Loess Hills

Took my first hike in Iowa with the Iowa Explorer's Club, a Meetup group in Des Moines that does hikes, backpacking and canoe trips, and other outings in Iowa (and occasionally other, more-far-flung destinations). Meetup does't seem to have much of a presence in Des Moines, as far as I can tell, so it was nice to connect with folks of common interest. This trip was to the Loess Hills Wildlife Management Area, near Onawa, Iowa the county seat of Monona, County.

Iowa isn't known for great hiking, so I was pleasantly surprised by this little outing. The person leading the hike has many years of experience traipsing around Iowa, so knows a few "secret" spots. This trail was barely visible in most spots, trafficked more by deer than by bipeds. In the future, I'll probably stick to AllTrails maps if I revisit the area.

The Loess Hills are an unusual geologic formation of wind-blown hills comprising about 650,000 acres along the Missouri River in Western Iowa. The only other place on the planet that has loess hills over 200 feet deep is the Yellow River Valley in China.

Not much of a workout.

We got off track and made our way out of the woods to the gravel road that brought us in.