Marathon Pundit: Iowa I Opener: Loess Hills

Running along the east bank of the Missouri River in Iowa are the Loess Hills. A geologic term borrowed from German, pronounced "less" or "low-ess," it is a wind-blown deposit of silt. The hills are quite young geologically, just 14-24,000 years old.

Loess is found in many places, but only in China are the deposits higher. Besides forest, these hills include the Hawkeye State's largest tracts of never-tilled tallgrass prairie.

I took the photograph of the hills from on observation tower on Interstate 680 east of Council Bluffs.

Running throughout the hills, from Akron on the South Dakota border to Hamburg on the Missouri state line is the Loess Hills Scenic Byway.

The Missouri River is of course Lewis and Clark Country.

Next: Mormon museum

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