Perrot State Park
Perrot State Park is located in southern Wisconsin, right along the Mississippi, north of La Crosse, near the town of Trempealeau. It is one of my favorite, as I have fallen in love with all the view of Trempealeau Mountain you can get from this park.
The campground is big and nice. It connects to the Great River State Trail: if you wish to bring your bike, you can bike all the way to the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge (about a 20-minute ride on an easy trail) where you can find more trails and a nature center.
Sunset view of the Mississipi and Trempealeau Mountain from the boat landing area.
But right in Perrot State Park, there are several trails to hike, and here are my favorite two:
Brady’s Bluff Trail
For the best views on this hike, I’d recommend to start at the West Brady parking lot and head up: where you can’t seem much while going up… but the big reveal at the end is all the more impressive! Beware, it’s steep, with stairs and rock steps, and there are some narrow passages between rocks while going up. 0.5 miles up to the top.
Enjoy a snack with the view (there is a shelter where you can sit and. Find some shade), and head down towards the East Brady parking lot, the slope down is less steep and gives you great views of the Mississippi. 0.7 miles down.
Once at the parking lot, you can connect to the Riverview Trail to get back to the starting point.
Riverview Trail
This is an easy trail that mostly follows the Mississippi and Trempealeau Bay. It will give you a variety of views, as you can see on my photo.
I started at the campground and it was a perfect first trail to do after my long drive to get to the Park. It also gave me nice sunset views!
This trail is 2.5 miles long and intersects with the boat landing area as well as several parking lots.
For a full map of the park’s trails, click here.