Hawkeye Point - EarthCache EarthCache
Hawkeye Point - EarthCache
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EarthCache -- Glacial Features of Iowa's Highest Point -- Hawkeye Point; Osceola County
For years the Ocheyedan Mound near the city of Ocheyedan in Osceola County was touted as the highest point in Iowa. In 1971 a fresh United States Geodatic Survey determined that the true high point was in an Osceola County pig farm. The “new” high point is now recognized as Hawkeye Point.
The coordinates posted for this Earth Cache are for this highest natural point in Iowa. Hawkeye Point is located just north of Sibley off Highway 60. The area is now owned by Osceola County and is open to the public. The Point offers a panoramic view of three States (South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota). This highpoint provides an opportunity to see the two major geologic features of the area.
The two major geologic features of northwest Iowa and Osceola County are the Northwest Iowa Plains and the Des Moines Lobe. The Des Moines Lobe was a tongue-like extension of the Wisconsin Sheet of the last ice age glacier to enter what is now Iowa. The Ocheyedan Mound is a kame formed when that glacier melted. The Northwest Iowa Plains area was not covered by that ice sheet. About half of the county is in the plains region.
Lands once covered by glaciers often are rolling hills and have many rounded rocks and boulders called erratics. Plains tend to be flatter and rock-free.
To count this Earth Cache you must:
1/ Post a picture of you and/or your group standing on the Hawkeye Point platform. (stongly encouraged, but optional under new guidelines)
2/ Email the answers to these three questions?
a/ What is the elevation of Hawkeye Point?
b/ In your opinion why would people not suspect that Hawkeye Point is the highest place in Iowa?
c/ After your examination of the Hawkeye Point area and the Ocheyedan Mound area, offer your conclusion about Hawkeye Point. Is it or is it not part of the glaciated area?
More information available from:
Dawson, Alastar Ice Age Earth: Late Quaternarry Geology London: Routledge, 1992
Ice Age Trail Alliance – www.iceagetrail.org
Osceola County -- www.osceolacountyia.com/ocheyedan/ochMound.htm
“Discover Osceola County” pamphlet by Keith M. Merrick Co., Sibley, Iowa.
University of Minnesota “Minnesota at a Glance: Quaternary Glacial Geology” 1997
Thank you, D & A, for your assistance in obtaining county permission.
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