Great River Road Mississippi River: Lake Itasca to La Crosse

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Lake Itasca

   You can walk across the Mississippi here without getting your knees wet. At the north end of Lake Itasca, in a state park of pine forest and small lakes in north-western Minnesota, the river starts as a gentle outflow about twenty feet wide over a line of stepping stones, and from this spot it begins a journey of roughly 2,340 miles to the Gulf of Mexico. Visitors take the obligatory photograph on the rocks, and some cannot resist the wade, but the trickle looks nothing like the vast brown river that passes New Orleans.

   Read the complete Lake Itasca write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Lake Itasca is where the day begins. Next is Minneapolis.

2. 2. Minneapolis

   Minneapolis begins with a waterfall, and it is a small one. St Anthony Falls, on the Mississippi at the heart of the city, is the only major waterfall on the whole river, and its power was what built the town. In the late nineteenth century the flour mills on its banks made Minneapolis the flour-milling capital of the world, and the ruins of the mills still stand along the river, with one of them turned into the Mill City Museum, where an elevator ride takes you through the story of flour and the families who made fortunes from it. The Stone Arch Bridge, built in 1883 for the railway, now carries walkers and cyclists across the river with a view of the falls.

   Read the complete Minneapolis write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Minneapolis comes up about 742 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Crosse.

3. 3. La Crosse

   Grandad Bluff gives La Crosse its postcard view: a limestone headland rising about 150 metres over the city, from which the whole valley lies open, the Mississippi sliding past in several braided channels, the wooded bluffs of Minnesota on the far side, and the Wisconsin river towns lining the shore. On a clear autumn day the colour is extraordinary, the oaks and maples turning red and gold along miles of ridgeline. A road climbs to the top, and the view is free.

   Read the complete La Crosse write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The route ends here after 1262 km.