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Dolliver Memorial State Park in Lehigh, Iowa
Dolliver overlooks the Des Moines River Valley south of Fort Dodge and north of Lehigh in Iowa. It is unique in Iowa for its natural canyon bluffs, natural geologic formations, flatlands, and Native American mounds. The park has a campground, but there are only 30 short electric sites. We just hiked the 1 mile Copperas…
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Oleson Music Pavilion Park in Fort Dodge, Iowa
One of the sights to see near Brushy Creek State Park is the Oleson Music Pavilion in Fort Dodge, Iowa. It was built in 1938 in a Modernist style with Art Deco overtones. Its construction was part of the Federal Works Progress Administration’s attempt to create jobs and stimulate the local economy. You can read…
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Kennekuk County Park with 1000 gallon tank!
Vermillion County Illinois used to be known for coal mines and manufacturing. When the coal mining ended and manufacturing decreased, parks were created. Kennekuk Park boasted a 1000-gallon aquarium. This sounds huge but turns out to not be as big as you think. Can you find the fish? The park also boasts Lake Mingo, multiple…
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Heron County Park with tower, boardwalk, etc. But where’s the Herons?
Heron County Park is in Vermillion County and started opened 2004. The park came about when Aqua Illinois, Inc. donated the land to the county. In 1992, the water was increased by 4 1/2 feet and a 950 foot boardwalk was built at a cost of $145,000. After that a 30+ foot observation tower was…
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Kickapoo Rail Trail Aventure
Illinois like many other states are changing no longer used railroad tracks back to life as Rail Trails. Nothing like the first Rail Trail located in Sparta Wisconsin 🙂 but still nice. Once fully completed, the trail will be @ 22 miles long. We traveled the solid orange line in the purple box. The dotted…
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Mounds State Park Indiana
The state park is unique in the sense that it has mounds created between 200 BC and 200 AD. They were formed by the Adena culture. Here’s what I’ve been able to glean about the mounds in cliff notes… I summarized the above information from link – plan MDS.indd For me the illustration really hit…