Yellow River , St. Feriole Island, and Villa Louis 2010

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Our second outing of the year was to Yellow River State Forest.  We've camped there before, but I've been wanting to get back.  It's a great campground nestled in the hills and valleys only a few miles from the Mississippi River Valley.  Keep in mind if you go there, you may not have cell phone coverage.



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I love waking up and enjoying the view of the valley from the campground.  It has the sense of being open, but still have the hills going up either side.  The campground seems to be really popular with fishermen and we hear there are some good horseback riding trails.  I like it because you're not that far from the Mississippi River, Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, McGregor and Marquette, Iowa.



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Here are a few pictures from a couple of overlooks in the park.  You can't tell from the pictures, but the light was fading and there was a lot of mist in the air, so the pictures are not as good as I would have hoped.  The pictures above overlook the Big Paint Campground.

Lisa and I are still in disagreement of where the area is in the first two pictures above.  The drive to the top was very disorienting, even with GPS, so were still not sure which part of the valley this is.  The last picture shows the fire tower on the ridge.  Unfortunately, we did not get a chance to get there before dark.



St. Feriole Island

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On Saturday morning, we woke to the familiar sound of rain.  We had already decided that we were going into Prairie du Chien, so we thought we would wait the rain out while spending time in town.  Several years back, when I was visiting the area, I remembered seeing a river boat grounded somewhere on the north side of town.  I found it while just driving around the river roads, and I took some pictures of it, but they weren't really clear.  I've been meaning to come back and see if I could locate it again.  As you can see by the pictures above, I found it.  I still want to find the story behind this boat.



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The next stop we made was on St. Feriole Island.  There are quite a few historical facts about the island.  This was the site of the earliest settlement in the area.  When the hotel in the picture below was built, it was said to be the most elegant hotel west of New York City.  The island is even the site of the only battle of the War of 1812 fought on Wisconsin soil.  Of course, one of the island's more notable features is the Villa Louis.  Although many of the buildings have succumbed to time and elements, there are still a handful of homes that remain standing.



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There is also quite a nice little river walk where you can take in the sites and sounds of the Mississippi.  Signs have been posted along the walk that explains some of the history of this area.  Please see the second row of photos for those.



Villa Louis

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As I mentioned early, one of the more well known attraction is the Villa Louis.  A beautiful mansion with sprawling grounds.  The first two photos above tell the story of the Villa.



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The two pictures above are of dock structure that caught my eye when we came onto the island.  At first, I thought it was just an old structure that was seeing its last days.  But when I looked a bit closer, I saw two fairly good sized boats tied up inside.



Yellow River State Forest

October 15, 2010

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This was our second trip back to Yellow River State Park this year.  There are actually two different campgrounds.  One is Big Paint Creek Campground, and the other is Little Paint Creek Campground.   The campground at Big Creek is actually a little smaller, while Little Paint Creek, the one we always stay in, has two different sections.  While we love the park and enjoy spending time here, we used to have a problem with receiving cell phone signals in the valley.  Both of us are on call most of the time and not being able to receive cell signals can be a bit of a problem.  But since we purchased a booster for the trailer, we seem to have resolved that issue.  I am hoping to get back more next year.  And in case you are wondering, the water is supposed to be going over the road.  There are two spots in the park where this happens, but the water is only a few inches deep.



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The two pictures above are from a campground in Wisconsin called Wyalusing State Park.  We discovered the campground when we were staying at Pikes Peak across the valley and had been wanting to get here this year.  However, every time we try to reserve, it seems that the sites we would like to try out are already reserved.  I am still hoping to get back here before the end of the year.