To get there, take County Highway BH off Highway 80 between Cobb and Highland. Daily or seasonal admission stickers are required to camp or fish. Get stickers at park headquarters, (608) 623-2707. Pick up bait and tackle at Palen's Outpost on Highway 80, (608) 623-2822. For a free visitor's guide to such area attractions as Cave of the Mounds, House on the Rock, historical sites and other state parks, call 1-800-279-9472. For more fishing information, see the DNR's Web site at www.dnr.state.wi.us. HUCK'S HOUSEBOAT VACATIONS
Admit it. Ever since you were a kid, you've wanted to float down the Mississippi on a raft and play Huck Finn for a weekend. Well, guess what? Several outfitters rent houseboats and let you do just that.

I celebrated my birthday last fall with my son Jon and a handful of friends on a houseboat cruise with Huck's Houseboat Vacations, and we had a blast.

Let's get one thing straight right away, this is not your great-grandfather's rickety houseboat, nor is it Huck Finn's ramshackle raft. Huck's boats are state of the art and top of the line. We boarded a 62-foot Presidential model at the La Crosse Marina and stayed overnight in luxury, then motored upriver in the morning, passing barges, anglers and high bluffs decked out in fall splendor. After negotiating the lock at Dresbach, we continued on to Trempealeau, where we had a fish fry at the Historic Trempealeau Hotel. On our way back downriver, we jumped in the hot tub on the upper deck and waved at astonished landlubbers as we passed back down through the locks and under the famous Blue Bridge back to the marina.

You can rent a houseboat for a day, a weekend or a week, if you like. After an on-water training session where you will learn the safe operation of the boat, Huck's staff will turn you loose to enjoy the great river. Motor upriver or downriver to explore the waterway and the towns along its banks: Stoddard, Trempealeau, Fountain City and Winona. You can pull up on a sandbar to fish for bass, walleyes and panfish, or slide down the onboard waterslide into the river for a refreshing dip. Stay there for the night and build a campfire of driftwood and pretend you are Huck and Tom Sawyer, but then sleep in air-conditoned comfort aboard your houseboat.

The Presidential was Huck's biggest boat last year, but this year he has added an even bigger one, the supersized Trump model, which sleeps 14. There's room for the whole family and a couple friends besides, for a vacation you'll never forget.

Contact: Huck's Houseboat Vacations, (920) 625-3142 or www.hucks.com.

RED CEDAR LAKE
Located in northeastern Barron County, 1,800-acre Red Cedar Lake is the largest of three lakes on the Red Cedar River. Upstream and to the north lies Balsam Lake. To the south lies Hemlock Lake. The smaller lakes cover about 300 acres each. Navigable channels connect them to Red Cedar Lake.

These lakes don't see nearly the number of visitors as Hayward's muskie zone to the north and Chetec's panfish factory to the south, but they offer a more relaxed atmosphere and good fishing for panfish, bass and walleyes. Balsam Lake and the northern two-thirds of Red Cedar are similar in structure, with steep dropoffs and extensive areas of rock and boulders. Walleyes and smallmouths are the main targets here. The southern portion of Red Cedar and all of Hemlock are shallow and weedy. Here, you'll find largemouths, northerns and panfish. Start the kids catching bluegills in the shallows and move them up to finessing walleyes off rocky humps later in the week.