Photo By Scott Sturkol | A view of the La Crosse River is shown March 28, 2018, at Pine View Recreation Area at...... read more read more
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On Fort McCoy’s western side, in an area near the cantonment area and nested in between other training areas, is the Pine View Recreation Area.
During the last week of March, on a 60-degree spring day, I took some time to explore this area. My wife, Bobbi, and I decided at the last minute to take our vintage camper and go for a night to Pine View Campground, which is part of the recreation area that also includes Whitetail Ridge Ski Area and Sportsman’s Range.
The recreation area covers hundreds of acres. The area I decided to explore was right around Pine View Campground. The campground is bounded by Suukjak Sep Lake on the east and the La Crosse River on the west and south.
Among the features at Pine View Campground are picnic and playground areas (one handicapped accessible), a campground with a camp store, lodging units, the Recreational Equipment Checkout Center, miniature golf, hiking trails, and a beach. Members of the Fort McCoy community and the public use the campground year-round — as many as 65,000 people annually.
Our camping trip was only an overnight visit, but we did see people at the campground who had been there longer. I set up not too far from Suukjak Sep Lake and Suukjak Sep Creek. I wanted to be able to explore those areas.
The lake and creek were renamed in 2016 from Squaw Lake and Squaw Creek. Suukjak Sep is from the Ho-Chunk language and means “black wolf.” The name change was approved by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey.
We got to the campground in the early afternoon, so after getting all set up, I went for a hike and my wife enjoyed some quiet time reading in the camper. My hike started right by the lake.
At the time, there was still some ice on the lake, and I made my way over to one of the two handicapped-accessible piers that are used for fishing there. During the Wisconsin fishing opener in early May every year, you can see people using the piers to try and catch one of the thousands of rainbow trout that are planted in the lake.
I left the pier and went over to the base of the dam that holds back enough of the creek’s water to create the lake. There at the base, the lake became a creek again and I could see some favorable spots where brook trout might be hiding in the rough, trickling water. Thoughts of trout fishing sort of took over for a moment.
I followed a narrow trail along Suukjak Sep Creek a short way from there to where it meets up with the La Crosse River. Then I started upstream along the La Crosse River to where one of the installation’s best natural wonders and hidden gems is located — Trout Falls.
All along the way, as I hiked, I was taking photos of the water and the spring beauty. All of it in a natural state with fresh waters of melted winter snow trickling along.
At the falls, I stopped and sat down for a while to watch the clear water gently cascade over the exposed bedrock. It was harmonious, relaxing, and beautiful to look at, all at the same time.
In the part of the Pine View Recreation Area where the falls are located, there are some great trails leading to the falls. If you want to get a picturesque look at the falls, it’s not hard to get there. The trails are among the many miles of hiking trails available throughout the recreation area.
I soon left the falls and continued upstream along the river. It’s not the first time I’ve followed this trail, but it’s the first time I did so in the spring.
All along the riverside trail hike, I recognized the familiar fishing spots, scenic bends and turns, sunken logs, and big trees. I imagined the hike in the area like something someone would have seen hundreds of years ago. How much had changed and how much might be the same.
That stretch of the La Crosse River also is a gem. Even nicer, as you walk the trail, there are signs placed along the route to describe the types of animals, trees, and other natural wonders in Southwest Wisconsin and in the Driftless Area of the state, which includes Fort McCoy. (The Driftless Area is a region in Minnesota, Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and northeastern Iowa of the American Midwest that was never glaciated in the last Ice Age.)
It’s also in areas like my hike along the La Crosse River where over the last 30-plus years that archaeologists have completed work and found Native American artifacts that are hundreds and even thousands of years old. It’s also why the installation takes preserving natural wonders like the La Crosse River and Trout Falls so seriously — they’re a wonderful treasure.
My hike along the creek ended when I got to an area where a new pedestrian bridge is going in over the river to improve the trails. The new bridge replaces one that washed out more than a decade ago.
As Jeff Uhlig with the Directorate of Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation told me about the hiking trails, the pedestrian bridge is “connecting the trail system so more people can enjoy the beauty.” I couldn’t agree more.
A $171,000 contract was awarded to NuGen Johnson LLC of Sussex, Wis., to build the new bridge and it’s expected to be fully completed and landscaped by summer 2018.
After leaving the bridge, I hiked back to my camper, a 1966 Carlisle Sundowner I restored. I enjoyed the rest of the evening cooking dinner over the fire and the solitude.
The hidden gems that I know about at the Pine View Recreation Area include the falls, the lake, the river, the woods, the fishing in the river, the hiking trails, and the campground, to name a few. All those things in one area is a rarity for a military recreation area — especially one that is open to the public.
Later on in the year, I’ll likely stay at the campground again and further explore some of the other opportunities there. And, maybe I can test that new bridge, take a longer hike, rent a kayak, or a number of other activities.
Anyone who would like to learn more about the hidden gems of the recreation area themselves or about outdoor recreation at Fort McCoy, go online to https://mccoy.armymwr.com/categories/outdoor-recreation or call the Pine View Campground office at 608-388-3517/2619.
| Date Taken: | 04.24.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 04.24.2018 15:34 |
| Story ID: | 274303 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WISCONSIN, US |
| Web Views: | 519 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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