On the Bluff

 On the Bluff

It is in the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, an area untouched by the glaciers of 12,000 years ago. It is an area of forested hills and hollows where no road is straight and many are unpaved. Navigating those roads with helpful directions by a native ATV rider, we eventually arrived at our place to stay for the upcoming week. It is a knotty pine castle they call the Bluff House, bluff not as in “you’re kidding,” but “huge, round hill.” And what a house it was, what a hill, and what a view! For the house sits high atop a bluff overlooking the Great River, the Mississippi, a view without price. It takes massive bluffs to contain the mighty river, originating hundreds of miles north at Lake Itasca, Minnesota, and coursing a couple thousand miles south to where it empties into the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana. The Bluff House soars high like the hills it was named for. With its cathedral ceiling and huge windows, the house opens up to a view, miles long, of the river and wooded bluffs on both sides. The river here is wide, over a half mile, and filled with many wooded islands, a forest in the river. In the foreground, inland a bit from the riverbank, is a piece of the tiny Wisconsin town called DeSoto, population 308. And, in the river itself, boats of many descriptions navigate its channel. Tugboats, here called towboats, push very long barges filled with all manner of materials; fishermen try their luck; and pleasure craft motor around the forested islands. And in the sky above eagles ply their trade. It was a sight to behold.