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| Heading up the bluff |
As we enter into Minnesota and Wisconsin's November gun deer hunting seasons, I look to nearby Iowa, whose gun season starts in
early December, for some great hikes.
November is a marvelous time to hit the trails on the bluffs of Yellow River State Forest in Harper's Ferry. It's see-through season with great views of the Mississippi River and bluffs of Iowa and Wisconsin. Rock formations are easily seen and green surprises can be found on the ground along the trails.
The
Paint Creek Unit is the largest of the state forest's units at over 5000 acres. It features a couple of campgrounds and multiple hiking, backpacking, biking and horse trails. The trails in this unit sprawl over large parts of this unit.
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| Forester trail rocks |
A great way to get a taste of these trails is to start at the Forest headquarters with the fun 2 mile Forester/White Pine loop that gives you a chance to enjoy a variety of features and some good elevation gains. There are a number of trails you can access from here to head to the firetower, overlooks, and backpacking sites that can add additional miles to your hikes.
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| Bulblet bladderfern |
The Forester trail starts beyond the headquarters along a wide forested path near a small outhouse. Soon you come to a dry and rocky section of the trail that has evidence of former flooding. As you cross this section the path narrows and you begin to climb rather steeply for about a half mile gaining a quick 350 feet. While it sounds daunting, the rock faces and views of the forest you are leaving below, give you plenty of time to stop and appreciate the views along the narrower portions of the trail.
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| The wide White Pine trail |
Once at the top, you will be on on old logging roads. You can hike into an area of backpacking sites called Camp Glen Wendel. Forester and White Pine pines intersect here. They create an smaller loop where you can explore and find a small pond, rest on benches before coming back to White Pine Trail which will complete your loop. This wide gassy and dirt trail slowly descends 350 feet over the final mile. Watch for a faint trail to your right that takes you across a dry creek bed back to your car. Your hike will be between 1.8 and 2.3 miles depending on how much you explore at the top.
One caution. You'll want to make sure you don't follow Forester trail in the small loop all the way back down or you end up at a parking lot on B25 where you'll have to walk east on the road shoulder back to your car. Keep an eye out for a trail marker for White Pine that heads east and all will be well see map above)!
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| A small pond at Camp Glen Wendel |
THE HIKEAfter a level start, a good aerobic half mile hike up 350 feet up a lovely forested bluffside reveals large rock formations, surprising small greenery (ferns, hepatica!!, false anemone) and a couple of large backpacking sites. The 1.8-2.3 mile hike is moderate in difficulty at the beginning, easy at the top and easy downhill on the slow mile-long descent.
Location
728 State Forest Road, Harper's Ferry IA GPS: 43.8373983, -91.3015158
Additional posts describing Yellow River Forest trails:
Images, unless noted - Marge Loch-Wouters
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| Hepatica - what?!?! |
Looking for more area hikes? Please stop by the web version of the blog and under the "Labels" tab on the right hand side of the blog, click on "find-a-hike". There are over 60 hike descriptions and lists of hikes to try!
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