The Nature Center is in the heart of a network of hiking and cross-country ski trails extending from the Mississippi River to the top of La Crosse’s bluffs. Hixon Forest covers 630 acres of prairie and bluff land where timbering and quarrying took place at the turn of the century. On these trails you will have the opportunity to scramble up a trail to bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River Valley and take part in a nature-study project. This hike ascends the north face of Grandad Bluff through mature areas of a dense forest with large oaks seen all along the path that are more than 100 years old.