Northeast Iowa

Northeast Iowa covers the corner of the state where the Driftless Area’s limestone bluffs and trout streams meet the Mississippi, a stretch geographically closer to Wisconsin than to the rest of Iowa. The terrain is hilly and wooded — narrow river valleys cut by the Upper Iowa, Turkey, and Yellow rivers, hardwood forests on the bluff tops, cold spring-fed creeks that support the only trout fishery in the state. Eleven counties cover the region. Black Hawk holds Waterloo and Cedar Falls (with the University of Northern Iowa); Winneshiek holds Decorah (with the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum and Luther College); Allamakee holds Lansing and Effigy Mounds National Monument; Clayton holds Guttenberg and McGregor; Fayette holds West Union. Pikes Peak State Park, Yellow River State Forest, and the Upper Iowa River carry the major outdoor scenery. The Iowa Great River Road runs the eastern edge. Most trips here are river-bluff and small-town focused. Decorah handles the Norwegian heritage and the trout fishery; Effigy Mounds preserves more than 200 prehistoric Native American mounds shaped as bears and birds; the Upper Iowa River runs canoe and tubing trips through the limestone canyons. Fall foliage runs strong through October.