Day 41 – Wabasha, MN to La Crescent, MN

9/21/2026

The day’s plan was to bike from Wabasha to the Great River Bluffs State Park outside of La Crescent. But again the weather conspired to change our plan. Rolf drove the truck and John, Greg, & Mark biked the 61.5 miles (all paved) to the park.

But when Mark & Greg got to the campground it was raining steadily and pretty cold. The rain was supposed to stop mid-afternoon, but it persisted, so the group chose to break camp (John & Rolf had already set up their tents) and seek a hotel in La Crescent. We warmed and cleaned up at the Best Western Plus in La Crescent and had a nice supper at the adjacent restaurant.

The views from the top of the bluff were amazing or would have been had we not been surrounded by clouds and rain. Traveling along the Mississippi into the driftless area was beautiful and most of our route was off of Highway 61. The route included 2 very steep climbs (12%) but they weren’t long climbs like we had in the mountains.

Mark's jacket after riding gravel in the rain

This was our final night in Minnesota. Tomorrow we enter both Iowa and Wisconsin.