Effigy Mounds in Iowa?

[michigansandzil]

Has anyone visited monument? I'm wondering if it's worth a stop on our return trip. I'm a bit of a National park/monument junkie and I try to visit them whenever we'll be passing by.

We'll be travelling with our 13, 11 and 7 year old children from Custer State park, back home to Michigan in August. The return trip will take two days and I was thinking of travelling from Custer to Effigy Mounds on Saturday. On Sunday, we could wake up, tour the mounds with the hike, and continue driving home.

Has anyone hiked the area? I'm seeing reports of 1-2 hours for a round trip hike and I'm wondering if that's accurate. Seeing as how we'll still have 500+ miles to travel home that same day, we can't spend too much time at the site.

Any recommendations for campgrounds in the area? Electricity is a must and FHU is nice. We really won't have time to explore the campground at all so easy in and out is preferred.

Also, can we pull the camper into the parking lot for the mounds?

Thanks in advance.

[dapperdan]

Tom Trostel wrote:
2X Pikes Peak State Park. Even if you don't stay there, you should drive up to see the view of the river.

Totally agree!!!! It is a sight, the Wisconsin River and the Mississippi rivers coming together.

Dan

[Tom_Trostel]

2X Pikes Peak State Park. Even if you don't stay there, you should drive up to see the view of the river.

[camperforlife]

Checked the DW's memory (which is much better than mine) on the parking and she said as someone else stated it is a big loop with room for a rig.

[dapperdan]

We drive by there every June on our way to Decorah IA to see the "Decorah eagles". There's a fairly large parking lot there, big enough for class Cs for sure maybe even a few fifth wheels. There's a museum there that has information there for you.

As mentioned earlier the mounds themselves are fairly easy to get to and are not very prominent, not exactly like going to Arches National Park to see the arches but still interesting. If you're going to be in the area stop and visit McGregor IA a neat place. Another neat place is in Prarie du Chien right across the river, Villa Louis. We enjoyed that too.

Dan

[ReadyToGo]

We have been there which fed our appitite for more. Ended up most of them on the Mississippi river.
One comment, figure you will be going about your regular speed while in the area. Lots and lots of up and down hills in the area of Wis/Ia. Also, only a few bridges to cross the Mississippi. Plan well.

[Hikerdogs]

The parking lot will handle a big rig. We often stop there for a short break to let the dogs out when we travel from Madison, WI to the Winnebago Factory in Forest City, Iowa. The lot is a big loop with parking on the sides. We drive around the loop and park across several car spaces. There is hardly ever anyone there, but I suppose on a holiday weekend, it might fill up. You can look it up on Google Maps to see a great photo of the layout.

Tracy

[4runnerguy]

Like many of the mounds associated with the Mississippi-type mound builder cultures, these are far more subtle than the ruins in the SW (e.g. Mesa Verde). Nonetheless, quite interesting and worth a quick visit. Because of the layout of the trails, one can hike in for the first loop in maybe an hour. If time permits, continue hiking out past more mounds to one of the overlooks of the Mississippi. If you're a park-bagger, it's definitely worth the stop.

We stayed at Pikes Peak SP just south of McGregor. Now coming from Colorado, it wasn't the Pikes Peak we were expecting 😉 but it was named after the same person! Electric with a dump station, showers. Only about 15 minutes from Pike Peak SP to Effigy Mounds.

[camperforlife]

We stayed at Rustic Barn in Kieler WI and loved it, the scenery is hard to beat. The pull through full hookup sites are VERY TIGHT and I would not want one. When we were there they offered a pump out service for the much larger water/electric sites.

The park is impressive for any American Indian history buff. You can spend as much time on the trails as you wish. If you are limited on time the visitor center is a must for an overview and you can walk out to a couple mounds and come back. Just know that the shape of the mounds are large in diameter so if you are expecting to see the shape of the bears, it will not be obvious.

It is to bad you don't have more time. The mounds at the south unit about a half mile down the road from the visitor center are impressive. There are a series of marching bears then a couple eagles. It is a couple miles back to the mounds after hiking up a step hill from the parking lot but it puts the mounds at the visitor center to shame.

We are hikers and history buffs so we spent a full day!

Since we came from the campground I can't remember if the parking lot would handle the rig.

[kknowlton]

We visited once as a day trip from our campsite, which I believe was at Wyalusing SP in Wisconsin - basically just across the river. Neat little park, and I'd recommend it.

Other CGs in that area besides Wyalusing (which you need to spend time at, plus not a lot of pull-in, pull-out sites; it's quite popular) that we have camped at include Spruce Creek Park in Bellevue, a county park. Nothing special, can be full on weekends (no reservations taken). Also Rustic Barn RV Park in Kieler, Wisconsin. Nice little place - we quite liked it.

Our visit to Effigy Mounds was long enough ago that I don't remember the parking lot. Sorry can't provide info on that.