View of the Mississippi River from the Hanging Rock overlook in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Length:  5.6 miles round trip
Time: 3.5 hours with time to explore
Difficulty:  Moderate with steep hills at the start and end

All hikes in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument start at a trailhead near the Visitor Center parking lot. There are numerous destinations in the North Unit, but this trail report only covers the trip to Hanging Rock, picking up at the turnoff for Third Scenic View (see the Hike to Third Scenic View trail report for details on the hike up to this point). On this section of the trail you will see conical mounds and linear mounds. There is also a nice view of the Mississippi River from an overlook at the end of the trail.

Types of mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument

Hike to Hanging Rock Map (click to enlarge)

If hiking directly from the Visitor Center, by the time you reach the turnoff for Third Scenic View you will have traveled 1.4 mile. Stay left at the intersection to continue on to Hanging Rock.

Turnoff for Third Scenic View from the main trail through the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

The terrain between Third Scenic View and Hanging Rock is much more difficult than anything that came before. However, the first half mile, which brings you to the linear mounds, isn’t too bad. There is a short-but-steep downhill segment just beyond the Third Scenic View turnoff that has a grade of 15% (which is where strenuous hiking begins), but it only lasts a hundred feet. There is also another short uphill climb with a 12% grade just before the mounds. Of course, you must hike these hills on the way back as well.

Trail just north of the Third Scenic View turnoff in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

The linear mounds within Effigy Mounds National Monument were typically four feet tall and as long as 100 feet in length when first built, but most have been so whittled down by erosion that you wouldn’t recognize them if they weren’t pointed out to you. Today they look more like long, grass-covered graves that haven’t yet been packed down than what a person would imagine a typical Indian mound would look like. To make visualization easier, the National Park Service mows the grass around the mounds and allows the grass on top of them to grow tall so that the shapes are more defined.

Linear mound along the trail to Hanging Rock in Effigy Mounds National Monument

Beyond the linear mounds, the terrain gets substantially more mountainous. It goes up and over three substantial hills, some as long as a quarter mile and with grades averaging 12% to 15% (similar to the climb at the very start of the hike from the Visitor Center parking lot). Oddly enough, the wood chip surface that was found on the trail prior to the turn for Twin Views briefly reappears. Between Twin Views and the two linear mounds the trail was just an old dirt road, though still in good condition.

Wood chip segment of trail north of the linear mounds near Hanging Rock in Effigy Mounds National Monument

The wood chip surface doesn’t last long, and the trail then gets progressively worse. A Ranger told me that this is because very few visitors to the park hike this far, so the National Park Service isn’t as concerned with trail maintenance. Prior to this hilly area, the trail had a very smooth surface, but it now has its share of rocks, roots, and ruts.

Rocky and rutted trail near Hanging Rock in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

About a quarter mile from the end of the trail is a string of conical mounds. Most conical mounds in the park have also been worn down to almost nothing, but the mounds near the cliffs overlooking the Mississippi River were built taller to begin with—typically eight feet tall and twenty feet in diameter—and thus they are still recognizable even without tall grass growing on them. Archeologists believe that the taller mounds are some of the oldest in the park—mound building in the area started around 500 BC.

Conical mounds near Hanging Rock in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Conical mounds along the trail near Hanging Rock in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Most conical mounds were used as burial mounds, but contrary to popular belief, there are no remains in the actual dirt hill. The deceased were buried in the ground, and the mound was built on top of the burial site. What the mound represents is unknown, but perhaps it is similar to a tombstone or designed to prevent others from looting or disturbing the graves. Not everyone was buried under a mound, so this practice was most likely reserved for the most important people in the society.

Anatomy of a burial mound

The trail comes to an end at an overlook of the Mississippi River 1.4 mile from the Third Scenic View turnoff. The very last 200 feet is narrow and rocky and extremely steep—an average grade of 22%. This is one of the steepest hills in the North Unit of the park.

Steep segment of trail just before Hanging Rock in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

View of the Mississippi River from the Hanging Rock overlook in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

If you want to see more mounds and views of the Mississippi River, on the way back to the Visitor Center you can take the side trips to Third Scenic View (half mile round trip) and Twin Views (quarter mile round trip). I also recommend taking the side trip to Fire Point and looping back to the main trail via Eagle Rock if you haven’t already done that hike.

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