Day Trip to Effigy Mounds National Monument
Ah, spring! The forecast looked promising, not too hot, not too cold, no snow or rain. The perfect day to take a drive south of the border to Iowa. It's about a three hour drive from the southern metro to Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harpers Ferry, Iowa. I went with my pal, TB2, my usual accomplice on these road trips (our last trip was an excursion to South Dakota in October). Normally we try to find those little roadside treasures, like oversized sculptured animals or balls of twine. There wasn't a lot on the way down, so having left around 8:15, we arrived about 11:30 or so at the park. The park is free to enter, and under normal conditions has a visitor center/museum. There are two parts to the park, but we focused on the northern section. The hike begins with a 350 foot ascent, which felt like 1,000 feet, but we have been less active than we would like, and that's our story. The views of the Mississippi River are really stunning. You can almost imagine the Hop