Skip to content
BusinessesGrow
Effigy Mounds National Monument, Harpers Ferry, IA

Photo: Archbob, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sport & OutdoorHistory BuffOutdoor AdventureFree

Effigy Mounds National Monument

151 Hwy 76 · Harpers Ferry, IA

Why you should go…

Effigy Mounds National Monument preserves 206 prehistoric mounds, 31 of them effigies shaped like animals such as bears and birds. Start at the visitor center and museum, then follow trails like the Fire Point Loop past the mounds; the monument has 14 miles of hiking paths in all. The Great Bear Mound, the largest effigy, stretches 42 meters from head to tail. No entrance pass is required, and ranger-guided programs are offered.

  • #national monument
  • #native american history
  • #hiking trails
  • #burial mounds

Good to know

General sport & outdoor guidance

Habits that pay off across this whole category, not rules for this one venue. Always check the official site for the specifics.

  • Weather calls the shots

    Check the forecast the morning of and keep an indoor backup in your pocket for the day it turns.

  • Shoes, water, sun cover

    The three things that decide whether you last the whole outing or cut it short after an hour.

  • Parking and launches fill early

    On a nice weekend, lots and trailheads are often full by mid-morning.

  • Daylight shrinks in shoulder season

    Spring and fall visits need an earlier start than the same trip in July.

What's around here?

The closest stops to Effigy Mounds National Monument, ordered by straight-line distance.

  • Sightseeing
    Iconic

    Field of Dreams Movie Site

    Free

    Walk the baseball diamond cut into an Iowa cornfield for the 1989 film and tour the original farmhouse.

    41 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Sightseeing
    Quirky Fun

    Fenelon Place Elevator

    Under $25

    Ride a tiny funicular cable car 189 feet up the bluff for views of downtown Dubuque, the Mississippi and three states.

    49 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Museums
    Family Favorite

    National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium

    $25–$50

    Watch sturgeon, river otters and rays in more than a dozen aquariums, then see a historic Mississippi River steamboat dredge.

    49 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums