Alt Text Map of Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa. The long, narrow park area, shown in green, lies west of the Mississippi River, which is shown in blue along the right side of the map. Extended Description Shaped like a blocky letter Y, the park has several hiking trails and is divided into north and south units. Around the middle, the Yellow River winds down the park’s western arm and then empties into the Mississippi River. State Route 76, represented as a red line, threads down into the western arm, curving above the Yellow River and then continuing south along the Mississippi Riverbank, off the bottom of the map. Another branch of this red road curves up as the western border of the park’s North Unit. This description will start at the top of State Route 76, working its way into the park to the Visitor Center. From there, it will follow the trails through the North Unit, followed by the trails through the South Unit. It will end with a transcription of the legend. To the Visitor Center State Route 76 enters from the top left corner. Text here reads “Visitor Center to Waukon, 20 miles, 32 kilometers. Visitor Center to Harpers Ferry, 8 miles, 13 kilometers.” The road runs parallel with the Yellow River for a stretch, then it branches up northeast as the park’s northern-unit western boundary. Curving above the Yellow River and a large pond, State Route 76 reaches the Visitor Center, which has a parking lot and is located next to Bluegill Pond, above the mouth of the Yellow River. Three green dots next to the Visitor Center indicate mounds. Text near the road reads “Ask at the visitor center about other areas of the national monument that this map does not show.” One trail heads down from the Visitor Center along Bluegill Pond, then crosses the road and goes around Buffalo Pond and stops at the Yellow River. This trail is wheelchair accessible. North Unit From the Visitor Center, a trail heads north in a winding zigzag and loop. At the first fork, the left path leads around to Little Bear Mound Group. The right path leads to Eagle Rock, followed by Fire Point, and this area is rich with mounds. The paths rejoin at Little Bear. Text here reads “Visitor Center to Fire Point and return, 2 miles, 3 kilometers.” Continuing up, the trail leads to the Great Bear Mound Group, which is also lined with green dots indicating mounds. Text here notes that Little Bear to Great Bear is 650 feet (198 meters). Next, the trail forks right, heading to Twin Views, which has overlook spots and mounds. Text here notes that the Visitor Center to Twin Views and Return is 3 miles (4 kilometers). Continuing up the left fork from Twin Views, the trail forks right to Third Scenic View, which also has mounds. Text reads “Visitor Center to Third Scenic View and return 4 miles, 6 kilometers.” The trail keeps going up, past a patch of tallgrass prairie and some more mounds, reaches the northern boundary of the park, then comes back down to Hanging Rock, which has more mounds. The Visitor Center to Hanging Rock and return is 7 miles (11 kilometers). South Unit Passing by the Visitor Center, State Route 76 crosses the Yellow River near its junction with the Mississippi River, coming down to a gate near a Day-use Area (Iowa Department of Natural Resources), which has parking and a boat launch. From the gate, a trail leads west and then branches north to Founders Pond Overlook, which sits below the Yellow River. The trail then zags east back toward the road to Nezekaw Point Overlook. There are mounds along the way. Text notes that the Day-use Area to Nezekaw Point Overlook and return is 2 miles (3 kilometers). South of Founders Pond Overlook, the trail winds down to another splotch of tallgrass prairie, in the middle of which the trail splits. The right leg curves back up toward the gate, parallel to the road, to Compound Mound Group, which has a bunch of mounds. The day-use area to Compound Mound Group and return is 4 miles (6 kilometers). The other leg of the trail continues south, then forks again. The left leg curves around to Marching Bear Group, with mounds trailing down to the bottom boundary of the park. The other leg goes southeast toward the road, passing by more mounds and another short trail offshoot. Where State Route 76 trails off the bottom of the map, text reads, “Visitor Center to Marquette, 3 miles, 5 kilometers,” “Visitor Center to Prairie du Chien, Wis., 6 miles, 10 kilometers,” and “Visitor Center to Sny Magill Unit, 12 miles, 19 kilometers.” Legend A scale in the lower left corner of the map shows distances of 0.1 and 0.5 kilometers and 0.1 and 0.5 miles. Red text here reads “Be aware of ticks and poison ivy. Watch footing along steep cliffs.” The legend reads as follows: Black dashed line for Hiking trail, Green dot with animal shape for Mounds, and Yellow for Tallgrass prairie. Three symbols represent Wheelchair-accessible trail, Parking, and Boat launch.