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| Sugar maples and oaks make for colorful fall autumn hikes on the Indianhead Flowage Trail. |
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| Indianhead Flowage Trail Click map for larger version. |
Located along Wis. Hwy. 87 about a mile north of St. Croix Falls, the 2.8-mile round trip trail begins at Lion’s Club Park. The trailhead is on the park road’s southwest side.
That the path sits at the western start of Wisconsin’s famed Ice Age National Scenic Trail is appropriate. When the last glacier covering this region melted thousands of years ago, massive floods smashed through the area, carving the St. Croix River Valley out of volcanic basalt bedrock that formed some 750 million years before dinosaurs walked the Earth.
Several small creeks and streamlets flow into the St. Croix River along the trail. Footbridges cross most of them.
Summer flowers
A warm, dry spring day marks an excellent time to hike the trail. Colorful wildflowers from trilliums and marsh marigolds to blue flag iris and wild geraniums carpet the area. In summer, the forest greenery dominates, but watch for trail-side raspberries in July.
A variety of migrating songbirds also can be heard during spring. Squirrels, chipmunks, white-tailed deer and raccoons abound through summer and autumn.
In autumn, sugar maples and various oaks provide brilliant gold and red colors. Being so close to the shoreline, yellow-leafed aspen and birch also are common but by mid-October their leaves have fallen off.
While the highlight of the trail in fall are autumn leaves, asters occasionally could be spotted.
Primitive trail
Wide with a pea gravel, the first 0.7 miles of the trail is handicap-accessible. Upon reaching a riverside campground, the trail narrows to a dirt path and continues on to River Road.
North of the campground, one beautiful, steep stream requires hopping rocks to get across. The much wider Big Rock Creek, depending on water flows, sometimes will stop you from reaching River Road. The autumn day we hiked the trail, the logs used as a makeshift bridge appeared too rotted and unstable to safely cross so required a fording through half-foot high water.
During spring and summer, be sure to carry insect repellent, as mosquitoes, deerflies and horseflies sometimes can be an annoyance. Always check for deer ticks after returning from the trail. Also, make sure kids stay on the trail, as poison ivy grows in the area (Remember: “Leaves of three, let it be.”).
Bathrooms, a playground, picnic area, and boat launch are located at Lion’s Club Park.
