Effigy Mounds

After nearly three days on the road, I finally made it to the Mississippi; but before crossing it, I had a couple more things to see.  Across the river from Prairie du Chien, I paid a visit to Effigy Mounds National Monument.   After browsing the museum, I hiked a trail the led up a bluff overlooking the river valley.  Along the trail were a number of prehistoric native American mounds of various shapes & sizes (e.g. conical, linear).  The most interesting were a those that looked like bears.  I hiked a little further to see Twin Views Overlook, but found the best vista at Fire Point closer to the trailhead.

Music Man Square

Meredith Wilson, who wrote the Music Man, grew up in Mason City, Iowa.  The fictional town in the musical, River City, is based on his boyhood hometown.  I parked in downtown & discovered the bike rack was a little loose.  Since I had to take the bike off to tighten the rack, I figured I might as well ride around for a while.  I ended up going about five miles in forty-five minutes.   I passed Wilson's childhood home, the library, and a footbridge named after him.  They also have a Frank Lloyd Wright House in town.

Pilot Knob

By shear coincidence, I camped last night in the shadow of Iowa's second highest point.  I didn't plan follow my visit to the state highest point with one to its junior, but as the day came to an end, Pilot Knob State Park was the logical place to stop.

In the morning I hiked up to the Knob.  It may be 250 feet shorter than Hawkeye Point, but the setting is more befitting a highpoint.  The CCC constructed an three-storey observation tower, which adds immensely to the already impressive view.

After coming down from the Knob.I extended my morning hike a couple of miles around a couple of the lakes tuckeeld in the hills of the park.

Cayler's Prairie

I thought twice about leaving the highway to check out Cayler's Prairie State Preserve and twice again when I saw the only facilities were a small, grass parking lot & simple park sign, but I I decided to allow myself a half-hour to explore and used every minute. There were no established trails so I just wandered through though the Preserve.  It doesn't look too big at first, but depending, on the direction and immediate topography, there were several places where all I could see is prairie.  With a little imagination, I could imagine the grasses stretching hundreds of miles across the plains, and that alone made the stop worth several times the length of my visit.

Hawkeye Point

I'm writing this post from the highest point in the state of Iowa, well-named Hawkeye point.  Like my other recent highpoint summits, this one is a drive up 'peak'.  It is basically a small rise in someone's back yard, with panoramic views of farm fields.  There is even a tractor filling the field immediately to the east.
The highpoint is dressed up with a flagpole, mileposts showing the distances to other state highpoints (surely Hawaii's is wrong--1,035 miles to Mauna Kea), and some monuments.  It's rather pleasant here in the shade, but I can't stay.  I guess it's downhill to Illinois.