Boone

I avoided I-35 north of Des Moines and headed up towards Boone, before rejoining the interstate near Ames a couple of hours later. I'm combining two different places in this post: Ledges State Park southwest of town and the railroad bridges across the river to the northwest.

Ledges was cool, literally, and clearly where folks head on hot summer days for shade and water to play in.  The road winds through the canyon, crisscrossing the stream several times. At two of the fords, there were groups of kids urging me to spray them with my tires as I drove past. Do I have to explain why it's so important to get off the Interstate now and then?

Ledges State Park was completely unplanned (the 'accidents' are often the best parts of road trips), but my intended destination in Boone was the Kate Shelley High Bridge over the Des Moines River. There are actually now two trestles carrying the Union Pacific across the valley - I'm not sure if both are used, or if the concrete bridge replaces the older one. As often happens, I waited for a train, but it only showed up after I had driven away.

This bridge is not as spectacular as the one in Lethbridge, but was still very impressive and also yet another reminder of the neat things you can find if you wander aimlessly around the country long enough!

Madison County

I was looking for diversion again, this time from northbound Interstate 35, and decided to loop through Madison County, southwest of Des Moines. This is a place made famous by The Bridges of Madison County (which I'm afraid I haven't read or seen), and Winterset, the county seat, is John Wayne's birthplace (I drove past the house, but didn't visit the museum). I did take the time to drive through City Park and even climbed up Clark Tower.

The rolling hills, the covered bridges, and the park combined to provide a great contrast to the normal stereotyped vision of Iowa as endless cornfields along I-80.

Hawkeye Point

Hawkeye Point, the highest point in the state of Iowa (1670'), is a spectacular summit just south of the Minnesota border.  It's surrounded my corn fields and is marked by flags, a monument, and the grain silo of the Sterler Farm (the Sterlers allowed access previously, but with their passing, the site is now publicly-owned).

I've been gradually building my high point collection.  Some like Denali (AK), I'll never climb, but at least I've seen from from close up.  Similarly with Mount Rainier and Mount Hood.  Mt Whitney (CA) and Mt. Elbert (CO) I climbed the summer after high school.  Mt Katahdin (ME) and Mount Washington (NH) I climbed earlier, although the latter I've come back to many times, including by car.  Devon and I reached Brasstown Bald (GA), Mount Mitchell (NC), and Black Mountain (KY) on a road trip a few years ago.  We all drove up to Mount Greylock (MA) two years ago.

Hawkeye Point was an easy climb - but far less crowded than some of the others.

Guttenberg

I really enjoyed the drive north from Dubuque in the hills west of the river, but we weren't sure where we would find dinner. The road dropped back into the valley at Guttenberg, which was the perfect little river town I had hoped to find and where we ended up eating at Doug's Steakhouse. Afterward, we continued north and spent the night in Prairie Du Chien, on the Wisconsin side.