With nearly fifty featured trails, Iowa's verdant countryside is an excellent place for a hike, and this guide covers the state's varied terrain with a focus on the state parks and recreation areas.

Wander prairies blazing with color. Climb up ridges and discover stunning vistas. Dip into quiet valleys and peaceful canyons. Glide through a golden forest, stroll a city street, stand beneath a waterfall or in a cave. In this book, Lynn Walters guides you to some of Iowa's most scenic and diverse trails. No matter if you are in the mood for a casual jaunt or an adventuresome trek,

Best Easy Day Hikes Cedar Rapids includes concise descriptions and detailed maps for nineteen easy-to-follow hikes in and around Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, Cedar Falls, and Waterloo. Enjoy scenic walks along the Cedar River, Devonian Fossil Gorge, the Mormon Handcart Trail or Wildcat Den State Park, Maquoketa Caves State Park, and the Cedar Valley Nature Trail. Look inside for: • Thirty-minute strolls to two-hour adventures • Hikes for everyone, including families • Mile-by-mile directions, clear trail maps • Trail Finder for best hikes for children, dogs, or views • GPS coordinates

This fascinating tale of the author's cross-country hitchhiking journey is a captivating look into the pleasures and challenges of the open road. As the miles roll by he meets businessmen, missionaries, conspiracy theorists, and truck drivers from all ages and ethnicities who are eager to open their car doors to a wandering stranger. This memoir uncovers the hidden reality that the United States remains hospitable, quirky, and as ready as ever to offer help to a curious traveler. Demonstrating how hitchhiking can be the ultimate in adventure travel—a thrilling exploration of both people and scenery—this guide also serves as a hitchhiker's reference, sharing the history behind this communal form of travel while touching on roadside lore and philosophy.

Iowa is home to rolling hills, beautiful state parks, lush cornfields, and architecture that is unique to the state. With Iowa’s dozen-plus scenic highways and byways, and with 100 Things to Do in Iowa Before You Die as your guide, your next road trip will be an epic one for the record books. Did you know that you can stay in the last-known hotel in the world designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Mason City? Hop on the Historic Hills Scenic Byway in southeast Iowa and enjoy glassblowing at Bloom & Bark, LLC. Visit Effigy Mounds National Monument and view more than 200 prehistoric mounds built by Native Americans. Check out Pella, home to all things Dutch, including a windmill, museums, and unique shops. A visit to northeast Iowa would not be complete without a stop in Horsfall’s, a variety store that attracts visitors from hundreds of miles around; or in Decorah, home to Nordic Fest and all things Scandinavian. Join author and Iowa native Sara Broers and experience Iowa in a day, week, month, a lifetime. You will be greeted by friendly people and will find a new experience around every corner.

Approximately 900 hiking trails in the United States take hikers along routes or past sites of historical importance and offer commemorative embroidered patches or other souvenirs of the outing. These trails allow hikers to gain a new appreciation for history and actually experience it, instead of only reading about it--and have something to show for their hike. The first comprehensive guide to those trails, this work covers routes in all fifty states and the District of Columbia as well as interstate trails. The book categorizes each as historic, meaning that it played some significant role in history; historical, meaning that it takes the hiker by or into buildings or sites that have some relationship to a significant person or event, but do not themselves figure in history; nature or scenic, because of the wildlife or scenery available along the way that can be viewed along with the historical site; or recreational, meaning that the trail was established for the long-distance hiker and history buff. Each entry also tells who the trail's sponsor is, if alternate means of transportation are allowed, location, length, route, type of terrain, what type of awards are given and any associated costs, registration requirements, and sites along the trail.

From historic landmarks to early settlement sites and more, this book is the perfect companion for any hiker with an interest in history. Make no mistake—this is a hiking book first and foremost, complete with rich photos and detailed maps, but with added extras and sidebars detailing enough historical information to satisfy every curiosity along the way.