Cedar Bend Park - A Midwestern Swampland

Cedar River Bend

Just outside of Waverly, Iowa, a muddy trail descends into a dark passageway that whisks you to a bend in the Cedar River. A winding, wooden boardwalk emerges from the dense cover and expels the foreigner onto a sand dune beach.

The wide waterway snakes it’s way through the midwestern swampland while moving at a fairly fast clip. Connecting separate segments of the jungle trek, lofty bridges are built into the steep, broken hillside.

The damp woodland is overgrown with plants and teeming with reptiles and bird life but the occasional snag is spot-lit by the filtered light. The finish line is decorated with a bouquet of blue wildflowers that so eloquently bid the visitor a fond farewell.

A dark passageway

A wooden boardwalk

A wide waterway

Lofty bridges

A dead tree snag

A bouquet of wildflowers

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