As you probably know by now, our goal is to hit all lower 48 states and to, at least, visit one national park or national monument per state. After 8 months and conquering over 15 states and over 30+ national parks (see our 'States Conquered' page), you'd think that we're smart enough to know what to take with us when we go on a hike. Here we are, in the north eastern part of Iowa, to visit the Effigy Mounds National Monument (I'll tell you about that later), and we were only going to hike a very short trail (less than 2 miles). The trail initiated at the visitor center. Soooo, I didn't have my good hiking shoes on, no water, no granola bars on me and Allan didn't have his knee brace on, no water and no munchies with him either. Well, we WERE only going on a short trail! We did have our camera, the most important item, right.... WRONG! |
We got so intrigued by all the history around us, the woodlands, the flowers, the insects, the amazing views of the Mississippi River and the aura of it all, including all the mushrooms along the way (while singing 'Go ask Alice..') - see our 'Wildlife & Flowers page' - that we just continued hiking...and hiking...and hiking... up and down and down and up. Mind you the dew point around these woods was in the mid 70's. That means a 100% humidity! Well... the hike got the better of both of us... Allan's knee started acting up, I'm getting thirstier and thirstier while sweating away... and we had to go slower and slower and slower... we finally made it back to the visitor's center after hiking over 7 miles, gimping along. Argh... gimme water.... and Ibuprofen!
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