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For some, camping is a four-star hotel with a Jacuzzi tub and a mint on the pillow. If they're really, really roughing it, it’s a stay at a Motel Six. For others, camping is all about living it up in the great outdoors -- in an RV with all the comforts of home. And yet for some, camping is all about getting back to nature and involves nothing more than how much one person can carry on his or her back.
Kurt Wallin of Mount Sterling has been camping ever since he was a young kid and has been all over the United States, including Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and Iowa.
But for the last 10 years, the destination for Kurt, his wife Jacquee and their kids, has been Blackhawk Park in Vernon County.
“We come three to four times a year,” Wallin said.
In the late 1930s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers acquired the land, which is Blackhawk Park when the locks and dams were put in, parks manager Tom Novak said. When the Army Corps of Engineers got the land back from Vernon County in the 1980s, after 20 years of the county handling it, the Corps began developing the park for recreational use.
Today, Blackhawk Park has 175 camping sites; 65 of those sites have electrical hookups and 39 of the 65 can be reserved. All the other nonelectrical sites are on a first-come-first-serve basis.
Novak said between the park’s day users and those who choose to camp, Blackhawk can see anywhere from 120,000 to 140,000 people between the months of April and October.
Novak said if the weather cooperates, the park can stay open for campers through November and sometimes into December.
Wallin said he and his family like to come to Blackhawk Park because of the easy fishing and its close proximity to their home. Every time they bring along a camper, which has a king-sized bed and two twin beds.
“I wouldn’t say we’re roughing it by any means,” Wallin said.
But, for Wallin and his family, some things are just basic and essential for a good camping trip.
“Firewood, brats, hamburgers, fishing pole,” Wallin said.
One new thing at the park is solar-powered lights inside the privies for campers in the middle of the night.
First-year park ranger Renee Hanson said wildlife is another attraction to Blackhawk Park. Hanson said there have been newly born fawns at the park, as well as minks, woodchucks and many different kinds of birds.
Hanson, who went to high school in Holmen, is heading into her senior year at the University of Minnesota-Mankato. She is majoring in recreation parks and leisure sciences.
The park also provides interpretative programs every Saturday at 7 p.m. This is put on by the park rangers and Hanson said she is looking forward to her turn.
Hanson said topics can range from the Fourth of July, steamboats or nature-related. After the interpretative program, a family-friendly movie, usually a Disney movie, Hanson said, is shown.
To camp at Blackhawk Park it costs $16 a night for nonelectrical camping sites and $20 a night with electrical hookups. Two tents or one camper and one tent can occupy one site, Hanson said.
When campers come to camp at Blackhawk and use the boat launch for $3, or if the public uses the park’s dump station, which is $5 for noncampers, the fees are collected at the fee station or put in a box if the station is closed.
Manning the helm of the fee station are the parks’ summer fee collectors, Tom and Elsie Metzler. The Metzlers are originally from California, but their home is wherever their RV takes them. That was nine years ago.
Their destination is the east coast, but for the time being. Tom and Elsie’s RV or “mini apartment” as Tom Metzler calls it, is parked at Blackhawk Park until Sept. 19 when their contract with the Corps of Engineers expires.
When Tom lived in California, he said he used to take his three girls camping and fishing all the time. The same, too for Elsie and her three sons.
“They all have their memories,” Tom said.
Blackhawk County Park
Blackhawk’s campground amenities include coin-operated showers, two boat ramps, two playgrounds, two picnic tables, sanitary waste disposal station, a volleyball court, horseshoe pits, a pay phone and fishing dock.
To make a camping reservation, people can go online to www.recreation.gov or call 1-877-444-6777.
CAMPING OPTIONS IN vERNON COUNTY
Sidie Hollow County Park
Sidie Hollow, located three miles west of Viroqua on Hwy. 56 and off on County Road XX, has 72 campsites with 18 full hookups. Those include water, sewer and electric and 12 of which are rented out for the entire camping season.
There is also 35 rustic camping sites which has no electricity, water or sewer. Sidie Hollow also offers flush toilets and hot showers in two locations.
Two roofed picnic shelters are also available for rent. They are $25 per day and it also includes electricity.
Contact parks caretaker Tim Jacobson at 637-7335 for shelter and camping reservations.
Esofea/Rentz Memorial Park
Esofea/Rentz Memorial Park is located nine miles northwest of Viroqua off County Road B, and offers 12 electric sites and 15 rustic ones. The rustic sites have no electricity, water or sewer. There is a picnic shelter for $25 per day, as well as a playset for kids and a large open field that can be used for soccer. kickball, baseball or softball.
Contact parks caretaker Tim Jacobson for shelter and camping reservations at 637-7335.
West Fork Sportsman Club Campground
The West Fork Sportsman Club on County Road S in Avalanche, along the West Fork of the Kickapoo River owns and operates almost 14 acres for camping, picnicking, graduations, anniversaries or weddings. The club’s park is open to the public.
Campsites are rented on a first-served basis. There are no reservations.
At least one adult in a group must be member of the West Fork Sportsman Club Incorporated.
Rates are $10 a night for a non-electric site or $15 a night for one with an electrical hookup. The West Fork Sportsman Club’s campground also has a big cabin for rent for $65 a night or the small cabin for $50 a night.
There are also coin-operated showers available for campers.
For reservations, call 608-634-4512.
Wildcat Mountain State Park
Wildcat Park, which is situated along Hwy. 131 in Ontario, has three distinct types of campground sites for the camping enthusiast.
The family campground sits atop of Wildcat Mountain and had 30 campsites. Each site has a picnic table, fire ring. The campground also has flush toilets, showers and a dump station available. There are no electrical hookups.
The second, a group campground, has three sites, which are located a half-mile east of the park office. This campground can accommodate up to 75 people. The group campground has vault toilets, picnic tables, fire rings and a shelter house. Water, though, has to be taken out of the shower building.
Wildcat also has a horse trail campground. This has 24 campsites for the equestrian lover. The campground is northeast of the park office and has picnic tables, fire rings, drinking water, vault toilets, a corral, hitching posts, parking pads, loading ramps and a large parking lot.
People interested in reserving any of these three types of campground sites at Wildcat can make reservations online or by calling (888) 947-2757.
Kickapoo Valley Reserve
The Reserve, which is located along Hwy. 131 in La Farge, has 25 campsites available for the camping enthusiast. Half of the sites are available by car, a third by canoe and a third on foot or by riding horseback. All the campsites are on a first-come-first-serve basis.
There are no toilet facilities on the sites. Campers are asked to use existing fire pits; observe posted camp area capacity limits; do not dump human waste into the waters, as well as keeping the noise level low.
The Reserve also asks camp patrons to “Pack it in; pack it out,” which means leaving no trace of your visit to the Reserve.
The Reserve does allow campers to burn dead and downed wood found the Reserve.
Contact the Visitor’s Center for reservations and a campground list at 608-625-2960.
La Farge Village Park
The La Farge Village Park is located behind the La Farge Public Schools building just off Adams Street. The park offers 12 campsites, all with electric hookups. There is also a dumping station, as well as a shower and restroom on the premises. To camp at the park, it is $20 a night for trailers and $10 a night for tents.
For basic information, contact the La Farge Village Hall at 608-625-4422.
Westby Rod and Gun Club
The Westby Rod and Gun Club’s campground in Timber Coulee has 20 electrical hookups for a camper or RV and space beyond that for approximately 40 tents. Campers also have access to showers in the main building. The Rod and Gun Club also supplies the firewood, and of course, a beautiful spot to camp, manager Steve Campton said.
Persons wanting a rent a space for a camper or RV with electrical outlets, its $10 per day for members of the Rod and Gun and $15 per day for nonmembers. Those wishing to camp by tent, it’s $5 for members and $7 for non-members.
Contact: 608-634-4314
Crooked River Resort
The Crooked River Resort in Readstown, Wis., has expanded to include a motel, Kickapoo Crossroads, as well as its seven cabins and camp sites for people who just want to pitch a tent or park their camper or RV.
RV sites without hook ups is $14 per day. Crooked River has 10 sites with electrical and water hook ups and is only $19 per day.
In a one- or two-person tent, it is also $14 a night and an additional $2.50 per person at 16 years or older or $1 for someone 10 to 15 years old.
Group camping with five or more tents is $13 per two- person tent, $2.50 for each person 16 years or $1 for persons between the ages of 10 to 15 years old. Crooked River also has a youth or scout rate of $12 per two-person tent, and $2 extra someone 16 years and old and $1 more between the ages of 10 and 15.
For reservations, contact Crooked River at 608-629-5624.
Vernon County Fairgrounds
The Vernon County Fairgrounds is located toward the northern end of Viroqua along Hwys. 27/14/61 and has space for 100 campsites during the months of about mid-April through October. More than half of those sites have water and electrical hookups.
There’s a dump station available for campers, as well as showers and restrooms.
Cost is $12 a night or $60 a week if there’s a hookup on the site. If it’s just a tent, it’s $5 a night.
The Vernon County Fairgrounds has become a overnight popular spot for the American Lung Association bicyclists who have come through Viroqua the last five years and toward the end of July. This year, they’ll will be coming through -- about 40 to 50 strong -- July 22.
The weekend of Wild West Days, and of course, the fair, is a busy time for the campground.
To camp at the fairgrounds, people can contact Ken Deaver at 637-7120.
Camping information on the Kickapoo Valley Reserve, Wildcat Mountain State Park and Crooked River Resort from their respective websites. Information on Sidie Hollow and Esofea came from the Vernon County parks administrator Rod Engh.
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