Highpoint #33: Iowa

The Highest Point in Iowa!

With the upcoming July 4^th holiday, I finally have some time to go on another highpointing trip.  Unfortunately, there is a little bit of unfinished business, as I never wrote a blog post on the last stop of my highpointing trip this past winter.  Work certainly got in the way, and so it became something that I was always meaning to do.  Alas, here is my much belated post about my "daring" summit of Hawkeye Point in Iowa…

After a real adventure of snowshoeing to the top of Eagle Mountain in Minnesota, we drove carefully down to Minneapolis to spend the night.  Watching the morning weather on the TV in the hotel room left us jaw-dropped.  In southern Minnesota, where we would be driving for most of the day, we could expect temperatures hovering around -10F.  This was warm as there were places farther west that were experiencing heavy wind gusts and (wind chill) temps of -40F and lower.  Who endures such conditions?  I took it as a testament to the fortitude of the locals – wow!

Our route to the highpoint of Iowa was a little roundabout.  Given all the snow and the weather, we opted to stick to the interstates as much as possible.  So we ended up driving due south until we were just miles away from the Iowa border, then we caught I-90W and followed it most of the way to South Dakota.  Finally, at some nondescript spot, we turned south on a road that took us into Iowa with the highpoint located a short ways off to the left on an adjacent farm.  So, yes, the highpoint of Iowa is basically southern Minnesota as it lays only a stone’s throw away. 

A Billboard Welcomes Your Arrival

One really nice thing about Hawkeye Point, the highpoint of Iowa, is that it is a “drive-up”.  With -10F temperatures, I think my wife and I were both in the mindset of just knocking this one off the list and heading back home. 

Another Summit Marker

The highpoint itself is very easy to find, as there are signs everywhere.  With all of the relatively flat, snow-covered farmland around, it would be nearly impossible to know which point is truly the highest without all of the signage.  That is what makes this place so interesting.  In effect, a featureless spot has been endowed with quite a number of features.  

Registration Kiosk

Opposite Side:  50 States + D.C. (Iowa Represented Twice)

Seriously, they really did this place up.  They have a summit rock welcoming you the highpoint, a kiosk with an official register bedecked with photos on one side and license plates from every state on the other side, a grain silo with viewing deck, a second summit rock marking the highpoint, a circular mosaic commemorating the highpoint and indicating the cardinal directions, a series of signposts with plaque markers indicating the distance to each and every state highpoint, and an official bench for visitors.  

The Viewing Deck is a Nice Touch

Signs to All of the Other Highpoints 

And if this is not enough, the register box has official keychains for each visitor.  Wow! 

Don't Forget to Take a Keychain

Truly, this was kind of a fun spot.  The only setback that we had was the weather.  The cold temps along with the rustling wind meant that I had to wear a real winter parka and arctic gloves (Alti mitts) in order to spend any amount of time outside to enjoy all of these points of interest.  My wife graciously took a few vanity shots of me in front of the different markers and then promptly retreated to the heat of the running car.  

Hamming it Up

I then dutifully made my way between each point of interest and signed the register.  I really loved climbing the viewing deck and taking in the endless expanse.  The views from the top, as it were, were surprisingly pretty memorable.  I had never quite been in a place like this before, so I was glad that this crazy highpointing trip brought me here when it did. 

View from the Silo Viewing Deck

View from the Top:  Endless Expanse

And with that, we drove home calling it a trip.  33 highpoints down, 17 to go!