BY ANDREW MORKES, FOUNDER & AUTHOR OF THE “NATURE IN CHICAGOLAND” BLOG
The Midwest is often viewed as flyover territory by East and West Coast elites. They think: “Flat, boring, miles and miles of farmland.” In short, “nothing to see or learn about.” But Midwesterners who love nature know better. They know that the ecosystems of the Midwest are varied and beautiful—if you know where to look. We may not have Yellowstone, Yosemite, or the Grand Canyon, but we have “grace notes” in the Midwest, as author Kevin Koch calls them. And, in my opinion, the Great Lakes (especially the northern Great Lakes) are as spectacular as Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon—just in a different way. And the geological and human history that is found in or near the Midwest’s forests, prairies, current and ghost towns, small mountains, and lakes and rivers is just as fascinating and powerful as any tales told about better-known areas. For decades, Koch has shared these stories and served as a nature evangelist for the Midwest—especially the Driftless Region.
Koch is the author of a new book, Midwest Bedrock: The Search for Nature’s Soul in America’s Heartland, which spotlights natural areas and tells the geologic and human stories of life in all 12 Midwestern states. Unless you’re a nature road trip warrior, you won’t have visited the majority of these places, but you’ll be inspired to do so after reading his book. In the book’s introduction, Koch says that “this work seeks to take you places that you may have may have not heard of or given much thought to. The regions highlighted here may offer readers—even Midwesterners themselves—a few notes of surprise.”
Koch was kind enough to discuss Midwest Bedrock with me. He is also the author of Skiing At Midnight: A Nature Journal from Dubuque County, Iowa; The Driftless Land: Spirit of Place in the Upper Mississippi Valley; and The Thin Places: A Celtic Landscape from Ireland to the Driftless. In addition, he is a professor of English at Loras College and the author of the blog, The Driftless Land.
Q. Can you tell me about your new book?
A. Midwest Bedrock: The Search for Nature’s Soul in America’s Heartland travels across all twelve Midwest states to natural settings that defy typical stereotypes of the Midwest landscape. Part history, part memoir, part interview-based research, Midwest Bedrock explores such places as Wisconsin’s 1,100-mile Ice Age Trail that follows the furthest reach of the last glacier; Minnesota’s Lake Itasca, headwaters of the Mississippi River; Nebraska’s Niobrara River and northern sandhills; Iowa’s Effigy Mounds National Monument; and Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest. Each place tells the stories of the past that linger on the landscape. I work from a philosophy that to know a place deeply means to understand it on several levels, layered almost as if from bedrock to topsoil. I tell my students to get to know a place from the base upward: its geology and landscape; its Native American history; its waves of explorers, pioneers, and settlers; the story of a place today. The topsoil is your own experience on the land—the deeper the topsoil, the more fertile the place will be for you. That’s how the book is written.
Table of Contents
Introduction: Midwest Bedrock
Wisconsin: The Ice Age Trail
Michigan: A Great Lakes Shoreline
Ohio: The Hocking Hills
Indiana: Hoosier National Forest
Kansas: The Flint Hills
Nebraska: The Niobrara River and Northern Sandhills
Missouri: The Katy Trail
Illinois: Cahokia and the Upper Mississippi River Shoreline
North Dakota: The Rendezvous Region
South Dakota: Glacial Lakes and the Eastern Corridor
Minnesota: Lake Itasca, Headwaters of the Mississippi River
Iowa: Effigy Mounds in the Driftless Land
Q. How long did it take to write the book, and what was one or more of your favorite experiences that occurred during the research and writing process?
A. The book originated with the Minnesota (Lake Itasca) chapter in 2019, which I researched and wrote initially for an anthology titled North Country, edited by Jon K. Lauck and Gleaves Whitney (University of Oklahoma Press). Lauck liked the chapter and invited me to submit a book proposal on the entire Midwest to Indiana University Press, where he was overseeing a series called Heartland History. The proposal was accepted, and I began the first new chapter in the COVID summer of 2020 as my wife Dianne and I travelled to and hiked several segments of Wisconsin’s Ice Age Trail. Good for social distancing! The other state travels, interviews, and research followed thereafter. Summer of 2021: Ohio’s Hocking Hills; Indiana’s Hoosier National Forest; Kansas’ Flint Hills; and Nebraska’s Niobrara River and northern sandhills. Fall 2021: Missouri’s Katy Trail; Illinois’ Cahokia & Mississippi River Shoreline; and Iowa’s Effigy Mounds. Summer 2022: North Dakota’s Rendezvous Region; South Dakota’s Glacial Lakes & Eastern Corridor; and Michigan’s Great Lakes shoreline. I submitted the completed manuscript in Spring 2023, and after the editing process, it was released in March 2024.
Q. I know that you are longtime resident of the Driftless Area but, after writing the book and experiencing the different destinations in the book, did your views or perceptions of the region change in any way? If so, how?
A. The Unglaciated Driftless Area still remains my favorite part of the Midwest. Part of that, no doubt, is because it’s my lifelong home and I know it like an old friend. But it’s an old friend who keeps surprising me with new (to me) revelations such as a tucked-away bend in the river, a spring gushing out into a trout stream, a rock tower outcrop along the curving sweep of a road, a long plateau vista viewed from my road bike. I’ve written about the Driftless (northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota, northwest Illinois, and southwest/central Wisconsin) in each of my previous books, and it works its way into a couple of the chapters of this book as well. That said, the premise of the book was to find landscape surprises—along with their cultural and historical underpinnings—in each of the twelve Midwest states, to find those places that would surprise the outsider and, for that matter, many a Midwesterner as well. One only has to eschew the flyover jet, get off the interstate, and drive or bike the back roads and hike up into the hills to find these many wonders.
Q. What were a few other places that you find special in the Midwest that you were not able to include in the book?
A. A few months after submitting the manuscript, my wife and I travelled to the Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois, and I was mesmerized by the landscape, culture, and history there. I’ve written a bit in other venues about western Iowa’s Loess Hills, but was not able to work it into the book. This summer we will be travelling to North Dakota’s Teddy Roosevelt National Park. Dianne keeps hinting that there’s another Midwest book lurking out there and within me somewhere!
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Final Thoughts
The Midwest is full of wonders and surprises, quiet and wild places, geological gems, and fascinating—and sometimes sad—human history. I thoroughly enjoyed “traveling” with Koch and his wife around the Midwest as I read his book and learned about these places and topics, and I think you will, too. Midwest Bedrock is a thoughtful and entertaining book and highly recommended.
Midwest Bedrock: The Search for Nature’s Soul in America’s Heartland (280 pages, 25 b&w illustrations, 2024) is available in softcover, hardcover, and e-book formats from Indiana University Press.
In 2019, I interviewed Dr. Koch about the Driftless Area and his books. Here’s the article if you want to read it: Author and Professor Discusses the Magical Driftless Area
Andrew Morkes holds copyright to the introductory text.
Kevin Koch holds copyright to his interview and the cover photos of his books.
Looking for some great nature destinations in Chicagoland? If so, check out my book, Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit. It features amazing destinations in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Click on the title to learn more. The book has 306 pages and 210+ photos and is only $18.99. Nature in Chicagoland received great reviews in the Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, Daily Southtown, This Week in Birding blog, and Beverly Review.
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ABOUT ANDREW MORKES
I have been a writer and editor for nearly 30 years. I’m the founder of College & Career Press (2002); the author and publisher of “The Morkes Report: College and Career Planning Trends” blog; and the author and publisher of Hot Health Care Careers: 30 Occupations With Fast Growth and Many New Job Openings; Nontraditional Careers for Women and Men: More Than 30 Great Jobs for Women and Men With Apprenticeships Through PhDs; They Teach That in College!?: A Resource Guide to More Than 100 Interesting College Majors, which was selected as one of the best books of the year by the library journal Voice of Youth Advocates; and other titles. They Teach That in College!? provides more information on environmental- and sustainability-related majors such as Ecotourism, Range Management, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Built Environment, Sustainability Studies, and Sustainable Agriculture/Organic Farming. I’m also a member of the parent advisory board at my son’s school.
In addition to these publications, I’ve written more than 60 books about careers for other publishing and media companies including Infobase (such as the venerable Encyclopedia of Careers & Vocational Guidance, the Vault Career Guide to Accounting, and many volumes in the Careers in Focus, Discovering Careers, What Can I Do Now?!, and Career Skills Library series) and Mason Crest (including those in the Careers in the Building Trades and Cool Careers in Science series).
Here’s a list of the environmental-focused titles that I’ve written:
- Nature in Chicagoland: More Than 120 Fantastic Nature Destinations That You Must Visit
- Wind Turbine Technicians (Great Careers Without a Bachelor’s Degree series)
- Environmental Scientists (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Renewable Energy Careers (Cool Careers in Science series)
- Environment (Getting Started series)
- Solar Power Technicians (Careers in Infrastructure series)
Nature in Chicagoland 