Great River State Trail: Midway to Trempealeau

On the Great River State Trail, it’s nearly a 10-mile ride from Midway to Trempealeau. In this section, the trail journeys through several state and national sanctuaries that help protect the region’s exceptional landscape, plants, and animals. This section of the trail especially is a nature-lovers paradise, as it passes through swampy Mississippi River bottomlands, bridges flowing waterways, and passes through scenic hardwood forests.

The Midway trailhead has basic amenities: a parking lot, portable toilet, self-registration station, and picnic tables. By car, the trailhead may be reached from Wisconsin State Highway 35. In Midway, turn west on County Highway OT. Drive a half mile to County Highway ZN; the trailhead is on the corner of these two roads.

Heading northwest out of Midway, the trail moves through floodplain farmland and crosses Halfway Creek. Two miles from the trailhead, the BSNF rail line cuts in from the west, running parallel to the trail to Trempealeau. The little community of Brice Prairie appears to the west of the trail. It was named after Alexander and Lucy Brice, who settled there in 1855.

For the next 2 miles, the route runs through the Great River Trail Prairies State Natural Areas. Historically these narrow strips of sand prairie remnants were supported by unintentional fires, started by sparks from passing locomotives. Today, the DNR sustains the prairies. They contain a variety of grasses such as the big and little blue-stem, with flowering plants including lead-plant, blazing-star, wild bergamot, vervain, spiderwort, hoary puccoon, prairie rose, and white sage.

East of the trail beyond the prairie is Brown’s Marsh, a part of the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. A short spur trail in leads to an observation platform overlooking the marsh. An information kiosk focuses on bird species that inhabit the marsh. The main trail continues to run along the prairie and marshland until Lytle’s Landing on the Black River. A parking lot is located there at the end of Lytle Road, which may serve as a trailhead. The landing has a canoe/kayak launch and is a popular place to fish.

At Lytle’s Landing, the Great River State Trail fully enters into the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge. The gateway to the refuge is impressive. Cyclists traverse a 287-foot Warren truss bridge built in 1927, and a 350-yard wooden trestle bridge over the Black River and its meandering branches. On hot summer days, daring local bridge-jumpers may be seen plunging into the deep, dark river. After the trail crosses the Black River, the landscape dramatically changes to low, swampy river bottoms.

For the next 3 miles, the trail passes through the Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge’s La Crosse District. This sanctuary’s swampy land is part of the Mississippi Flyway which supports migratory birds by providing a place for rest and food. The wooded islands, sloughs, swamps, and bottomland hardwood forests also are a refuge for a range of wildlife, fish, and plants. Bald eagles, herons, egrets, Canadian geese, ducks, turtles, beaver, and muskrat are just some of the wildlife that may be spotted from the trail.

In addition to the Black River, the trail bridges Shingle Creek and Tank Creek in this section of the refuge. A large bald eagle nest is visible to the east, from the bridge over Tank Creek. On summer days swimmers may be seen enjoying Tank Creek’s shallow water and sandy bottom. At Tank Creek the trail leaves La Crosse County and enters Trempealeau County.

After the trail emerges from the refuge, it passes a long pond nestled into the wetlands. A park bench offers the opportunity to pause and enjoy the beautiful scenery, and is excellent for birdwatching. While the path remains enclosed by a strip of narrow forest, farm fields begin to fill the countryside. Near the end of the pond a distinctive, remarkable formation appears to the right side of the trail. This is known as Nicholls Hopewell Mound. A short observation platform leads there from the trail, and interpretive markers convey its history.

This burial mound was made by people of the Hopewell culture, and dates back 2,000 years. In the 1920s and 1930s, archaeologists excavated the mound. They discovered a tomb dug into the ground, covered with logs. A 12-foot high mound was built over the tomb. It held the remains of several people buried with ceremonial items, including knives of Rocky Mountain obsidian, copper earspools, copper axes, marine shell beads, and freshwater pearl beads. Today, only 10 of the mounds in the Trempealeau Lakes Mound Group remain.

From the mound site, it is 1.5 miles to the Trempealeau trailhead. It has restrooms, picnic tables, and a self-registration station. A historical marker there conveys the story of the Mississippi River Parkway, an early 5-mile section of the Great River Road route. The trailhead is located off Wisconsin State Highway 35 on the east side of Trempealeau.

Trempealeau is scenically situated on the edge of the Mississippi River. Its name is derived from the nearby mountain that French explorers called “la montagne qui trempe à l’eau,” meaning “the mountain whose foot is bathed in water.” This area was the home of ancient, mound-building Native Americans. In the late 1600s, indigenous people here interacted with European-American fur traders. Euro-American settlement came in the early 1840s, then a post office in 1852, and village incorporation in 1900.

Several people in Wisconsin history are associated with Trempealeau. Nicholas Perrot was a French fur trader who built a post in 1685 near the current village. Louis and Augustine Grignon, fur traders from northeastern Wisconsin, opened a fur trading post there in 1820. Twenty years later in 1840, an American named James Reed settled in what would become Trempealeau, today marked by an interpretive marker and statue on Main Street.

While the Great River State Trail does not run through the Trempealeau downtown, it is worth digressing from the trail for a visit to this historic district. Set in a historic 1880s building, Ma’s Kitchen at The Station is a noteworthy stop. The deli sells sandwiches, salads, baked goods, coffee drinks, and more. Be sure to visit their 1950s caboose parked next door.

^{Map of trailheads and addresses along this section of the trail.}

The Trempealeau Hotel is also in downtown Trempealeau and is located less than 100 yards away from the Mississippi River. The historic hotel dates from 1871 and was one of the few surviving buildings of an 1888 fire. Their menu includes their renowned walnut burger, bangers and mash, or salmon dishes. Trail-goers may want to stay the night in one of their historic riverside rooms, cottages, or luxury suites. The Trempealeau Hotel is also known for their music festival series, hosting events throughout the summer from an open-air stage.

Trail last ridden and documented in May, 2022.