Today a new adventure: ‘peak bagging’, or, as others call it, ‘high-pointing’. Whichever term you use, it is the finding and climbing of the highest point in all 50 states. Quite a quest and there are lots of people who have done all 50 which means that they have been on the top of Denali (Mt. McKinley) in Alaska at 20320’, Mt. Whitney in California at 14,494’ and Mt. Elbert in Colorado at 14,433’, along with Mt. Hood and Mt Rainier and other peaks that we’ve all heard about. Amazing and I am impressed.
Today our goal is one of these high points. No, not one of those that I listed above, but one that is much closer to us: Hawkeye Point in Iowa at 1670’. Hey, ya gotta start somewhere. Actually, Gary and I got started in this climbing business a bit late. I wish we had known how much we enjoyed hiking and climbing long before this. Who knew? We grew up in Iowa and then moved to southern Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts and finally to southern New Hampshire. Not many opportunities to hike in any of these locations and neither of us had ever said to the other, ‘Gee, I’d like to hike this weekend.’ Mostly, we said, ‘Gee. let’s go to the ocean this weekend.’ We did get a taste of it back in New Hampshire in the 80’s when we climbed Mt. Washington, twice. But, those were anomalies and we didn’t follow up.
When I was planning our route this summer, I happened to notice Hawkeye Point on the map and, lo and behold, it was right on our way towards Sioux Falls, SD, where we wanted to get our SD drivers licenses, our car and RV registrations and register to vote. And, who can miss the siren call of a high point? Not us, we’re ‘up’ for any adventure.
So, we got to Winnebago at 7:00, when their Customer Service division opened and tried to return our tow bar. Oops, no one had told us about the 25% restocking fee. Holy cow, this is a tow bar and 25% is a lot of money. But, what if we take the tow bar back to the actual factory which is also on our way to Sioux Falls? Maybe we won’t have to pay the full restocking fee that way. And, off we went, tow bar in back of the Jeep.
Along the way is Algona, where my grandmother is buried and where I have fond memories of taking the bus from Emmetsburg to Algona to visit her in the early 50’s. She walked up to the bus station, picked me up along with my suitcase and we walked back to her house. We also walked to the grocery store, to the library and to her friend’s homes and the little store on the corner (remember those?). No car here and no TV either - we filled our evenings with canasta, double solitaire and reading. But, what swell times I had with her.
We stopped to visit her grave but the POW Museum was closed until 1:00 and we didn’t want to wait. Too bad.
We reached the tow bar factory, returned the tow bar and headed to the ‘high point’ of the day: Hawkeye Point. It’s north of Sibley in the NW corner of Iowa, just south of the Minnesota border. Originally the land was owned by the Sterler family who farmed this land and raised their hogs for many years. When it was determined that the High Point in Iowa was on their property, they very kindly let many come here. Then in 2008, they donated the land to Osceola County with the stipulation that it be turned into a park and monument open to the public.
Today it is a neat spot to stop. It has an old silo onto which local volunteers have built a one-story observation tower, a small shed which has been turned into an old farm implement museum, a beautiful mosaic tile map of Iowa with the High Point marked on it, and 5 tall posts with signs on them pointing to the other 49 High Points in the US. AND, they’ve built a campground across the road with grassy sites and electricity.
There’s a register that we signed with names of many others who have stopped here. Of course, those who are ‘Peak Baggers’ and ‘High Pointers’ have all made their way here, too. There also is a donation and memorial wall. Altogether, very well done and a neat place to stop. We’ve bagged our second peak.
And, here’s the view from the observation tower: Iowa in all its glory.
At one time, while Gary wasn’t looking, I hid behind this picture. Gary looked all around for me but then noticed that Grant Wood never painted anyone with dark glasses.
It was all downhill from here and we headed on to Sioux Falls.
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