IOU Hiking at Ledges State Park...

By, Sara Hollerich

Ledges is a great little State Park near Boone, Iowa. It is a rather unique area in the state with sandstone bluffs rising about 100 feet. It offers a lot hiking opportunities so we decided to head up there and check out the park. I had been there quite a few times in the past and have gone on several of the trails.

We started our hike on the top of one of the bluffs and walked along the ridge and down into the valley. There are a lot of stairs to climb in the park and it makes for a great workout. It was nice to have Ken along because he knew a lot of the bird species in the park. He was constantly pointing out birds here and there. One of the most memorable moments was them we were practically face to face with a ruby crowned kinglet. They are very small birds and evidently this one was pretty curious and not that afraid of us. It let us get pretty close before it flew away.

Our hike took us through most of the park. A couple of other spots I thought were pretty interesting included the stone shelter they took apart, numbering all of the stones, and put it back up out of the floodplain exactly the way it was built before. There is also a pole in the lower parking lot. The pole has markers on it for each of the floods so you can see where the waterline was during the 1993 flood and some other floods. It is pretty amazing to see. It was a nice and sunny day for a hike and a great day to get out and enjoy ourselves.

IOU Biking...

By, Sara Hollerich

It was a nice spring day when we set out on our bike ride along the Des Moines River on the Neal Smith Trail. Being one of IOUs first events, only four people showed up for this ride, but we had a great time anyway. It was nice to get outside and streatch our legs and get the blood pumping. We all meet up at Sycamore Access, which is just one of the many points the Neal Smith Trail can be accessed.

I had been practicing my mountain biking with Mike a few times earlier in the year and was excited to try it out again, but also a bit nervous. The group was contemplating riding the mountain biking trail, a dirt path with lots of hills and other obstacles. I am just learning how to mountain bike and often put my foot down, which promptly earns me a lot of grief. However, I would rather do put my foot down then bite the dust. Anyway, because of technical issues we decided to hit the paved trail instead. This was a huge relief to me because I didn’t have to risk totally embarassing myself. Thoughts of ambulances and broken necks had been dancing in my head.

Instead we biked several miles that day and ended up near a park called Carousel Park, I think. Anyway it was a beautiful day for a bike ride. It was nice to chat with new members of the group and just take a break from my busy life.