My name: Archwoman
Letterbox name: Effigy Mounds Letterbox
Date places: August 26, 2002
Nearest town: Marquette, Iowa
Effigy Mounds National Monument is open year 'round. The hike is 4
miles total, moderate hiking conditions.


A new letterbox has been hidden in a very special, sacred site. It is
located along the Mississippi River in Effigy Mounds National Monument,
in northeast Iowa. Entrance fee to Effigy Mounds is $2 (car load, good
for 7 days). Get a map from the visitor center and get instructions on
how to get to the Marching Bears Mound Group in the South Unit of the
Park. This is a remote, little traveled trail that will bring great
rewards. Follow the trail to the Marching Bears (approx. 2 miles), some
steep terrain. When you have reached the mound group, follow the mounds
along the backs of the bears (south/west) until you have reached the
second to last bear. (If you reach the bird mounds, you went too far.)
There is an oak tree on the back of this second to last bear. Take
approx. 13 steps from this tree westerly into the woods until you come
to a forked oak tree, in which one of the forks has broken off, leaving
a hollow stump. The letterbox is inside this tree stump! Happy
Hunting!