Loess Hills north of Council Bluffs

After leaving the Great Plains Zoo and heading back towards home, in Iowa I saw a sign on the highway for the Loess Hills State Forest. Following the signs off the highway, I got closer to the bluffs from the Missouri River and a spot that had recently been burned off. I stopped along the road to get some photos of the bluffs from the road, framed by some irrigation equipment.

Continuing along the road I started going up the bluff, and noticed a bench up on the bluff and had a Todd Howard moment (See that mountain? You can climb it.). I turned at signs for "Murray Hill Scenic Overlook" and was greeted by a small trail up the rather steep hillside. Grabbing some water and my camera bag, I got out to hike up the hill.

After taking some pictures and doing a photosphere (I wrote more javascript to embed that on this site, ew), there was more hill to climb, so I did that, and also did another photosphere at the top.

It was a very pretty landscape to look down over, and it was nice to get out and stretch my legs on the drive back. The one part of this trip that wasn't a disappointment.