Attractions

In McGregor, visit the River Junction Trade Co. at 312 Main Street. You'll find frontier-era clothing and accessories, including a horsehair coat or a double-breasted vest or a leather holster or a bar of homemade soap.

Pike's Peak State Park is just a mile and a half south of McGregor on Iowa 340.

The park is home to the highest bluff on the Mississippi. It's 500-feet high. And yes, it's named after Zebulon Pike, who explored the Upper Mississippi River for the government in 1805. Pike later went west and named a famous peak in Colorado.

In addition to great views, the park offers picnicking, camping, hiking and mountain biking. The place, according to the visitor's brochure, "is a hiker's delight."

Parks

* Pike's Peak State Park, on a 500-foot bluff overlooking the Mississippi River valley, was the vantage point for Zebulon Pike, an Army surveyor who later discovered Pike's Peak in Colorado. The highest bluff on the Mississippi offers a magnificent view of the Wisconsin and Mississippi rivers. The park has fireplaces, shelter house, picnic facilities, miles of trails for hiking and cross country skiing, camping area, showers.

Camping

* Paradise Valley Campgrounds, five miles south of McGregor off Great River Road, 563/873-2004. Offers 270 acres, picnicking, camping, hiking, swimming, fishing, playgrounds, rest rooms, volleyball and basketball hoop and trout fishing.

* Spook Cave and Campground, seven miles west of McGregor on U.S. 18/52. Guided boat tour through a naturally formed cave. Barn restaurant, playgrounds, picnicking and swimming. Full service camping facilities with cabin rental available. Call 563/873-2144.