Saint Croix River / Interstate State Park
Driving from Elroy to Danbury, Wisconsin | Saint Croix National Scenic River | Hiking & Kayaking in Interstate State Park, Wisconsin | Section Hiking the Gandy-Dancer Trail | June 2026
Curtis: After finishing our section hike of the Sparta-Elroy State Trail, we desperately needed to find ways to beat the heat, which had turned into an extreme heat warning across most of Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. I also head several meetings interspersed through the week that would make things just a bit more complicated. Since there was nothing else we wanted to see in this area and most of our camping options for tonight were further North, we decided to start heading that way, and to celebrate the end of our hike by dining at Culvers in Tomah. After spending as long as we could in their air conditioning, we followed that up with a very long afternoon in Starbucks, which was productive both in keeping us cool and work-wise.
After 6pm, we headed East towards the town of Necedah and the Wisconsin River. First to cross the river and claim a county, then to a boondocking spot along the Yellow River. But when we arrived, the spot felt just a bit too exposed, so we moved further North to a promising location in Wood County, yet another new county. We turned off the main highway just South of the Sandhill State Wildlife Area, and not 5 minutes down that road a huge black bear sprinted across the road right in front of the van! We’d never seen a bear in the Midwest or Northwoods before so this was a big deal for us. It all happened too fast for us to think to get a picture, but we were giddy with excitement over this sighting for the rest of the evening!
We continued a few more minutes down to the road to a county forest that offered dispersed free camping. Jess got out to register only to be bit by deer flies in no time – no wonder the bear was running so fast. To make matters worse, we realized that the dispersed area was closed for the season! It turns out it’s only open in the spring and fall for hunters. There’s a good chance that no one would come out here and brave the bugs to tell us to leave, but also as we watched the deer flies head butt against the van, we knew we wouldn’t enjoy staying cooped up in the van here anyway. And so we decided to continue driving and look for another spot. At least we still had daylight, and it was still so hot that we didn’t mind driving a little longer with the air conditioning blasting on high.
We started pushing West into Jackson county. Just off the highway was Saddle Mound, which I had originally intended as a morning walk. But we decided to instead treat it as a good place to have dinner and plan where to spend the night. Jess was sore from the deer flies, so she stayed back and took a Benadryl while I set off alone to the top of the mound – the highest point in Jackson County. I took the steep way to the top where there was a firetower with a vertical ladder to the cabin that was (surprisingly) open – a first in my firetower experience.
After dinner we drove just a bit more to a Casino parking lot that allowed overnight parking. Not ideal, but honestly, with how hot it was and how few our options felt, it would just have to do. Fortunately, this was supposed to be the hottest night of the week. We slept with both our overhead fan and smaller 12 volt fan on high, with no blankets on the bed, and made it through the night.
The next morning, a series of strong storms swept through the area, so we sat a while near I-94 before driving up to Eau Claire in time for a morning meeting. After a working morning in Starbucks, we decided the best option for us was to nab a group of four counties in Western Wisconsin. It helped us to progress our drive North, as well as be in the air conditioning for longer. We first took I-94 into Polk County, then North along state and county roads to the town of Turtle Lake which is on the border between Polk and Barron counties.
Jess: When we arrived in St. Croix Falls, WI, we first drove North to stop at the visitor center for the St. Croix National Scenic Riverway. We mainly stopped for the stamps, but ended up staying longer to watch the film, walk through the exhibits, and talk to the ranger. It was clear that this river is best seen by kayaking or canoeing for as long of distances as possible, and it would be harder to reach and see by car. Still, we inquired about easier spots to either drive to or to do a shorter out-and-back kayak trip. The ranger was very helpful, as they always are, and gave us lots of options. The best one for us turned out to be just South of where we were, in Interstate State Park, where we had planned to visit next.
We drove over to Interstate State Park, and started by stopping at the visitor center. There we chatted with the rangers, who gave us a lot of ideas for hiking here, but were a little hesitant to recommend kayaking here. We decided to start with the hiking, and check out the river later to see if we felt like going out for a ride. After walking through the visitor center, we drove over to our chosen trail for today, the Pothole Trail. Since it was still very hot and humid outside, this one seemed to be the shortest and would have good views over the river.
The trail was less than a mile long, but when we came to the view on the cliffs facing South overlooking the river, we found a shady spot to sit and enjoy this spot. With a light breeze, sitting in the shade was tolerable, and we enjoyed seeing people out on the water and birds soaring high above us. We decided it didn’t look too difficult to kayak, just as long as we didn’t come too close to the bridge and the rapids.
When we were finished with our hike, we drove down to the beach to have dinner, then set up the kayak for a little paddle. It ended up being perfect conditions for a lazy little kayak ride: we started by paddling upstream, then when we were ready to return, we simply turned around and let the water gently push us back to the beach. On our way, we paddled close enough to touch the rocks on the Minnesota side, just to say that we had visited that county this year.
That evening, we drove a little ways East to Devil Lake where we could boondock near the boat ramp. Compared to the night before, it was much more comfortable here temperature wise, so sleep came much easier. We heard boaters coming and going in the late night and early morning hours, but otherwise it was a quiet spot.
We started the next morning by driving North to Danbury. Here we went for an 8 mile hike on the Gandy-Dancer Trail, another long distance bike trail. We started going South a bit to cross one bridge, but did most of our hike to the North. The South side parallels the highway, but the North side crosses the St. Croix into Minnesota and then continues on a forest road through a state forest. It was pretty and quiet, but we had to move at a quick pace the entire time to avoid the mosquitoes. We have no idea if we’ll ever make it back to this area to hike more of the trail, but it made for an enjoyable morning exercise. When we returned to the van, we had lunch and Curtis had another meeting.
We had a few areas in mind for camping that evening, and decided that the one that sounded the most comfortable was a camping area right off the St. Croix River. We drove North to the small parking area, and after confirming on the signs that we could legally stay overnight, we got things set up for the evening.
This ended up being the perfect spot, not just to sleep but also to spend the rest of the hot afternoon. We changed into swimming suits, brought out our books, snacks, and water, and went to go sit in the shallow part of the river. We relaxed, ate, read, and eventually went wading into the water, which turned into a little bit of swimming. We’re normally not really into swimming in rivers or lakes, but were starting to realize how pleasant it was to be in the cool water during the heat of the afternoon, so we’ll just say this was the first of many afternoons that we ended up spending in the water this summer! We ended up loving this spot, it was pretty quiet in the evening, despite a large group tent camping in the lawn. We also barely had cell reception, which gave us a much needed night unplugged together.
