My family and I have only been paddling for 3 or 4 years and are looking for more places to go. On our list of places is the Turkey River. My husband and I took our son on a road trip up by Effigy Mounds and Pike Peak last weekend and after seeing the area we are even more interested in the Turkey River. Can anyone give us some hints and suggestions.

Thanks

We did a couple short sections of the Turkey this year (from Elkader to Motor Mill, and then from the 10 mile bridge to just north of Elkader). If you want some more info. on our trips, you can see my trip reports at



http://www.manson-nw.k12.ia.us/faculty/pettyb/trips2003.htm

would have to be Turkey River Mounds State Preserve. Not quite as neat as Effigy but still cool none the less.

check out Big Spring Rearing Station near Elkader. That is were trout are raised and distributed to streams in that area.

As far as paddling, most of the river should be ok (water levels) to paddle after Eldorado but it doesn't get that scenic until Clermont. A good anytime float would be from the Elkport area (where the volga meets the turkey) to the Mississippi and the Turkey River Mounds area.

Hi,

I've paddled the Turkey from Eldorado to Garber. The most constantly wooded and scenic section of all runs from Elkader to Motor Mill and Motor Mill to Garber. The river there is fairly easy to negotiate and slow, with wooded ridges for most of the way along.

My second most favorite stretch is from Eldorado to the above the dam at Clermont, which can be split up into shorter trips using county road accesses. You need higher water levels than there are now, though, because there are more rocky shoals and riffles. There's some farmland, but also nice stands of white pines and small rock cliffs lining the river.