The Great River Road's Finest 300 Miles

This is the stretch that made the Great River Road's reputation: the Upper Mississippi between the Twin Cities and Dubuque, where the river widens into Lake Pepin beneath 400-foot limestone bluffs and then runs through the Driftless Area, the rugged corner of the Midwest the Ice Age glaciers never flattened. For three unbroken days of driving, terraced cliffs stack above the water, steamboat-era towns appear every twenty minutes, and bald eagles patrol the channels, wintering by the hundreds below the locks and dams. Both banks carry official Great River Road designation, which is this drive's secret weapon: go south on the Minnesota and Iowa shore, return north on Wisconsin's WI 35, and you get two different rivers for the price of one, with bridges every few towns letting you improvise. The route stitches together river-town Americana (the pottery kilns of Red Wing, Laura Ingalls Wilder's birthplace woods, a working 1840s German limestone town), ancient bird- and bear-shaped burial mounds on the bluff tops at Effigy Mounds, and a finale in Dubuque at the river's best museum, with the preserved lead-mining town of Galena as an epilogue. It is the national byway's scenic heart, cut to long-weekend size.

Key Stops

Minneapolis and St. Paul. Start where the river first works for a living: St. Anthony Falls powered the flour mills that built Minneapolis, and the Stone Arch Bridge and Mill City Museum tell the story before US 61 escapes south along the water.

Red Wing, Minnesota. The first great river town: pottery works, the Red Wing Shoe Company (complete with the world's largest boot), and a handsome 1904 depot district, all beneath Barn Bluff, whose summit path delivers the drive's first sweeping river view.

Lake Pepin's west shore. The river swells into a 22-mile lake below Red Wing, with US 61 running the shoreline through Frontenac State Park and Lake City, where a teenager named Ralph Samuelson invented water skiing in 1922. Sailboats, bluffs, and the widest water on the whole upper river.

Wabasha, Minnesota. One of the river's oldest towns and home of the National Eagle Center, whose resident birds and riverside observation decks explain why this reach hosts one of the continent's great winter eagle gatherings.

Stockholm, Pepin, and Alma (Wisconsin shore). Cross at Red Wing or Wabasha to sample WI 35's charms: tiny Stockholm's galleries and pie shop, the Laura Ingalls Wilder birthplace site in the woods above Pepin, and Alma, a two-street village stacked against the bluff, where Buena Vista Park hangs directly above Lock & Dam No. 4 with the finest overlook on Lake Pepin's lower reach.

Winona, Minnesota. A steamboat and lumber boomtown set on an island-like sandbar beneath Sugar Loaf rock, with a levee-side fine-art museum that ranks among the upper Midwest's best surprises. Drive up to Garvin Heights for the 500-foot panorama.

Trempealeau and Perrot State Park (Wisconsin shore). A sleepy village with a famous 1871 riverside hotel, backed by Perrot State Park, where Trempealeau Mountain rises straight from the water at the mouth of the Trempealeau River. One of WI 35's prettiest miles.

La Crosse, Wisconsin. The section's biggest river city, with breweries, a lively waterfront at Riverside Park, and Grandad Bluff towering 600 feet above downtown; the overlook takes in three states.

Effigy Mounds, Marquette, and Pikes Peak (Iowa shore). The spiritual heart of the drive: at Effigy Mounds National Monument, bluff-top trails pass burial mounds shaped as bears and birds, built a thousand years ago above the river. Neighboring Pikes Peak State Park holds the classic overlook of the Wisconsin River confluence, and Victorian Villa Louis waits across the bridge in Prairie du Chien.

Guttenberg, Iowa. A German river town of 1840s limestone storefronts strung along a mile of riverfront park, with the lock and dam observation area putting barge tows almost within touching distance.

Dubuque, Iowa. The finale: the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, the best single interpretive stop on the entire 3,000-mile byway, plus the Fenelon Place funicular, which claims the title of the world's shortest and steepest railway, and a shot tower from the lead-mining days. Twenty minutes east, Galena, Illinois preserves an entire 19th-century main street and Ulysses S. Grant's home.

Driving Tips

Drive it as a loop. Both banks are designated Great River Road, and the personalities differ: US 61 is faster with bigger towns, WI 35 slower and closer to the water. South on one, north on the other, crossing wherever a bridge tempts you, is the definitive way to do this section.

Time it for one of the three seasons. Peak foliage hits the bluffs from late September to mid-October and is the busiest, most beautiful window; May and June bring green cliffs and the Mississippi Flyway's spring migration; January and February bring hundreds of eagles to the open water below the dams, with Wabasha and Red Wing the watching hubs.

Climb the overlooks. The road itself runs at water level; the views live on top. Barn Bluff, Buena Vista Park, Garvin Heights, Grandad Bluff, and Pikes Peak are all short drives or walks, and each one reframes the river completely. Budget an hour a day for them.

Watch a lock do its work. Locks and dams line this whole reach, and Alma and Guttenberg offer the best close-up viewing as mile-long barge tows squeeze through. It's free theater, and it explains the river's working life better than any museum panel.

Mind deer at dusk. The wooded bluff roads carry heavy deer traffic in low light, especially in fall. Slow down after dinner.

Winter works, with layers. The highways are plowed and the eagle season is genuinely spectacular, but riverside wind chill is serious; dress for the observation decks.

For more information visit: Experience Mississippi River: The Great River Road