Eastern Iowa - STR-2021-39

Saturday, 25 September 

After a night in Wisconsin, we crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa. Our first stop of the day was the Decorah Fish Hatchery in Decorah, IA. We were immediately attracted to the nearby water feature, which initially looked to be on private property. It was Siewers Springs, the second largest cold water spring in Iowa and supplies the water to the hatchery. The water flows from an underground spring in the hillside and flows over a man-made structure creating a lovely cascade of water.

The hatchery facility was built from 1933-35 by the Civilian Conservation Corps as a Smallmouth bass hatchery.

The hatchery is primarily used for Rainbow trout. Rainbow trout are raised in 24 raceways and three rubber lined earthen ponds at the Chuck Gipp Decorah Fish Hatchery. 

Easy access to the raceways make this a popular stop to see the fish of various sizes. Fish food vending machines located by most raceways to get food to feed the fish. A handful of feed purchased from dispensers brings fish swirling to the the surface. So does just walking by. As we walked by each of the raceways, hundreds of trout were fighting to get closest to us - no doubt they associate the approaching human figure with food.

About 130,000 catchable-size rainbow trout are raised each year. Decorah fish hatchery personnel are responsible for stocking 15 put-and-take streams in Allamakee, Howard, Mitchell and Winneshiek counties. The hatchery also stocks five seasonal urban lakes in Mason City, Sioux City, Spencer, Ames and Ankeny or Bondurant.

As we returned to Sprinty, we were struck by the fall colors starting to appear.

We turned southeast for Big Springs Park in Guttenberg, IA. Big Springs Nature Park is located along the Great River Road National Scenic Byway just north of Guttenberg. It is also in a region called the Driftless Area.

The Driftless Area is a four-state region along the Mississippi River with deep bluffed valleys and many natural springs. Unique from the flat lands that surround it, this area was left untouched by the last glaciers. The word "driftless" indicates a lack of glacial drift.

A coldwater stream originates on the property and cascades down a series of limestone bedrock features, creating a natural stair step effect. The water's total vertical drop within the 11 acre parcel is over 100 feet. 

Unfortunately, the water flow was minimal, so we were left to our imagination as to what the main
waterfall might look like with water flow. The main waterfall behind Kris was dry.

It was still a beautiful setting.

As we turned into the small parking area for Big Springs Park, we saw a sign that Guttenberg was having their annual Germanfest this weekend. Along with that, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer Lock #10 and dam was having an open house from 11am to 3pm. The Corps only does the open house once a year and we lucked into it.

This lock and dam was constructed and placed in operation November 1937 as part of a series of locks and dams constructed to increase the navigable depth of the Mississippi River to 9 feet from St Louis to St. Paul, MN.

The lock is 110 feet wide by 600 feet long - enough to fit nine river barges - three barges long by three barges wide. As the typical tow is 15 barges and a pusher boat, the tow requires two lock operations to navigate the lock. A typical tow takes over 1-1/2 hours to pass through the lock.

The Corps had staff on site to answer questions and ensure visitor safety. We enjoyed getting to talk to staff about the operation of the lock and dam. While we were visiting, a recreational pontoon boat traveling downstream went through the lock. One interesting tidbit was that the two traffic lights on the lock for barge traffic are the only traffic lights in Clayton County, Iowa.

The dam consists of a concrete dam 763 feet long with four roller gates and eight tainter gates. Earth embankment is 6,000 feet long with a concrete spillway 1,200 feet long. The dam's purpose is it create pools and increase the depth of the river.

The original reason for putting Guttenburg on our itinerary was to visit the Lockmaster House Museum, which is located next to the lock. When Lock 10 was constructed in the 1930s, the Lockmaster and Assistant Lockmaster were required to live onsite and were provided quarters adjacent to the lock. This ceased in 1967 and the Lockmaster quarters became a history museum.

After touring the Lockmaster's House Heritage Museum, we checked out the Germanfest. Most of the festival was vendors with little to no German connection - except for the beer tent at the end of the street.

We continued south to Miller Riverview City Park in Dubuque, IA, for our campground for the night. We could have stayed at the casino next door for free (dry camping), but we would not have had the river entertainment of River barges going by.

Sunday, 26 September

With Sprinty's night in Iowa, he earned another sticker for the map - his 44th state camped in since February 2017. Sprinty treated us to breakfast at Sunshine Family Restaurant near downtown Dubuque. Which was in the way to our first stop of the day the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium (https://www.rivermuseum.com).

The museum was well done. We spent about two hours in the museum. One of the highlights was touring a retired steam-powered paddle wheel dredge.

We then headed south to Maquoketa Caves State Park (https://stateparks.com/maquoketa_caves_state_park_in_iowa.html). Through more cornfields. The web site included a warning on limited parking. As we entered the parking area, a car pulled out and Sprinty was able to whip right in to the only parking spot available.

The park contains more caves than any other state park in Iowa. A trail system links the caves, formations, and overlooks. Its caves, limestone formations and rugged bluffs reminded us of Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio. Enormous bluffs tower throughout the park, and a six-mile trail system winds through geologic formations and forests. As one of the state's earliest state parks, Maquoketa Caves has been a popular destination for picnickers and hikers since the 1860s.

We started with hiking the Dancehall Cave - entering the 1,100 foot cave from the upper end.

The cave was quite large, but did require some ducking to avoid hitting the overhead.

We visited most of the caves - at least the entrances to the caves. The caves were all different sizes and shapes. Some could be explored by walking in while others required crawling and spelunking which we chose not to do.

Trail highlights included the "Natural Bridge" which stands nearly 50 feet above Raccoon Creek, and the 17-ton "Balanced Rock".

Natural Bridge"

We then continued south to visit the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum (https://iowa80truckingmuseum.com). Through more cornfields.

The museum has quite a collection of antique trucks and other trucking memorabilia.

Most of the trucks were pre-1960s. One truck in the collection was a 1968 Ford F-250 "Camper Special".

The museum is located adjacent to the Iowa 80, the World's Largest Truck Stop (https://iowa80truckstop.com).

Similar to visiting Wall Drug, we wanted to see it first-hand.

The building is 185,000 square feet and the truck stop covers 85 developed acre (and seems to be growing). The place was huge.

The truck stop even had a barber, dentist and chiropractor.

With the weekend over, Sprinty is back to showing up at a campground for the night and picking a vacant site. Tonight's campsite is another Corps of Engineers campground on the Mississippi River, the Fishermans Corner Campground in Hampton, IL.