The wife and I are on a short weekend trip to rural Wisconsin to visit some extended family. On the way there we discovered signs for something called Effigy Mounds. We were seriously intrigued and decided to turn off the highway to check it turns out that Effigy Mounds is a National Monument, run by the National Park Service. The mounds are Indian mounds that are structured in the shapes of animals, hence the effigy.

We decided to take a path that climbed two miles up a hill on switchbacks, to view some of the mounds, and visit some of the river bluff overlooks. It was fascinating to see the mounds of earth, in what was obviously man-made shapes. One of them that we passed was called Little Bear and even from eye level you could see the shape of it. There are tons of artifacts that are buried in the mounds, hence they are protected sites. Only specific archeology projects are allowed to investigate the mounds themselves. 

The views from the overlooks were amazing and well worth the uphill hike. It was fun to see a river full of activity, stretching into the distance. I have a bunch of pictures of the area, but since we’re on a rural hotel wifi connection that isn’t too stable, I’m going to wait to post those until tomorrow.