Tag: Fall color

Fall Color in the Driftless Region

One of our favorite fall activities is just driving around the Driftless Region and looking at fall color. This week’s post will be long on photos and short on text! If you’d like some suggested routes, scroll to the end.

Fall color Pike's Peak
Fall color on one of the trails at Pike’s Peak State Park in Iowa
Fall color Wyalusing
Overlooking the Wisconsin River from the camping area Wyalusing State Park
Fall Color Yellowstone
Geese at Yellowstone State Park in Wisconsin.
Fall color Wiota church
This Lutheran church in Wiota, Wisconsin is the oldest Lutheran church is the United States. (Yes, we’re shamelessly using it as a backdrop for fall color pictures.)
Fall color Mitchell Rountree
The historic Mitchell-Rountree Stone Cottage in Platteville, Wisconsin. Look for an article on it this spring!
Hay bales fall color
A frequent fall site along country roads. We’re traveling between Platteville and Livingston in this case.
Fall color driving north Sauk City
Driving north towards the Wisconsin River. A shout out to our tour guides, Dick and Laurie Graney!
Fall color old barns
Fall color drives are an easy way to “discover” picturesque old barns like this one near Sauk City
Fall color Taleisin
The drive past Blue Mound towards Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesen near Spring Green will take you through some of the best valleys for fall color viewing.
Fall color Mining Museum
Behind Platteville’s Mining and Rollo Jamison Museums. (Check out Mary Franklin’s article on this from last fall!)
Pumpkins for sale somewhere along the road to Sauk City
Cresting one of the many hills in the Driftless Region: in this case near South Wayne, Wisconsin. We’re playing around with photo saturation levels, as you can probably tell.
Fall color Hyde's Mill
Hyde’s Mill near Ridgeway. (We have an article on Hyde’s Mill coming out tomorrow!)
Fall Color near Baraboo
The hills around Baraboo make for beautiful fall color driving
Platteville Mound fall color
This is a wonderful time of year to hike the Platteville Mound! Thanks for the pic, Monica Nordgren.
Fall color
Just another beautiful tree.
leaves
Sometimes its easy to just get lost in the beauty of the leaves!

We did say we’d share some of our favorite fall color drives. Here are our top five:

  1. This first one is only for serious hikers! If you love to hike, you to Effigy Mounds National Monument near Harper’s Ferry. Iowa, and take any or all of the north trails. Each one ends with a stunning Mississippi River overlook.
  2. If you’d rather sit on a boat, take the Cassville Ferry. You can board in Iowa or Wisconsin, and it connects two national scenic byways. (Trouble is, the ferry ends its season at about this same time, but they usually end with a fall cruise. Check the above link for more information.) If the ferry is closed, then just try the road to it: U.S. 52 drom Dubuque IA north through Balltown (home of the oldest restaurant in Iowa, Breitbach’s) and on to Buena Vista.
  3. Take any drive along the Mississippi Bluffs! You could drive out to Potosi Point then drive north up the Mississippi to Glen Haven, Wisconsin; you could drive north from Prairie du Chien towards LaCrosse on Wisconsin 35; you could even cross over the Mississippi at LaCrosse (ha, ha) and drive north on US 61 into the gorgeous Minnesota Blufflands! If you do, be sure to go as far north as the “island city” of Winona and drive up to the Garvin Heights overlook.
  4. If you’re in Illinois, you can head south from Galena down Blackjack Road towards Savannah, or east on US 20, stopping at Horseshoe Mound Preserve and Tapley Woods Conservation area. Be sure to stop at the rest area just after Tapley Woods– the views from there are some of the best in Illinois. Also, you might google “Stagecoach Trail,” in northern Illinois, which is nearby and also has wonderful views.
  5. Two state parks that are particularly beautiful during fall leave change time are Wyalusing State Park in Wisconsin and Pike’s Peak State Park in Iowa… both are pictured above. Yellowstone State Park in Wisconsin is beautiful, too, and also pictured above.
  6. If you aren’t driving along the Mississippi or Wisconsin rivers, then probably the most gorgeous drive inland on Wisconsin 23 north of Dodgeville heading towards Spring Green. That will also take you past Frank Lloyd Wright’s Talieson and near American Player’s Theater… both sights were chosen for their natural beauty, and in our opinion the fall is when they’re most beautiful.

Unless noted, all photos by Terry Burns

Tell us about your favorite place in the Driftless Region!