We arrived in Cashton eager for a bite to eat, so we enjoyed a burger at Badger Crossing before resuming our drive by heading east on Hwy 33. We stopped at our freind Kathy Kuderer’s shop called Down a Country Road. Kathy always carries a nice selection of Amish wares – everything from Amish honey to quilts to hand crafted funiture.

Leaving Kathy’s business we drove east and north to our favorite Amish quilt shop, that of Laura Shrock. Laura and Andy have a farm and a quilt shop on Newport Road, and her inventory of quilts is mind-blowing. At any one time Laura usually has about 100 finished quilts in sizes ranging from full to king. We picked out a beautiful quilt at what we considered a real bargain price.

Great day, great road trip. We have made many trips to the Cashton Amish settlement and have purchased beautiful furniture and quilts. It is wonderful to witness the work ethic and humble lifestyle of the Amish.

One of the nicest streams in the Soldiers Grove area is Tainter Creek. This creek meanders through woodlands, then through farm fields as it winds its 12-15 mile course to the Kickapoo River. The upper reaches of Tainter Creek are unimproved, meaning there are no “lunker” structures dug into the bank, below the surface of the water. Such structures are put in place by landowners and by Trout Unlimited to improve the surviveability of the trout. The trout can hide in these 20 foot long structures, protected from predators from above, and lie in wait for lunch or dinner to swim by. The lower five or six miles of Tainter Creek are wider, offer more open shoreline, and have been fitted with lunker boxes to aid the trout population.

One early summer day I left home just before noon to meet my guide in Towerville, at a very nondescript bar/lunch place. We first fished the lower part of the creek and I was thrilled to land two 19-inch brown trout. I was fishing with ultra-light spin tackle and was casting the smallest Rapala I had in my box. Later that afternoon the guide took me to the upper section of the creek and he put me in a 40 ft long, four foot deep hole that was full of 10-12 inch brook trout. I was throwing small spinners and the trout loved ‘em.

This was my first real success on the local streams. The guide was very helpful in choosing the parts of the stream to fish and the baits to use. For many trips and many years after that first trip, I was always confident in fishing these lovely streams of the Driftless Area. If you are a midwesterner, you don’t have to travel to Montana, or Colorado, or Idaho to find great trout fishing. It’s right here in Southwest Wisconsin.

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 traveling 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 sponsor 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.

On Sept 10/11 travel to Prairie du Chien and the Villa Louis to enjoy the annual Carriage Classic. The Villa Louis is one of Wisconsin’s state historic sites. It is a beautifully restored Victorian house that was home to Wisconsin’s first millionaire family, the Dousmans. The Villa has a long history of horse breeding and elegance and the Carriage Classic will bring more than 100 beautifully restored carriages to the grounds for demonstrations of horsemanship and carriage driving.

Carraige Classic at Villa Louis

Then on Sept 17/18 enjoy one of the best art festivals in the entire state, the Driftless Area Art Festival in Soldiers Grove. Eighty artists from across the Driftless Area will show their artwork – paintings, sculptures, pottery, woodcraft, photography, and jewelry. This juried art show will feature day long music performed by local musicians playing an eclectic mix of folk and bluegrass music that fits perfectly into the rugged landscape that surrounds the art festival grounds. 

While at the art festival sample local foods, wine, and beer as you stroll past the artists’ displays. Talk with the artists, all of whom make their home in one of the midwest’s more scenic areas. Stay for a few nights in a lovely B&B and maybe bring your fly rod along and spend some time in a local trout stream leaving your cares behind you.

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.

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.

Begin this trip by driving south on Hwy 61, then west on Hwy 60. Near the village of Wauzeka the Kickapoo River flows into the Wisconsin River. Take Hwy 131 north and begin a leisurely ramble through the Driftless Area following one of the oldest rivers in the upper Midwest. Native Americans named this river the “one who wanders” in their native language. Normally a quiet, lazy river, the Kickapoo River can become a raging torrent during heavy rains and the history of the Kickapoo Valley is full of flood stories. As you follow Hwy 131 along the river you travel through a truly rural area and will never drive through a village with more than 1000 residents. Steuben, Barnum, and Bell Center, are no more than wide spots on the road. Gays Mills offers a couple of restaurants and a large area of apple orchards. The orchards are definitely worth a visit from late August through November when various types of apples are being harvested and sold.

Continuing north on Hwy 131, Soldiers Grove offers two war memorials, several nice restaurants, and one of the most unique village commercial areas in the country — Solar Village. This small commercial area was created in the late 1970′s with state and federal funds. The commercial buildings were moved away from the flood prone banks of the Kickapoo, and were all designed to utilize at least 50% solar heating, creating “America’s First Solar Village”.

Continue north through Readstown, Viola, and LaFarge and you will come to a small piece of paradise, The Kickapoo Valley Reserve. The Reserve contains more than 8500 acres of public land that straddles a fourteen mile section of the Kickapoo River. Hiking, biking, and equestrian trails traverse the Reserve. A new Visitor’s Center describes a thwarted attempt by the Corps of Engineers to dam the Kickapoo River and tells the stories of 140 displaced families. No place in the Kickapoo Valley shows the rural landscape and the rich culture of the valley as well as the Kickapoo Reserve.

Hwy 131 will then bring you to Rockton and Ontario; both of these villages have canoe outfitters who rent canoes and offer livery service. At Ontario, take Hwy 33 west and from Ontario to Cashton you can enjoy many fine Amish crafts shops. The Cashton settlement has become famous for the fine furniture and quilts produced by many local Amish artisans. Return to Lonesome Hollow by heading south from Cashton on Hwy 27, then Hwy 61.

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.