september 2022

Iowa’s Driftless Area

Where: northeastern Iowa

Directions: US 18 east and west; Great River Road north and south

Good to Know:

* Dogs are welcome in nearly all Iowa State parks, county parks, and campgrounds.  

Why so good:   

Iowa is the most developed state in the country - less than 3% of its total land is open to the public. More than 85% of the Hawkeye State is farmland. Surely, your dog must be asking, this can’t be our next Doggie Dream Destination. Well, when you begin to explain about the sandstone bluffs, the best Mississippi River views to be had anywhere, the lush valleys, the verdant forests, and yes, even the waterfalls things will become clearer. This slice of the upper Midwest - which includes regions of Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois is known as “Driftless” because the last ice age 12,000 years ago skipped over this area and didn’t scrape the land into submission.

THE NATIONAL MONUMENT.

The Upper Mississippi River Valley is characterized by so many overlooking bluffs that no one is sure which is the highest. One of the best public places for your dog to look down on the Great River is at the Effigy Mounds National Monument that combines scenic views with some of America’s finest prehistoric relics.

Mound building cultures that inhabited the Mississippi region 2,500 years ago constructed mounds for religious, ceremonial, burial, and elite residential purposes. More than 200 mounds have have been documented in the monument, including 31 in the shape of spirit animals, or effigies. Nowhere have more been found. No vehicles are permitted to mar the sacred site that contains 14 miles of self-guiding trails weaving among the mounds. The Fire Point Trail is a two-mile canine hike that passes all four types of mounds: conical, linear, compound, and an effigy (Little Great Bear). Seaman will find a serious trail here as the dirt path switches to the top the bluffs. Panting tongues will recede after that.

Today the Effigy Mounds resemble an English woodland park with a grassy understory in the forest. The mounds are identified by higher grass. As the Fire Point Trail works its way to overlooks from hundreds of feet above the Mississippi there is no hurry to finish the loop. Atop the bluffs this agreeable canine hiking can continue to more scenic views and more effigies, including the Great Bear Mound Group, one of largest of its ilk.

THE STATE PARK.

More Mississippi River views and more effigy mounds are on offer at the Pikes Peak State Park. One in the same with Colorado’s Pikes Peak of “America the Beautiful” fame. Before heading out to the Rocky Mountains in 1805 Zebulon Pike camped here and scaled the 500-foot bluff that bears his name. The heavily forested park hugs the Mississippi River and provides 11 miles of tail-friendly trails, including a wooden boardwalk to the seasonal Bridal Veil Falls. Point Ann in the northern stretches of the park looks over the confluence of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers.

THE STATE FOREST.

Most of the land for the Yellow River State Forest was farm fields and pastures but there was enough timber for the state to open a sawmill in 1947 that still provides lumber for the Department of Natural Resources projects. Iowa’s only fire tower can be found here. More than 50 miles of multi-use trails insure hours of solitary hiking in the woodlands. Most of the marked trails and trailheads will be scored in the Paint Creek Unit and a full-day hiking loop can be cobbled from the forest paths and gravel roads. The Luster Heights Unit offers a nearly three-mile loop that - despite its name - is mostly level throughout and includes a spur to look out over the Mississippi River. It is hikers only in the rugged Paint Rock Unit with backpacking campsites available.

THE COUNTY PARK.

Bloody Run County Park is a small 135-acre public space that is a microcosm for the Driftless Area with its karst topography and cool-water namesake stream. It is one of fewer that three dozen streams designated as Outstanding Iowa Waters. The Wells Hollow Trail explores the sun-speckled woods and primitive campsites are conveniently located.