Northwest Iowa

Northwest Iowa covers the broad agricultural country and Iowa Great Lakes corner of the state, the prairie-and-lake belt running from the Missouri River east to the Minnesota line. The terrain shifts from the Loess Hills along the Missouri (windblown silt deposits up to 200 feet thick, found at this scale only in Iowa and central China) east through flat-to-rolling till country to the glacial lakes of the northern counties. Eighteen counties cover the region. Woodbury holds Sioux City, the largest city, and the Sergeant Floyd Monument; Dickinson holds Spirit Lake, Okoboji, Arnolds Park, and the Iowa Great Lakes; Buena Vista holds Storm Lake; Plymouth holds Le Mars (the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World); Sioux County holds Orange City (Dutch heritage). Big Spirit, West Okoboji, and East Okoboji lakes carry the major water recreation. Most trips here split between the Great Lakes and the Loess Hills. Spirit Lake and Okoboji handle summer-lake traffic — boats, beaches, the Arnolds Park amusement park; the Loess Hills along the western edge support driving and hiking the Loess Hills Scenic Byway and the Loess Hills State Forest; Le Mars runs ice-cream-factory tours year-round.