Port Louisa NWR

“Our school was off yesterday for spring break. I have been working with 4 Boy Scouts on their Hiking merit badge. Since they had the day off and their weekends are filled with sports, we decided to take a hike. I needed a day off anyway.
I had driven by the Port Louisa NWR many times and thought it would be a great place to see. It is East of Wapello on the Mississippi river. We started at the Toolsboro access and hiked along the Mississippi river levee for a few miles. The waterfowl was every where. You could hardly take a step with out scaring some type of duck up. The deer were running ahead of us along the river and we caught site of them every so often. We even seen a very confused wild turkey. As we got into the refuge the waterfowl increased even more. Since this was a marsh with hiking trails through it many times there was water on both side of you. The little ditches were full of coots which when they took off would fly right at you. We had to duck a few times to keep from getting hit by them. (They would have dodged us it just seemed that way). The neatest bird we seen were the large Pelicans. These birds were fun to watch as they took off and landed. When they set their wings to land they looked like a 747 coming in for a landing.
We continued on through the marsh until we got to the Port Louisa access. Then we headed along the marsh and up the hill back to the NWR headquarters. It was a 10 mile hike and the boys did good. We have one boy that is mentaly handicapped and he has some difficulty in walking. He does good for the 1st 8 miles and then gets tired. We all shared his pack and he made it. They have completed 50 miles and they have a 20 miler to do next. Lizs you know of any good places to do a 20 miler. It was very difficult to come up with the 10 mile hikes with out back tracking. South East Iowa is not know for its great hiking areas. This was by far the best hike we took. Not a lot of hills or forest but the waterfowl made up for it. Fun day!”

“Yellow River State Forest. Ya see Boy Scouts there all the time from as far away as the Twin Cities.

Or that Mark Twain Reservoir where Flash has a trip posted for in July. The Johanna Trail can be done as a 25-mile one way, or something like that.

Cool, I didn't know of that Wildlife Refuge!”