La Crosse & Sparta Road & Trail Adventure - August 2013

As part of our "Getting to know Wisconsin" series we headed out on the road (August 20th-22nd) with our two bicycles on board to La Crosse & Sparta. Ideally located between the tall,limestone bluffs and the mighty Mississippi River, La Crosse is in the heart of what is known as the "Driftless Region"- an area of Western Wisconsin and Southeastern Minnesota that was spared the flattening effects of the Ice Age glaciers that covered two-thirds of North America. With its steep, hardwood studded hills and deep valleys intact, the region's rugged beauty is unequaled anywhere in the Midwest. From the heights of the 590 foot high bluff called Grandad Bluff, from which you can see the Mississippi River, and neighboring Iowa and Minnesota, to the lovely Riverside Park, joining bicycle trails and International Friendship Gardens - La Crosse remains "a choice town" - a phrase coined in the mid 1800's. On our way back to Middleton we ventured to the nation's first "rail-to-trails" in Sparta, Wisconsin - the Bicycling Capital of America. Here's a look at two gems in Southwest Wisconsin - La Crosse by the Mississippi River & Sparta - one the of most popular bicycling destinations in the country.