Alma Wisconsin River Road

October 16, 1997

The day started all wrong.  Woke about 4:30 am and did not go back to sleep.  Then rose, sleepy and tired, at 6:00 am.  Pat got up about 7:00 am and we ate pancakes at the Steak and Cake restaurant in Winona, MN.  Pat ordered decaff and I ordered the real stuff.  Fixed a lunch, stuffed it in the backpack, cranked up the Honda and headed out into the fog.  Yeah, we were heading out to view the wildlife and scenery along the Mississippi River, but it was so foggy that a swan would have been invisible standing in the ditch beside the road.  After driving through the fog awhile, we stopped for coffee.  The fog was beginning to lift to expose the Upper Mississippi River Wildlife Refuge.  After parking the car beside lock and dam number 4, I took a brief nap.  But only caffeine could lift the fog from my sleepy brain.  We guessed that the coffee we ordered for breakfast was switched so that I drank the decaff.  Pat was in a euphoric mood.

We had driven across the river from Minnesota into Wisconsin and followed Hwy. 61 upriver to the  little town of Alma.  Like many of the towns along the Mississippi River in Minnesota, a railroad runs along the river bank and separates the town from the river.  A steep bluff climbs about 500 feet above the town to the rolling farmland above.  Only a narrow strip of land between the bluff and river is left for building a town.  The picturesque town of Alma has only 2 streets throughout its length - a high street near the base of the bluff and the main street maybe 50 feet below.  Stores, banks, churches and houses line each of the streets, but the filling station and tourist shops are on the lower street.  Connecting the high street to the main street are several connecting streets.  At least they have the names of streets but most are actually only stairways running downhill.  One other street leaves town and climbs up a valley south of town to the top of the bluff.  The local tourist rag claims that this road leads up to a fantastic view of the town, river, dam, and locks.  But the road is closed for repair.  We left town a little disappointed.

But our luck was due to change and it did.  A couple of miles north of town, we happened upon Rieck’s Lake Park situated where the Buffalo River meets the Mississippi.  Provided for our enjoyment in part by the Alma Rod and Gun Club.  The fog was gone, the sun was shining, and the lake was almost covered with birds.  Canadian geese, coots, and mallards were so busy feeding that they largely ignored humans.  A viewing platform is manned by a couple of volunteers from Alma who answer questions about the wildlife.  A couple of spotting scopes and powerful binoculars on tripods are provided for anyone to use by the “Friends of the Refuge.”  A young eagle swooped down from its perch in a dead tree and made a half-hearted attempt to catch some mallard ducks without success.  All the ducks on that side of the lake exploded skyward and away from the eagle.  Because of the arrangement of their legs, dabbling ducks are able to jump up out of the water when taking flight from a predator.  The volunteers explained that they had observed the eagle catch and eat a duck earlier, so it wasn’t very hungry or motivated now.  Often they will fly over ducks on the lake looking for ducks wounded by local hunters and that are easier to catch.  When this large bird with a 6 to 7 foot wingspan, large claws and heavy beak swoops out of the sky, ducks do not take the time to analyze its intentions.  They get out of its way as quickly as possible.

Then we saw the birds we had been seeking.  About 10 tundra swans circled over the lake, came in for a landing, skidded on the water and settled.  They stop here to feed on arrowroot tubers and wild celery on their fall migration from the tundra of Norther Canada to the southeast USA where they overwinter.   Later we saw about 50 swans in one group and read that they sometimes settle in concentrations of 3000 or more.  The birds we saw arrived within the last couple of days and will migrate to the Chesapeake sometime in November.  

After seeing a few wood ducks, shovelers, pintails, and great egrets, we chatted with the volunteers and explained that we had hoped to visit the view of Alma from the bluff, but the road was closed.  They gave us directions for an alternate route.  Turn off Hwy. 61 onto Hwy. 37, right on County Road S, and cross a small bridge to Risch Valley Rd.  As we followed their directions, the pavement turned to gravel, then one lane, crossed a couple of cattle guards, passed an old red barn, Holstein dairy cows, hillside corn fields, and up a zig zag road up through a maple and birch forest, turned right on Buena Vista Road and there it was - Buena Vista Park.  Wow, what a sight!  All the fog was gone from both the Mississippi River Valley and my brain.  From this overlook we could see most of the town of Alma, miles and miles of the river, the wildlife preserve, and a nuclear power plant.  We found a bench on the edge of the cliff and ate our onion bagels, garlic cheese, and crisp, sweet, local Regent apples.  While eating, we watched 3 private boats pass through the locks on the river beside Alma.  Fishing enthusiasts were ferried  back and forth across the river to and from a floating, fishing barge.  A turkey vulture cruised by the cliff closely below us and a couple monarch butterflies drifted by on their southern migration.  All was well with the world.

As we were leaving the park, we noticed some writing on a stone.  It was a memorial to a Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Gantz as follows: “Such scenes have the power to quiet the restless pulse of care.”  In order to explain to me the poetic meaning of  “pulse of care”, Pat - who does not sing a lot - started singing “pack up all your cares and woes, here I go, singing low, bye, bye blackbird ....”  Common grackle blackbirds in the top of a large red oak replied koguba-leek, koguba-leek.