#ColumbusJunction

[thatawaydad]

Columbus Junction Swinging Bridge Hike

In Columbus Junction, Iowa, you can walk along a swinging bridge that is 262 feet above a dark ravine shrouded in a jungle-like forest. This was a roadside stop we made on a trip to visit family in Iowa City from St. Louis. The bridge is also known as Lover’s Leap Swinging Bridge based on a tale that a woman who leaped to her death after the loss of her lover killed in battle. Overview It is…

[stephbarrios]

September

| Columbus Junction, Iowa.

[rundrinkiowa]

Louisa County

Louisa County

        Location:  Columbus Junction (map)

Run Time: 11:27

        Distance: 1 mile

        Beer: Coors Light at Rumors & Excuses

        Date: 4/12/14

What drew me to Columbus Junction was the “Lover’s Leap Bridge,” a swinging bridge 80 feet above a ravine.  The bridge was named after a local legend that a heartbroken Native American maiden threw herself into the ravine.  The bridge itself is pretty impressive and made for one of the more unique runs.  It was incredibly difficult to run as the surface below me bounced and swayed.  

  But the cultural diversity of Columbus Junction is even more interesting.  The early 1900’s drew Mexican laborers who helped to build the railroad and farm labor was another pull factor.  The Tyson plant outside of town continues to attract migrants from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and many other Hispanic countries.  

  According to the Columbus Junction website one-third of the businesses in the downtown area are Latino-owned.  A quick walk through the main strip felt more Nicaragua than Newton, more Panama than Panora.  

In addition to the Hispanic population migrants from the Chin state of Myanmar began arriving in 2005.  The largely Christian minority fled the country due to religious persecution by that ruling junta.  About 500 have settled in the town and the school has hired one to translate.  The refugees mainly work at the Tyson plant although some have opened businesses as well.  

  Columbus Junction is a fascinating corner of Iowa.  It feels like an anomaly.  Many of Iowa’s small towns are ethnically homogeneous, with sagging populations.  And yet this tiny town has demonstrated the ability to pull in refugees and immigrants from across the world seeking the American dream.  Columbus Junction is changing. The population shifts and sways much like  the old bridge that brought this fourth generation German to the town.

Information obtained from Columbus Junction website and Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier