Effigy Mounds Events

Effigy Mounds Invites the Public to

Spring Events May 2025

HARPERS FERRY, Iowa - Effigy Mounds National Monument has scheduled several free, public events for Spring.

May 5 Cross-Quarter Day Sunrise Hike

Visitors are invited to meet outside the visitor center at 5 a.m. for a hike up to Fire Point to watch the sunrise over the Fire Point Mound Group. This two-mile round-mile round trip hike climbs 350 feet on a wood chipped trail. Visitors should dress for the weather and bring water. The hike should take 1-1.5 hours to complete.

May 10 World Migratory Bird Day: Birding Hike along the Yellow River

At 10 a.m. visitors are invited to join Upper Iowa Audubon Society birding expert, Dennis Kirschbaum, on the annual birding hike on the Yellow River boardwalk.  The park has a limited number of binoculars that can be borrowed for the hike, visitors are encouraged to bring their own.

 Activity tables will be set out in the visitor center that day for kids to learn about the migratory birds of this area and conservation.

May 18 National Historic Preservation Month Celebration

Visitors are invited to join the park and local historical associations in the celebration of National Historic Preservation Month 1-4 p.m. There will be information on local historic sites and museums as well as hands-on activities to earn the National Historic Preservation Act Junior Ranger badge and the 75th anniversary Effigy Mounds NM Junior and Senior Ranger badges.

May 28 Lecture – “US-Indigenous Treaties at Prairie du Chien, 1825-1830”

5:00 pm Historian Joshua Wachuta will discuss the Treaties of Prairie du Chien signed in 1825, 1829, and 1830 between the United States and delegates of the Dakota, Ho-Chunk, Iowa, Otoe, Missouria, Omaha, Sauk, Meskwaki, Menominee, Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potawatomi Nations. These nation-to-nation treaties have had long-lasting consequences for the relationships between Indigenous people, American settlers, and the landscape of the Upper Mississippi River valley.

Effigy Mounds NM Hiking Challenge

The park currently has six hiking patches for hiking one of six park trails: Yellow River Boardwalk, Fire Point, Hanging Rock, Heritage Addition, Marching Bears, and Sny Magill. Hikes are self-guided, and the patches can be picked up from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.