaudy woodland wildflowers or serenaded by flock of early summer songbirds.

Most B&Bs offer lovely patio areas and some even offer large ponds with private gazebos and a babbling waterfall. Bring your loved one to the country. Relax, talk, feast you senses on all the beauty that surrounds you.

I was driving on Hwy 35 near the Lynxville dam a few days ago and in a 30 second drive by I counted five eagles. One day in December 2010 I crossed the Hwy 18 bridge travelling from Prairie du Chien to Marquette, Iowa. On that drive across the Mississippi and its backwaters I saw more than 10 eagles. These winter eagles congregate around any open water  to fish and enjoy lunch or dinner, maybe even breakfast. Eagles can be seen diving into the water and snatching a fish, or standing on the ice enjoying a meal, or circling overhead looking for a fish, or perched in a nearby tree just waiting their turn.

On Saturday, Feb 25, 2012, the Prairie du Chien Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with Effigy Mounds National Monument (located in Iowa a few miles north of the Hwy 18 bridge) will sponser Bald Eagle Appreciation Day. Activities will run from 9 am until 4:30 pm and will include a live raptor program, nature film, eagle photography, and a life size eagle nest replica. Outdoor viewing with spotting scopes will be offered. Prairie du Chien offers great dining and lodging, so come and make a day of it. Couple this with a trip to Cabelas Outdoor Store in Prairie du Chien, a long drive on Hwy 35 along the beautiful Mississippi River, or a drive eastward to the Kickapoo River Valley and the quaint villages of Crawford and Vernon Counties. Nice winter time in Wisconsin.

Southwest Wisconsin is particularly blessed with hundreds of cold water streams. This is the Driftless Area, a part of the midwest that was not glaciated during the last period of North American glaciers. This land was spared the glaciers and therefore it retained its rugged topography of repeated ridges and valleys. Karst geology underlies the Driftless Area and the porous sandstone and limestone rock spawns thousands of cold water springs that emerge on the hillsides and in the valleys. Between Viroqua and Boscobel, Wisconsin the springs combine and form a maze of streams that then find their way to the Mississippi, the Wisconsin, or the Kickapoo rivers.  

Superb trout fishing can be found in most of this area’s streams and small rivers: Knapp Creek, Tainter Creek, Reads Creek, Copper Creek, Citron Creek, Rush Creek, the Bad Axe River, the West Fork of the Kickapoo River, Sugar Creek, English Run, Mill Creek and many others. Brook, Rainbow, and Brown trout are found throughout these creeks. Many streams have been improved by Trout Unlimited and many streams remain totally natural.

Good dining and lodging is available. Tackle and guide service is available at the Driftless Angler Fly Shop in Viroqua. If you want a multi-species fishing trip, combine the stream time with time spent on the Mississippi River. On this section of the big river you will find big walleye, big northern, and big bass. In addition you will find that the Driftless Area scenery is just as good as the fishing.

The opening ceremony happens at 7pm on Saturday, Feb 3. Competition follows immediately and fireworks will entertain visitors in between rounds of jumping. From 9 pm until 1 am enjoy live music. Food and beverages are available on the grounds. On Sunday the competition resumes at 12:30 pm. Live music follows the jumping from 3 to 7 pm on Sunday.

Westby has a deep and persistent Norwegian heritage. Enjoy the city and surrounding areas. This is the Driftless Area and the countryside is a progression of ridges and valleys. Very good restaurants can be found in Westby, Viroqua, Readstown, and Soldiers Grove. The Mississippi River is a short 30 minute drive to the west. Clean motels and beautiful B&Bs are available for overnight lodging. Hike at the Kickapoo Valley Reserve or at Wildcat Mountain State Park. Drive along the Mississippi River and you will undoubtedly see many bald eagles that winter in this area.

This is a very special winter weekend in Southwest Wisconsin.

The Kickapoo Valley has become a destination for silent sport enthusiasts. Opportunities abound for quality hiking, biking, canoeing, birding, trout fishing, …. Amish shopping and antiquing offer post-exercise options for visitors. The area is prized for its scenic motor touring routes as the local roads wind their way over and through hundreds of ridges and valleys. The land, scuplted thousands of years ago, is the attraction. There are no nightclubs, go-cart tracks, or neon signs but instead there are rugged bluffs, deer, turkey, eagles, and B&Bs.

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow offers beautiful B&B rooms, a cabin, and two bedroom suites and 160 acres of wooded hills, trails, and wildlife.

The Roth House offers grand B&B rooms in a restored Victorian house that sits right next to the Kickapoo River.

The Old Oak Inn’s B&B rooms and parlors feature elegant European milled woodwork and a large banquet room and space for any size private party. 

Soldiers Grove is a great base of operations for a day or a week of travel through the Kickapoo Valley and Wisconsin’s Driftless Area.

We are only two weeks away from the opening day of catch-and-release trout fishing in Wisconsin – March 1. The southwest corner of the state has hundreds of cold water streams and trout fishing opportunities abound. The landscape in this corner of Wisconsin is that of the Driftless Area – rugged ridges and valleys that sit on a limestone/sandstone base. Cold, clear springs “pop up”  along the hillsides and in the valleys and combine to form great trout streams. Native brook trout along with stocked rainbow and brown trout constitute this fishery.

Many of the Southwest Wisconsin streams pass through heavily wooded terrain. The wooded areas are not suited to farming and the scattered cabins and houses are few and far between. You definitely get the feel of being much more remote than you really are. Other parts of the stream do pass through agricultural land and as you gaze up from the stream you may see crops or livestock in the foreground and the ever-present wooded hills in the distance.

Last year I met two friends for lunch. They had been fishing that morning in the south-central part of the Kickapoo Valley. They were grinning from ear to ear. Between them they had caught (and released) 55 trout that morning. Everything worked for them – surface flies, sinking nymphs and light spinners. They were anxious to get bak out to see if they could rack up a hundred for the day, and they called a few days later to tell me that they did reach 95.

The area around Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills has nice family restaurants and a wide variety of lodging including campgrounds, motels, and B&Bs. Bring the family and let the non-fishers in your group enjoy biking, canoeing, antiquing, Amish shops, and incredible vistas of the Mississippi River. There is something for everyone here, especially for the trout fishermen.

The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is a rural B&B located in the heart of the Kickapoo Valley in Southwest Wisconsin. Here, near the center of the famed Driftless Area nature reigns supreme. Here the landscape is one of rugged hill and valley, not boring flat land. Here the songs of birds are often the loudest invasion of one’s auditory sense. Here, in perhaps the oldest landscape of the upper midwest, a commitment for life seems most appropriate.

The planning of a wedding is most important for an outdoor wedding. Choose carefully the size of the reception tent. Thoughtfully plan for the caterer, the seating for ceremony and meal, evening lighting and music, and restroom availability. When properly done, such planning can produce a stellar event that everyone attending will remember forever.

These photos were taken at a summer 2010 wedding at Lonesome Hollow. Two hundred and fifty people attended, watched the ceremony at pond-side, then retreated to the back of the valley for wine, meal, music, and joyous celebration. It was a fabulous event.

Snowflake Ski Club was founded in 1922 and it is one of only two remaining all-volunteer large hill ski jumping clubs in the Western Hemisphere. This is a tribute to the city of Westby (population 2000) and to the dedicated local volunteers. On Friday, February 4 there will be open training at night, under the lights. Following the jumping there will be live music and fireworks. The main competition will be held on Saturday, February 5 starting at noon. Live music will go throughout the day on Saturday. Snowflake Ski Club offers free admission to US military members.

Westby is located in Wisconsin’s famed Driftless Area and is a three hour drive from Minneapolis, about four hours from the Chicago western suburbs. Excellent lodging and restauarants can be found nearby.

For several reasons the fall colors are especially good in the Driftless Region of Southwest Wisconsin. The Driftless Area is very rugged and much of the land is heavily forested. Maple trees constitute about 50% of the Driftless Area trees and over time this percentage will increase (this bodes well for future maple syrup production as well). Also the terrain itself, a constant expanse of ridges and valleys, creates an environment in which there are wooded hillsides that face in every direction. This extends the time over which fall colors can be enjoyed. The south and west facing hillside will turn color first, followed by the east and north facing hillsides. Likewise the trees along many streams and along the Mississippi River will hold their leaves longer and produce fall colors after many other trees have disrobed themselves for winter.

Fall at Lonesome Hollow B&B

In the Kickapoo Valley fall is a great time to take in the Vernon County Fair and the Driftless Area Art Festival. Explore the shops of local Amish artisans. Walk through the apple orchards of Gays Mills and purchase locally grown apples, cider, and baked goods.

Gays Mills Apples

Fall is nature’s way of preparing us for the rigors of a Wisconsin winter. The Inn at Lonesome Hollow is located only a few miles from the Gays Mills orchards. Come over and spend two or three glorious fall days with us.

Nora and Pete

June 19 – for you outdoor enthusiats, travel to Prairie du Chien and take a Bald Eagle Cruise on the Mississippi River. The scenery is superb for river lovers: backwaters, bluffs, wildlife, and river towns. This cruise will focus on the bald eagles that call home to this section of the river. Call Mississippi Explorer Cruises at 877-647-7397.

June 19 – visit the famous Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien and participate in a hands-on cooking workshop - Breakfast in A Victorian Kitchen. Take a culinary tour of the late 19th century using the foods, utensils, and technology of the times. Call 608-326-2721 for details.

June 18-20 – if you like good food, live music, tractor pulls, sports tourneys and more, stop in Soldiers Grove at their Dairy Days. Great fun and tradition.

June 19-20 – enjoy Midsummer Fest at Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center. Enjoy their beautiful grounds, hiking paths, gardens, and a recreated homestead of the late 1800′s. For information call 608-452-3424.

All of these events take place in Crawford and Vernon Counties, in the heart of the Driftless Area of Southwest Wisconsin. More area information is available at www.driftlesswisconsin.com.