Ledges State Park

Ledges State Park
Iowa State Park
A stone bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps
Country	United States
State	Iowa
County	Boone

Location	Boone
- elevation	1,047 ft (319 m) ^[1]
- coordinates	41°59′27″N 93°53′0″W / 41.99083°N 93.88333°W / 41.99083; -93.88333Coordinates: 41°59′27″N 93°53′0″W / 41.99083°N 93.88333°W / 41.99083; -93.88333

Founded	1924
Management	Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Location of Ledges State Park in Iowa

Ledges State Park is a state park of Iowa, USA, located approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of the city of Boone. The park contains a sandstone gorge carved by Pea's Creek, a tributary of the Des Moines River. The gorge is 100 feet (30 m) deep in places, with concretions jutting from the cliffs.

Background

The area was designated one of the first of Iowa's state parks in 1924, and is today one of its most visited parks.

The lowland areas of the park are regularly flooded by the Des Moines River. In the 1970s, the state created a dam to form Saylorville Lake on the Des Moines River. This action has resulted in repeated flooding of low-lying areas of the park for decades. A group called The Iowa Citizens to Save Ledges State Park was organized in 1972 in protest of the proposed Saylorville Dam. Its primary objective was to alleviate and/or minimize the harmful effects on Ledges State Park by the Saylorville Lake Project of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. There were numerous conservation groups affiliated with the group, including the Ames Reservoir Environmental Study, the Iowa Conservation Commission, and the Iowa Wildlife Society.

The repeated flooding has radically changed the appearance of the lower Ledges—the timbered areas have been greatly reduced, are often covered with silt and, in general, look devastated. This is quite a change from the time when Farwell Brown and his fellow Boy Scouts camped in the Ledges in the 1920s among the lush growth in the lower Ledges. Camping and picnicking in the lower Ledges were popular recreations until the frequent floods made that area of the park less desirable. Many of the picnic areas and picnic houses in the park's flood plain have been decommissioned in the past decade. Annual flooding has made maintenance of the buildings cost prohibitive and seemingly pointless.

The park includes numerous stone buildings and bridges constructed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. Also included in the facilities are numerous campsites, picnic tables, and stone shelters, many of which have been destroyed in three decades of regular flooding.

Although extensive flooding to the lowermost portions of Ledges does occur in floods such as in 1993 and 2008, Ledges is still a great place to visit, and even the largest floods on record only submerge a small portion of the park. The canyon road, a winding one lane path traverses through Pea's and Davis creeks at five points and offers views of 50-foot-high (15 m) sandstone walls buttressing 100-foot-high (30 m) bluffs, which were created by glacial melt through sandstone deposited under an inland sea millions of years ago. Evidence of the hard work of the Civilian Conservation Corps is seen in the miles of railroad-tied trails leading up to beautiful vistas overlooking the Des Moines River Valley and the canyon. The Sioux, Fox and Sauk tribes were all once residents of the Ledges State Park area and have numerous burial mounds in the area, and wildlife such as white-tailed deer, raccoon, beaver, woodchuck and many varieties of beautiful and sometimes rare birds such as the pileated woodpecker call the park home.

There is a flood pole located in the lowlands of the park which has recorded the various flood levels over the years.

Geology

The sandstone of the cliffs was the remnant of the prehistoric sea that covered the Midwest approximately 300 million years ago. The cliffs themselves are the result of recent glaciation during the last ice age approximately 13,000 years ago, when meltwater carved quickly down through the rock.

Recreation

Many hiking trails are located throughout the Ledges. Woodlands are located in the park containing mainly basswood, maple, oak, and hickory trees. Prairie and clearings are also located throughout the park. Canoeing and fishing is made possible as the Des Moines River runs along the west side of the park.

Rustic or modern campsites are available. Most sites are on a first-come, first-served basis but certain sites can be reserved.

References

↑ "Ledges State Park". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. 1979-04-30. Retrieved 2011-02-27.

External links

Ledges State Park

Protected areas of Iowa

Federal

National Monument	Effigy Mounds

National Historic Site	Herbert Hoover

National Wildlife Refuges	DeSoto Driftless Area Neal Smith Northern Tallgrass Prairie Port Louisa Union Slough Upper Mississippi River

State

State Parks	Ambrose A. Call Backbone Badger Creek Banner Lakes at Summerset Beeds Lake Bellevue Big Creek Black Hawk Brushy Creek Cedar Rock Clear Lake Dolliver Memorial Elk Rock Elinor Bedell Emerson Bay Fairport Fort Defiance Geode George Wyth Memorial Green Valley Gull Point Honey Creek Lacey-Keosauqua Lake Ahquabi Lake Anita Lake Darling Lake Keomah Lake MacBride Lake Manawa Lake of Three Fires Lake Wapello Ledges Lewis and Clark Maquoketa Caves Marble Beach McIntosh Woods Mines of Spain & E.B. Lyons Mini-Wakan Nine Eagles Okamanpedan Palisades-Kepler Pikes Peak Pikes Point Pilot Knob Pillsbury Point Pine Lake Pleasant Creek Prairie Rose Preparation Canyon Red Haw Rice Lake Rock Creek Springbrook Stone Templar Trapper's Bay Twin Lakes Union Grove Viking Lake Volga River Walnut Woods Wapsipinicon Waubonsie Wildcat Den Wilson Island

State Forests	Backbone Barkley Gifford Holst Loess Hills Pilot Mound Shimek Stephens White Pine Hollow Yellow River

State Preserves	A.F. Miller Ames High Prairie Anderson Prairie Behrens Pond and Woodlands Berry Woods Bird Hill Bixby Bluffton Fir Stand Brush Creek Canyon Brushy Creek Cameron Woods Casey's Paha Catfish Creek Cayler Prairie Cedar Bluffs Cedar Hills Sand Prairie Cheever Lake Clay Prairie Claybanks Forest Cold Water Spring Crossman Prairie Decorah Ice Cave Dinesen Prairie Doolittle Prairie Fallen Rock Fish Farm Mounds Five Ridge Prairie Fleming Woods Fort Atkinson Freda Haffner Kettlehole Gitchie Manitou Hanging Bog Hardin City Woodland Hartley Fort Hayden Prairie Hoffman Prairie Indian Bluffs Primitive Area Indian Fish Trap Iowa's State Preserves System Kalsow Kish-Ke-Kosh Prairie Lamson Woods Liska-Stanek Prairie Little Maquoketa Malanaphy Springs Malchow Mounds Manikowski Prairie Mann Wilderness Area Marietta Sand Prairie Mericle Woods Merrill A. Stainbrook Merritt Forest Montauk Mossy Glen Mount Pisgah Cemetery Mount Talbot Nestor Stiles Prairie Ocheyedan Mound Old State Quarry Palisades-Downs Pecan Grove Pellett Woods Pilot Grove Pilot Knob Retz Woods Roberts Creek Rock Creek Island Rock Island Roggman Boreal Slopes Rolling Thunder Prairie Saint James Lutheran Church Savage Woods Searryl's Cave Sheeder Prairie Silver Lake Fen Silvers-Smith Woods Slinde Mounds Starr's Cave Steele Prairie Stinson Prairie Strasser Woods Sylvan Runkel Toolesboro Mounds Turin Loess Hills Turkey River Mounds White Pine Hollow Williams Prairie Wittrock Indian Village Woodland Mounds Woodman Hollow Woodthrush

County

State Parks (Leased)	Bobwhite Cold Springs Crystal Lake Eagle Lake Echo Valley Frank A. Gotch Heery Woods Lake Cornelia Lake Icaria Kearny Margo Frankel Mill Creek Oak Grove Oakland Mills Pammel Sharon Bluffs Spring Lake Swan Lake Three Mile Lake

Iowa Department of Natural Resources

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