Hiking the Horseshoe Bluff Trails at the Mines of Spain
Horseshoe Bluff Trail is one the best short yet scenic hikes in the entire state of Iowa. Its loop path is less than one mile, yet packs in some incredible views.
Where to park: 11346 Mines of Spain Road, Dubuque, Iowa 52003
Where to start the hike: The hike starts right at the parking lot and you can choose to go left or right since it’s a loop.
Why would you go left: Turning to the left to start the trail leads uphill – as some folks want the climb out of the way at the start. They also want to reach the overlook, providing them with an overview from the 3rd level of the quarry.
Why would you go right: Turning to the right is a flat, easy hike for about a quarter of a mile on a dirt/gravel path. Heading in this direction has no inclines and provides a dramatic entrance from the base floor of the canyon. If you
Is the path handicap accessible? No. Turning to the left from the parking lot is a large incline to the overlook that is not accessible. Turning to the right is accessible – but only to the base or lowest level of the canyon. Once at the lowest canyon level, you would need to take stairs or another walking incline that are not accessible.
Cost: There is no cost for parking – and there are no fees for entering or using the park.
Trail Map (via AllTrails) https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/iowa/horseshoe-bluff-nature-trail?mobileMap=false&ref=sidebar-static-map
Is this a natural canyon? Was it created by the waters from the Mississippi River?
No. It is a man-made quarry, created after years of mining for lead.
How many levels are there to the quarry?
In total, there are four levels and levels 1, 2, and 3 are open to the public.
Level 1 is the base, which is accessible by taking the trail to the right when you are at the parking lot. You can also get to level 1 by going to the left, you just have to take some stairs or declining trails to get to it.
Level 2 is approximately 30 to 40 feet above the floor level and can be accessed by either stairs or trail.
Level 3 is where the overlook is located that oversees the area.
Level 4 is the top of the bluff next to the river. There are no stairs to get to the top level, it is only accessible by free climbing the rocks. However, several years ago, signage was added asking hikers not to climb to the fourth level. The top level is about 200 feet above the floor and after multiple occasions where hikers fell to their floor, they started restricting access.
Between the base and the second level, there is a set of wood stairs.
Hi Brian – Your posts often show up on my Facebook feed, and I’m often very interested in taking a look at the cool places you discover in Iowa. However, I almost always end up leaving your site in frustration after less than a minute because pop-up ads on the left side of the screen make it almost impossible to actually view your content here (even writing this comment has been difficult as these ads keep popping up and hiding my comment). I don’t want this to sound like a complaint, just some genuine and hopefully constructive feedback. I have no problem with the ads themselves, but if you could put your content in a narrower wrapper so that the ads on the left don’t cover up your content, it would make the user experience a whole lot better.
Thanks for reporting the issue, the ads are run/displayed by an ad network, but I just opened a ticket with them and they acknowledged that there is an issue with ads on the left side covering up content and their team is working on resolving the issue today.