Access

The gift of geography surrounds La Crosse, one could say is La Crosse.  Neighborhood backyards often turn to hiking trails; vistas from atop most hills of size will likely offer views of a blue or white river depending on the season.  Coulees hold deep and quiet ravines; small creeks form because we are blessed with elevated topography.  Outdoorsy-ness in all varieties is a vital part, if not the defining part of the culture.  Few places capture the idea of abundant access more than Hixon Forest, a 750-acre parcel that has had a mixed past, (partially became a shooting range back 1948, to keep teenagers organized and out of trouble!) one that probably, in its own right, provides a good example of this area's historical struggle between the options of land consumption and land use.  Owned by a group of quarrymen originally in the middle of the 19th century, there's little doubt that to a 'rock' man, our bluffs looked more like gold than limestone.  The next owner must have seen this portion of our bluffs as more a prospect as well according to brief records, but quite soon after other interested and wealthy citizens began to consider this as something more of a designated region for recreation and viewing. The Bliss (main road up the bluff named after the family) family, the Loseys, and finally the Hixons all pulled together to buy the woods and adjacent bluff (Grandad Bluff cost $600 in 1910),

and with the help of the Parks and Rec. dept eventually turned this to a permanent zone of preservation.  October 8, 1976 a series of trails were dedicated here and the rest is history: one of the great hiking systems in the midwest has become the 'natural' heart of the city.  On a sunny day even at the edge of February, zero degrees, the trails offer both challenge and starkly glowing scenery.

Those hushed coulees echoed with a variety of woodpeckers hammering at cold wood, as other robust wintering birds flittered about fallen limbs for anything worthy of eating.

To reach the top of the limestone vista, the snowshoer has to cross-country a bit, following the more even trails of previous deer traffic up the frozen rock.

but once to the top, the natural history of La Crosse becomes more obvious and remarkable than from any street or even backwater slough.  Railroads pass through marsh regions.  Streets form a certain grid, but not to be outmatched by what has grown there originally, making our designation as a tree city an understandable feat.