Perrot State Park in Trempealeau

We packed up and headed out in the fiver for Perrot State Park in Trempealeau, Wisconsin on the Mississippi River last Thursday. We had just missed their annual Catfish Days celebration, but we enjoyed our time here so much that maybe we'll make plans to return for it another year! Most likely though, I'd want to come back during another season. We had to get up early every morning to beat the heat and get our physical activity done for the day.

Remnant of older home in Trempealeau, new home was built to the back of the property.

Notice the GoPro camera on my head...video to come later!

Perrot State Park has a lot to do including hiking, biking and canoeing. The campsites are great but the shower facilities...are pretty awful. Getting hot water didn't happen once, not even after the weekend rush, and the shower house wasn't as clean as it could have been either, with muddy floors and overflowing garbage cans. There were only 2 shower stalls in each of the 2 facilities for the ladies, and not all of the doors to the toilets and showers had working locks. On the bright side, they have a nature center with canoes for rent and access from the campground to the Great River State Trail.  We rode the trail twice, once into Trempealeau National Wildlife Reserve and another time into  town to go down to the Lock & Dam on the Mississippi River.  We only took the kayak out once for a paddle in the state park, but the hour paddle through Trempealeau Bay was nice.

 The real surprise was how nice the hike up West Brady Trail was.  We decided to give it a try at the last minute with not much time to go before sunset and had to hustle up to the top to get there in time for the big show. It was a shame because the trail itself was quite pretty. We wanted to go back last night a little earlier in the evening and do it again, but it was cloudy and starting to rain.

We got most of the way up in time for this gorgeous shot above, but by the time we got all the way to the top the sun had sunk behind some clouds. (Of course in reality it was not quite this orange to the human eye...but still!)   That little ribbon curving around the mountain is the path we took in our kayak around Trempealeau Mountain.  Oh, and while we were cooling off and admiring the view we got serenaded by cicadas, which was something I don't remember hearing for awhile. I'm not usually one for views from peaks...but Perrot State Park has a winner, in my opinion!