Preparation Canyon State Park

Preparation Canyon State Park

Parks Directory of the United States / State Parks / Iowa

Location: 5 miles southwest of Moorhead, off IA 183.
Facilities: 9 hike-in campsites, picnic areas, open picnic shelter, hiking trails.
Activities: Primitive camping, picnicking, hiking.
Special Features: Park derives its name from the town of Preparation, so named because a group of Mormons who settled there in 1853 considered the area their "School of Preparation for the Life Beyond." Their leader, Charles B Thompson, cheated them out of their valuable farmland and fled the area. The Iowa Supreme Court divided the remaining land equally among the remaining families, but the town faded and eventually disappeared. Descendents of the original Mormon families later sold the land where Preparation once stood to the state. Now a state park, the area is located in Loess Hills and surrounded on three sides by dramatic ridges.
Address: c/o Lewis and Clark State Park
21914 Park Loop
Onawa, IA 51040
Phone: 712-423-2829;
Web: www.iowadnr.com/parks/state_park_list/preparation_canyon.html
Size: 344 acres.

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See other parks in Iowa.