View of the Mississippi River from the Third Scenic View overlook in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Length:  3.3 miles, round trip
Time: 2 hours
Difficulty:  Mainly easy with a long, moderate hill at the very beginning of the hike

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 Third Scenic View, picking up at the turnoff for Twin Views. See the Hike to Twin Views trail report for details on the hike up to this point.

Hike to Third Scenic View Map (click to enlarge)

If hiking directly from the Visitor Center, by the time you reach the turnoff for Twin Views you will have traveled 1.1 mile. The intersection is Y-shaped, and you must take a left to continue towards Third Scenic View and Hanging Rock.

Intersection of the main trail and the turnoff for Twin Views in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Prior to the Twin Views turn, the trail through the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument is wide and has a well-groomed wood chip surface that is carefully maintained for the many tourists who make the trip to Fire Point, and to a lesser extent, Twin Views. Not many visitors hike beyond this point, so the expense of wood chips is forgone and the trail becomes a typical one-lane dirt road.

Main North Unit trail between the Visitor Center and the turnoff for Twin Views, Effigy Mounds National Monument

Typical trail between the Twin Views and Third Scenic View turnoffs from the main North Unit trail at Effigy Mounds National Monument

The hike between the Twin View and Third Scenic View trailheads covers easy but slightly hilly terrain. It is a .3-mile hike between the two, and when you reach the intersection with the Third Scenic View trail, stay to the right. There is a directional sign at the intersection.

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

The Third Scenic View trail is a grass path that descends down a quarter-mile-long gradual hill and ends at an overlook of the Mississippi River. Along the way it passes a liner mound, a bear effigy mound, and a few conical mounds.

Types of mounds at Effigy Mounds National Monument

Typical terrain on the Third Scenic View trail in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

The first mound you come to is a linear mound. It was originally much taller, but erosion has worn it down so that it now resembles a new grass-covered grave that has not yet been packed down, albeit a very long one. The defined trail ends at this point, and from here to the overlook you just walk through the mowed grass alongside the mounds.

Linear mound along the trail to Third Scenic View in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

After the compound mound is a bear effigy mound. While mounds were built by various people all around North America since 4000 BC, effigy mounds—mounds in the shape of an animal—are unique to the upper Midwest: northeastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and southeastern Minnesota. They are also the newest mounds in the park, having been built between 600 and 1200 AD. Indians continued to build mounds up until around 1700, but construction of effigy mounds abruptly stopped, like a fad coming to an end.

Like all mounds in the park, the effigy mounds (bears only in the North Unit) have been so whittled down by erosion that they are barely noticeable. 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. Furthermore, the shapes are nearly impossible to discern from ground level due to their size. You really need to be up in a tree or flying overhead in a helicopter. Of course that leads to the question as to why the Indians would have gone to all the trouble to build effigy mounds that can only be seen from the sky. The most obvious guess is so that the gods could see them, but since there is no written record, the answer will never be known. And by the way, archeologists do not know for sure if the effigies are bears. They could just as well be bison or any other animal of similar shape.

In the photo below, the bear shape is outlined in red.

Bear effigy mound on the trail to Third Scenic View in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

There are three conical mounds near the end of the trail. 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 and thus 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 at the end of the Third Scenic View trail 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

At the very end of the trail is a view of the Mississippi River. You don’t get as good a view here as you do at Eagle Rock, Fire Point, or Twin Views due to the trees and other vegetation that have grown up over the years.

View of the Mississippi River from the overlook at Third Scenic View in the North Unit of Effigy Mounds National Monument

Once back at the main trail, you can return to the Visitor Center or continue hiking to Hanging Rock. Keep in mind that the hills get much steeper about halfway to Hanging Rock, and the terrain is more like mountain hiking. For information on this hike, see the Hike to Hanging Rock trail review here on National Park Planner.

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