Students visit Effigy Mounds National Monument 

10 students from the Winona campus and online attended a field trip organized by Student Senate on Friday, October 15, 2021 to Effigy Mounds National Monument in Harper's Ferry, IA. Effigy Mounds is a 1500 year old burial site of the Woodland Indians who lived in this region and built incredibly complex mounds in the shape of bears, thunder hawks, and conical mounds overlooking the Mississippi River. 

 Students from environmental science classes, history classes, PSEO, and sociology classes took part in the trip. Many students commented how good it felt to be around other students and appreciated the opportunity for hands-on learning.

Highlights of the trip included completing the seven mile round trip from the visitor center to Hanging Rock, with 3 miles of it being an advanced hiking trail. We also saw four whitetail deer. The most exciting part of the trip was an eight foot bull snake who demanded to cross the trail in front of us!

The Effigy Mounds Field Trip is held most years in the fall -- take advantage of this wonderful opportunity if it comes up again next year.

To see a complete gallery of photos, including a video of the bull snake, see our Facebook photo gallery.