Songbird Trail

Songbird Trail, a ½ mile trail, begins in an open, grassy area between campsites #11 and #12 in Watercress Recreation Area. Watercress Spring is just at the start of the trail near the campsites. 

From the spring the trail climbs up a hillside, from there you go south to the Watercress entry road. You follow the road back to the campground to make a loop.

The surrounding forest accommodates many species of birds. A huge white ash tree towers over basswood and sugarberry, all growing in the rich moist soils of the slough.

A great variety of plant and animal life can be found in this wetland; spring wildflowers are a highlight. The trail passes clear, sparkling Watercress Spring that flows through the slough and joins the Current River.

Civil War history is noted along the trail by a plaque showing the Wisconsin regiment’s campground and later gun entrenchments high on a hill overlooking the river refreshing the earlier war memory. The remains of Civil War earthworks can still be seen high on a hill that overlooks Current River.

Watercress Cave, small cave on a rocky bank is one of the many unique rock formations seen along the trail.