Wapsipinicon State Park

Wapsipinicon State Park is located in eastern Iowa, just outside of Anamosa.

I spent a great morning with my wife and daughter on super nice day in June of 2017. The park actually sits on the border of Anamosa, separated by the Wapsipinicon River. On the northwest border of the park is the local golf course. So there is almost always someone nearby enjoying the trails with you.

There are a ton places to park throughout the park. So if you just want to check out a specific feature, chances are high you’ll be able to park next to it.

Now we parked at the playground (orange star) where there would be restrooms accessible. As my standard, we hiked the park in a clockwise direction, heading to Hale Bridge (green star) which was relocated to park by the National Guard in 2006. It is a short paved walk from the road to the bridge that has been converted into a pedestrian bridge.

From there we began our actual dirt walking on the Prairie Trails (yellow), sticking close to the river.

For the most part the prairie trails are mowed grass. They are well maintained and easy to follow. My only criticism would be the junction where you need to turn westward back into the park (blue star). There could be a sign so you don’t accidentally continue down the river path like I did the first time I hiked the park.

As far as challenging, this is probably the closest this park comes with a decent climb up to the southern-most point. From there it descends to a 4-way intersection (pink star) where you could choose to take the other climb up to the overlook (purple star), or the better choice of heading west into the piney wood! (gray star)

Now this is the real highlight of this park. The best kind of woods walks are those that take you down a pine flanked trail. The colors, the sounds, the smells. All mind soothers. All of ours in Iowa are too short, and this follows suit. However, just slow your pace and it’ll feel longer. 🙂

 

Once we got to the end of the trail, we hooked west/southwest and followed the creek back toward Horse Thief Trail and the cave (black star). It is a shallow cave, but would have been more than sufficient to provide shelter to any horse thieves back in the day. Heh.

We quickly walked the road back to the car we drove up to the lodge by the overlook (purple star), and walked the short distance to check out the view. Mostly it is just a big hill that lets you see the park from edge to edge. Baby girl had a blast running around in the grass, picking the clover blossoms, so still a win.

 

Finally, we can’t leave off without discussing the playground. Super good playground. I know a certain 18 month old that thought it was the best place ever! If you want to enjoy those giggles, head on over to the Youtube video and see for yourself!

I hope you enjoy Wapsipinicon State Park as much as we did, and make sure to bring the little ones.

Red Haw State Park

Red Haw State Park is located in south central Iowa, down by Chariton.

I visited the park with my wife and daughter in early October of 2017. We had originally planned for a multi-park tour, but weather started to move in by the time we got to our second park, and we didn’t want to risk CJ out in it.

Since it was going to be a longer day, we left the house when it was still dark. This allowed CJ a little more time in her PJ’s as she continued sleeping during the drive out. This also ended up allowing her a little more bink time than we normally let her have. Typically it’s only allowed for naps and bedtime, but since she had little choice but to tag along we caved to her smiles.

Now as for the park itself, the day started out a bit chilly, but beautiful. Nice bright sky, and I was out with the wife and baby. It was gonna be a good hike.

We parked at one of the shelters on the northern portion of the park (Red Star). There was a small beach with a lily pad filled inlet next to it. We had to walk around the inlet toward the north before we found the official trailhead.

For the most part the trail was a mowed grassy path, not my favorite as I prefer dirt, but it appeared well maintained. There were a good number of paint markings at the beginning and at the end of the trail, suggesting there was a 5k, as well as a middle school and high school cross country race held there. So Red Haw must be a pretty busy place for the locals.

The trail is a 4 mile loop around the lake. We stuck to the trails running along the shoreline for the duration of the hike. The east shore is where most of the interesting things we found were. First off, I got to introduce my wife to a locust tree. Now I will admit, that while I was familiar with the tree, I had only recently learned what kind of tree it was. Locust trees are hard to miss, they are covered in long, sharp thorns that will rip you up if you aren’t paying attention.

The other thing I got to show her is what we always called spider balls. Not actually sure how much truth there is to it, but I was always told that they have magical powers to scare away spiders. lol. Basically a moth ball for spiders.

We eventually made it to the center of the park where we took a quick bio break at the handy bathrooms (Blue Star). This is the best view of the lake being that it is the most elevated point overlooking the lake. From there it was a quick walk to the westernmost point in the park where the campgrounds are (Green Star). This was also the busiest part of the park with a good number of trailers and boat launches.

There was a quick road walk across a bridge before the brief return back to the car. Overall we really enjoyed our hike at Red Haw State Park. It wasn’t very challenging, which was fine by me with baby girl on my back.

At 4 miles of flat trail, this hike should be accessible to almost anyone. Even though there are very few offshoot trails, I would recommend carrying a map with you to at least track your progress. It is always a good idea to consider water and snacks as well. I can’t determine your level of fitness, only you will know what you need in that department.

If you’re looking for a short hike in south central Iowa, Red Haw State Park might just be up your alley. It isn’t overly challenging, and should be accessible to almost anyone.

As always, don’t forget to pop over to YouTube and check out the video! You won’t be sad, there’s a lot of baby girl cuteness, I promise.

So I hope you get out there, and enjoy your walk.

FW Kent County Park

FW Kent County Park is located just northwest of Iowa City.

Kent Park is a neat little place with a lot more variety than I initially anticipated. There has been a lot of work put into this park, which made for a very enjoyable hike.

I hiked the park with my wife in two parts; we hiked the east loop then drove over to hike one of the west loops. On the website they have two different maps; the one above, minus the trails on the east side of the park, and one that only has the east trails. I took out a marker and filled in the east trails for the one I used during our hike. I just drew them in using Paint for this. The orange lines are the routes we took. (They really should just update their map to have one comprehensive map…)

As you can see, the complete trail system can be connected if you choose to do some road walking. Our hike was a little over 6 miles, and I suspect you could stretch that out another 4 miles at least, if not 5.

We started our hike at the Conservation Education Center (orange star) and checked out some of the natural science items they had inside. Then we stepped out and started on the nice little nature loop they had just to the north. I could easily see taking baby girl there so she could play inside and go for a short stroll to check out anything that decided to come out. Once we finished that loop the eastern trail began at the parking lot. Now the first section on the furthest eastern edge of the park was really the only mundane portion of the hike. It was a simple straight line of mowed grass that had a constant gradual descent to it as we headed south.

Which meant that once we hit the southernmost point and began our return north, it was a steady climb. In all honesty, the park is made up of rolling hills aside from that easternmost trail. The view was nice though.

As we continued north we began to see more and more ponds, full of croaking frogs and algae. Some of them were quite pretty with the bold greens contrasting with the rich blue skies. There were also a couple bridges along the route that always causes my wife’s mood to perk up. While the east loop did mainly stick to being grass, a few spots did turn into a worn trail in the more wooded sections.

We discussed how we wanted to proceed with the next section after we got back to the car and opted just to hit up the lake loop. So we drove around the north road and parked at the Twin Fawns Picnic Area (red star). It was a good descent down to the lake (we should have just driven down to the lake and parked at the beach {green star}).

Once we hit the actual Lake Loop we both agreed that this was by far the best trail in the park. The park service has put a lot of work into that area of the park. It makes sense as it is the main draw after all. Like I mentioned just second ago, there is a nice beach on the southern side of the lake, and on the north end you have all of the camping and picnic areas. So it is only natural that they build up that part of the park for park visitors.

The trail was a very nice crushed limestone, but the neatest part was all of the bridges. Which my wife was super excited about, it is literally her favorite thing about hiking. What makes these bridge unique, is that they are all reclaimed bridges from other parts of Iowa. There is a pretty large one that the Iowa National Guard flew in under a Chinook helicopter. The day we were going through a wedding party was getting their pictures taken in front of that bridge, so we had to wait a bit before we could sneak through. From there we crossed over the dam and moseyed back up north to the car.

When you make your visit to FW Kent Park you should always bring food, water, and a map, and the other map. The 6+ miles took my wife and me 2.5 hours. Now you can hike as little as a couple of miles to almost 12, so bring more than you need if you are going long (better to have too much than not enough). If you’re just going for a walk around the lake, then yes, you don’t really need anything. Just be aware of your abilities and related needs. There really isn’t anything difficult about this park unless you’re not ready to push yourself on a longer distance.

Once again my wife and I really enjoyed ourselves at FW Kent County Park and will give it another go. It was a very pleasant hike on a beautiful day. I hope you find yourself circling it on your map of places to check out.

Thanks for reading!

(P.S. If there is a bridge in the picture, my wife had the camera.)

Rock Creek State Park

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Rock Creek State Park is located near Kellogg which is just north of I-80, about halfway between Des Moines and Iowa City.

The park has a single, relatively flat, 11.5 mile trail traveling the circumference of a lake that is a standard model in many of Iowa’s state parks. In this case 3/4 of it is trail covering the southern portion of the lake (blue line), while the remainder consists of walking along the roads to finish off the northern part (green line).

This park did take two visits to be able to complete as it is a park that seems to suffer from low maintenance. The first time I attempted the hike, I parked at a nice little picnicking area (orange star) and only made it to a small pond where everything was completely overgrown and impassable (red star). That is one of the bigger problems with parks with trails that primarily consist of grass. Their trails require very regular mowing.

Good news is, the second trip was far more successful. I was apprehensive about the trip, but felt a sense of relief once I found that the trail was semi-recently mowed.

So I began the trip from the orange star and hiked clockwise around the lake. Another problem with grass trails is that the morning dew clings to it and it wasn’t long before my feet were drenched. Some sections were drier than others, but ultimately I did the whole 11.5 miles with wet feet. (Wet is a sore spot with me, my ultimate kryptonite.) That aside, the trail was easy to follow as it looped around the eastern inlet.

Eventually I found myself on a road for a short bit as I lost the trail near boat ramp/ pseudo marina (blue star). This is one of the areas where there are residential homes along the shore, so it is plausible that the docks here are designated for the homeowners. The next 1/2 mile of shoreline you are basically walking through the backyards of these houses. At least the yards are large, unlike some parks where I feel as though I could see right into their living rooms. This is also the section I got the best pictures in. I found a couple of cranes and a finch at the docks, then all along the shoreline I found some nice flowers.

Shortly after that is when the low maintenance reared its head again. In the park’s defense, is was pretty wet leading up to the hike, and many parts of the terrain in the remaining section (red circle) would be hard to mow. Unfortunately, this is also where the mosquitoes decided to join the party. Rather than digressing into a complaint session, I’ll just say that there is a lot of potential for this area of the park if there would be a little more effort put into keeping the trails mowed (or transitioning into gravel, etc.). I found myself pushing hard to get out of the longer grass and thick mosquitoes. In fact the mosquitoes pushed me off my plan of sticking to the blue trail, and taking the yellow trail to the beach (green star). One positive was capturing some photos of a funnel spider getting a young grasshopper that hopped onto its web.

Once out of the infestation… I milled around the beach for a bit watching the geese with a bird friend.

After having a snack I decided to start the road march up and around the northern tip of the lake and back to the vehicle (green lines – dark planned, light impromptu). The road walk was what you’d expect from a road walk. One interesting thing I found was that at the north end of the park is a paved trail that leads east from the park entrance all the way to the town of Grinnell (bold yellow line). Something nice if you happen to live in town.

From here I headed south back to the vehicle, past the campgrounds, and called it a day.

As for my gear recommendations if your journey takes you to Rock Creek State Park: a pack with plenty of water and some calories as 11.5 miles will burn some energy. Some first aid, a map, and of course, bug spray and waterproof shoes… heh. This was one of my faster paces, covering the distance in a little under 3 hours and 45 mins, part of that could be contributed to the literal bugging out at the end. So keep that in mind when planning your timetable compared to your average pace over flat ground.

In the end, Rock Creek State Park has a lot of potential to be a nice stroll around the lake. I think if they could improve the condition of their trails with rock and/or wood chips it would be far more enjoyable. Parks like this are one of the reasons I started this site and the Youtube channel. If more people show interest in visiting our parks to use the trails, then maybe the park service will be more likely to put money into improving the parks that aren’t as popular. During this visit I did see work being done to other parts of the park, we just need to work to get the trails added to the to-do list.

For another look at the park, please check out the video over on the YouTube channel.

As always, thanks for reading and enjoy your walk!

Lacey-Keosauqua State Park

Lacey-Keosauqua State Park is located near Keosauqua in southeast Iowa, just north of the Missouri border.

Lacey-Keosauqua State Park left me with mixed feelings. There is without a doubt plenty of potential for the park to be a great place to hike, however very low trail maintenance and poor trail markers left me pretty discouraged at points.

The above map (which misspells the name of the park) was my planned route that I estimated to be roughly 11-12 miles long. The below map is what I ended up being able to hike, although I still did end up covering just shy of 11 miles.

Let’s just get into what happened. So I drove down to the park and made my way to the beach (orange star). I went down to the small beach from the elevated parking lot on a nicely groomed, stair-stepped path. As the sun rose over the trees, it revealed a nice mist hovering over the top of the pond.

I hung out for a bit and took some photos before heading back up the stairs, and then off on the trail heading north. The short path was quite nice and led to the road where there was a boat ramp. However, this is also where I ran into my first frustration with this trail (orange circle). Once you exit the short trail from the beach, you are supposed to be able to cross the road and get on more trail. Unfortunately, I looked all over and could not find an entrance to the trail anywhere along its entire length. Instead, I had to walk the road until I got to a picnic area with a shelter. There I found a trailhead leading off to the River Trail.

Once again, the trail was a nice path on a decent climb as I veered to the south once it split. As it continued along I found that the maintenance started to get a little lax until it crossed over into Shimek State Forest (red circle) where it pretty much felt almost non-existent. I attempted to take a spur to the south where there was supposed to be a tower of some kind, but got fed up with the weeds and turned around to just finish the park and head home.

I pretty much plodded my way northwest until I exited Shimek and found the trails to return to a maintained state with bridges and a small climb that eventually ended in an open space at Lacey-Keosauqua’s northwest entrance (green star).

There was a neat little building at the entrance that had several plaques with photos talking about the history of the park and its construction. I had heard of the Civilian Conservation Corps and had seen the CCC referenced, but it wasn’t until I came across these plaques that I actually learned about who they were and they did. Later I popped on the internet and read more about them and how they pretty much built the majority of the parks in the nation during the 30’s and 40’s, until WWII.

I wandered around and checked out what I could of the lodge that is available to rent before jumping on the River Trail. My mood had increased and I was all about exploring and enjoying the trails again. This almost hampered my day again as I decided to check out an unmarked trail that headed up a hill. Once I got to the top I found that it led to a memorial marker for the Army officer, Major John Fletcher Lacey, who was in charge of the construction of the park (blue star). As I backtracked to the River Trail again I found myself on a spur trail that ran parallel to it. Even though I could see the trail I want the whole time, the foliage was too thick to simply bushwhack over to it. Finally I found myself at a restroom along a park road by a picnic area. I pushed back my annoyance and continued forward until I found an access trail that led back to the River Trail, this time deciding not to explore anymore unmarked trails.

Now, all that being said, the River Trail is by far the best maintained trail in the park. There are several nice little bridges along the trail and plenty of scenic river and wildlife. My yo-yoing mood peaked again as I spent more time on this trail and then crossed paths with some locals who recommended the trail around the pond for some bird shots. Eventually, my mood had to fall as is the pattern with this park. Once I got to the red star I had trouble finding the trail that was supposed to lead off into the green circled area, so I just followed the trail that ended up leading back to the original picnic area where my orange circled road walk ended. Quite a surprise since once again it was another unmarked trail that shouldn’t have existed.

Mostly fed up, I speed walked the road back to the boat ramp, paused and looked to the south, the direction of my vehicle. I contemplated calling it quits, but I knew at this point in my hiking that this website was something I wanted to do. This means that in order to provide the best information I can, I have to suffer through and finish when the fun has sometimes been left behind. So I instead picked up my feet and headed east to finish the pond trail, after all, the nice couple did say that there is normally some good birding on the trail.

So Lake Trail as they call it, was in need of some good maintenance. It was still very hike-able with some sections that once had nice work put into them, but they appear to have been allowed to return to nature. The trail did boost my spirits up enough that I left the hike ready to leave, but not disliking the park. One thing of note; there were some oddly placed benches that were shrouded by trees (pink circles). At first this seemed kind of neat, a place to look upon the water where one could be obscured from view. Then I noticed that both peered across the pond/lake at the beach, where children play… maybe not the best positioning.

If you are going to be heading down to Lacey-Keosaqua State Park I would suggest you make sure to take a solid amount of water and snacks as you would likely be out on the trails for a while. Even though their map is obviously outdated, make sure to bring it along as it will at least give you an idea of where trails should be. It is relatively close, just missing a few key points that led to my frustrations. There is a mild amount of climbing as well, so those that desire the extra balance may want their trekking poles.

Even though I had a somewhat rough time at the park, I still maintained a good pace and covered the 11 miles in 4 hours. I don’t want to completely discourage anyone from visiting the park as it has a lot of potential. For the time being I would recommend sticking to the Lake Trail and the River Trail. Heading off into the Shimek State Forest area is where you may likely run into frustrations of your own. If the parks service, or a local Boy Scout Troop, would put some good effort into the park, and they would update their maps, then Lacey-Keosauqua could be a great spot for a hike rather than just a good one.

The video report for this trail is up on YouTube, so go check it out!

Thanks for reading!

Elk Rock State Park

Elk Rock State Park is located near Knoxville in southeast Iowa, about 45 minutes from Des Moines.

Elk Rock was one of those parks that I had been looking at for a while before I finally made it there on a last minute decision. The weather initially called for storms, but then everything shifted and I found myself with bright sunny skies, and a desire to get away for a day. What I got was an excellent day of hiking, full of beautiful weather, wildlife, and scenery!

The first impression I had was on the drive into the park. Coming from the north you cross over Lake Red Rock on a long bridge that gives you a great view of the bluffs the lake sits in. It made me really desire to get out on the water in order to check out photo opportunities from that angle.

I drove into the center of the park where the equestrian campground was to start my hike (orange star). This was a very nice little area with a quality playground for little ones. I followed the road for a short couple hundred yards north toward the trail-head of the North Loop Trail (blue). The trail was supposed to be a 1.8 mile trail, but ended up being around 2.5 miles. This seemed to be a theme throughout the park, I ended up hiking more miles than advertised. Not a whole lot more, maybe an extra half mile per trail, but a standard example of why you should use the numbers given out more as guidelines.

Now the North Loop Trail starts out semi-rough with some soft sandy sections that are pretty chewed up by the horses. This was probably the worse section concerning horse damaged trails, probably because it is closest to the campground. That aside, it was a nice walk in the woods. The trails were open under the canopy of leaves that allowed the wind to flow through, but not enough to keep the bugs at bay. There was a nice break in the trees that offered a pleasant vantage point of the lake at the northern most point of loop.

After spending a moment checking out the view, I headed back down the trail. The elevation remained relatively flat as the trail found its way to the road that serves as a junction point for the three trails (green star). A short walk down the gravel road and you’ll find the trail-head to the East Loop Trail (yellow).

The wildlife woke up as I began the East Loop Trail and the birds were everywhere. It gave me plenty of practice and I captured several with my camera. Along with some slugs, snails, millipedes, butterflies and dragonflies. The best part of this trail was toward the end where you come across an open field of tall grass. The wind blew through freely and the birds were quite chatty.

A notable thing about this trail is that a lot of it skirted the edges of various cornfields. This is actually another tidbit that isn’t that uncommon about equestrian trails I’ve found. Quite a few of them do tend run their trails on the outer portions of a park and along cornfield borders. In these sections the sun felt its strongest, and the lack of scenery did make time seem to stretch a little. I did have to remind myself that the trail was made with horses in mind, not just people.

One place I found a lot of potential to improve this trail was at the northern most point (red star). It overlooks the lake and has a hitching post for horses and a rotting picnic table. Unfortunately, the view is completely blocked by dead-fall trees. If the park service were to go out and clear away all of that dead-fall  and possibly add a nice bench, it would open up a view of the lake and create a nice rest spot for future park users. I think it could be quite nice.

The trail returned to the road again and I moved on down to the West Trail Loop (red). This was my favorite trail of the three. It was less damaged by far, more than likely due to it being furthest from the equestrian camp. My opinion could be skewed I’ll admit, since it had the best trails and was following up a somewhat mundane cornfield walk. Anyway, the trail was thickly wooded and the trail it self was smooth and flowing. Even though it is called a loop, it was actually more of a down and back with a loop at the end.

I almost got a picture of a deer standing in a moss covered pond, but unfortunately I couldn’t capture the focus until after it was on the shore. The wildlife was active in this section as well. Aside from the deer, my favorite photo of the day was captured here. The cardinals had been taunting me all day, but i finally got one in my lens. I returned along the West Loop Trail until I got back to the paved road, which I hoped on for the walk back to the vehicle (orange line). On the way out I did stop over at the boat ramp and parking lot. Even though it is just a place to put in your boat, it was still photogenic as well.

In total I hiked 10.74 miles in 4 hours and 15 mins. I was shutter-bugging it the whole way, but still managed a 2.5 mile per hour pace. So someone just out for a walk should be able to move a bit faster if they wanted. Since this is a longer hike, I would very much recommend you take a pack to carry your food, water, and map. It would be a good idea to have sunscreen and bug spray for sure, along with at least a rudimentary first aid kit. The only other must I would suggest, your camera. If the weather is good, so will be the photos.

One thing nice about the style of this park is that because of the pseudo-hub where all of the trails meet, you could hike only 1, 2, or all 3 trails depending on your time and abilities. There aren’t any difficult sections, just some low grade rolling hills, so anyone who can handle the distances can handle the hikes.

Elk Rock State Park was a very enjoyable hike that I will return to. While sections of the trails are frustrating due to damage from horses, and the cornfields were a little boring, overall I had a great time. If you’d like to check out the video, you can watch it over on the YouTube channel. I hope you enjoy your hike out at Elk Rock State Park as much as I did!

Thanks for reading!

Wildcat Den State Park

Wildcat Den State Park Wildcat Den State Park is located in southeast Iowa near Muscatine, just west of Davenport and the rest of the quad cities.

This is another park that I ventured to with the family without any knowledge other than it being on the DNR website and had a trail. While I will admit the kids weren’t as enthused as their mom and I about getting out, by the end the were enjoying themselves with the scenery.

The park offers about 6 miles of trails, mostly in a loop with a down and back tail on the east side. It was thickly wooded with some noticeable hills throughout. We started our hike by parking at the orange star in the center of the park. The parking area was surrounded by a pretty open area for picnicking, as well as a shelter. I did wander around a bit looking for the trail-head since it wasn’t immediately obvious. It didn’t take too long though before I found it on the north tree line and we were off.

We opted to go counter-clockwise at the first junction (1) and found the trails to be well maintained. Every now and then we came across large piles of finely ground gravel that I’m assuming were staged for trail maintenance. Overall it was a nice trail that was easy to follow. The foliage was a mix of deciduous and evergreen trees throughout the park. I really do enjoy a walk in the pines. There is just something about pine groves that is simply pleasant.

One nice surprise about the landscape was that the trail went into a valley with tall rock cliffs on both sides (2). There were a few overlook places above us that probably gave some attractive views of the trail. We went off trail a bit and checked out this mini canyon that had been carved in the rock. This is the point where the kids’ moods started to improve.

Eventually we needed to get moving again and continued on. The down and back portion of the trail heads off to the east side of the park with a decent decline that terminates at a road in front of a historical attraction. There is an old one room school house and the old grist mill. We walked around and the area checking out the mill and took advantage of the restrooms for a little break.

Once everyone was feeling ready to go we got back on the trail and started our climb back up the hill. We merged back up with the main loop and continued on. The northeast portion of the park really is where the biggest attraction to place sits. Along with the canyon before, we found some really nice sandstone bluffs at the green star that were a lot of fun. The incline had soured the kids’ mood again, but here is where they really perked back up.

The trails through here are honestly stand alone if they wanted to be since you can park at the base of them. You weave all through the stone on heavily trafficked trails. There is some scrambling over rocks and climbing into alcoves, it was honestly a lot of fun. Since sandstone is a pretty soft rock, there were certain section where you could find the locals had carved various graffiti. Make sure you hit up this area on your visit.

When considering gear, we went pretty light. It was only a couple to hike the whole park, and we did fart around a bit. The kids didn’t really bring anything, while my wife and I had our daypacks. She carried their water and snacks, while I carried my water and the first aid mostly. You can drive to most of the attractions, so if you aren’t sure you are ready for a hilly 6 mile hike then plan on hiking to the canyon and out, then drive to the bluffs and mill. While I could recommend trekking poles for those that want support, this is definitely not a gear intensive hike so no worries there. Of course as always, bring your map!

Wildcat Den State Park is a very enjoyable little stroll among the trees and bluffs of eastern Iowa. If you’re in the quad cities area, it is only a 30 min drive away. Grab the kids and left them wander around bluffs and build memories.

Thanks for reading!

Lake Iowa County Park

Lake Iowa County Park is located just south of Interstate 80 near Ladora, which is just west of Williamsburg or 45 minutes west of Iowa City for landmark references.

I actually only visited this park as an impromptu fall back as the park I was intending to hike (Lake Keomah State Park) was closed and it was not noted on the website so I found out after I had driven all the way to the entrance. I was able to make Lake Iowa part of my drive home so the day wasn’t a total loss. When I got there I found that the lake trail was a mowed path that followed most of the shoreline for fishing access with connecting road walks. Although I elected not to hike that particular trail since I didn’t have a map and was uncertain of the mileage, I have since looked it over and am estimating that particular route should be around a 4 mile hike. I did hike their short little nature trail though, which will be the focus of this post.

The first thing I came across when I pulled into the park was the very nice nature center that looked pretty new. The interior was pretty sparse, but had plenty of potential to be a children’s learning center. Next to the center was a vegetation nature garden of sorts. It was a small circular path with a playground nearby. The camping area is located next to the center so it appears to be a place where the kids can play a little.

Now on my visit I started at the nature center and hiked the 1 mile nature trail to the south. (The red trail.) The trail is a down-and-back style trail that loops around a little pond. There isn’t an actual trail map for Lake Iowa so I used Google Maps and created one.

The nature trail (red) is a crushed gravel path surrounded by various plants and had quite a few small mammals, birds, and insects that created some good photos. I spent a lot of my time taking pictures and as such my pace was pretty slow. It took me about an hour, but I am happy with the pics. I could see a good number of fish in the pond as well. Even though it was short, it was a pretty enjoyable little hike for an unintended visit.

The above map marks the trails the best I could figure out from the satellite view. The red trail once again is the nature trail, the yellow trail would be the options available going through the camping area, and the orange trail is the lake trail. There are three places to park along the orange trail and one next to the nature center. While you can park in any of the 4 spots in order to hike the trails anyway you would like, one route I would suggest is parking at the nature center as it would be the more trafficked area (and next to the ranger’s home). I would then hike clockwise to get rid of most of the road walking right off as most of it is on the northwestern section. Once you get to the yellow trail you can choose a couple of different routes; follow one road northwest directly back to the start, or follow another road to the south where you can pick one of three short trails to the pond on the red nature trail. From there you just head back to the nature center.

Overall a nice little park that should be accessible to anyone. I wish I were more prepared to hike the full lake trail, but it just means I’ll have to sneak over for a complete hike another time. So if you’re going to be in the area and looking for a place to stretch your legs it would be worth a short stop off. Especially if they continue to develop the nature center into the future.

Geode State Park

Geode State Park is located in the southeast corner of Iowa near Danville between Mt. Pleasant and Burlington.

 

 

There is a single 8 mile trail that circles the lake. Trail maps for Iowa state parks can be found on the Iowa Department of Natural Resources website.

Although, be suspicious of their recorded mileage. This park is a perfect example as the map tells us it is 6.56 miles, when in reality it is 8.05 miles. Now most are actually accurate, but that’s also why I am creating a database of confirmed numbers. /wink. The trail is well worn with a couple short sections of road-walking. It is quite an enjoyable hike as you meander through the rolling hills of the forested trail. The first time I hiked the park was in April of 2014. At the time the park was still coming out of winter and hadn’t shed its brown layer yet.

Even so, it was still a very pleasant stroll with my wife. I returned this fall with a friend and the colors were excellent! It was a murky day that threatened rain, so I elected to leave the cameras in the car. I regretted that choice almost immediately. We both commented often at how nice the forest around us looked. 

As far as difficulty, I would say Geode should be accessible to anyone who has enough fitness to travel 8 miles on their feet. For those who are not there yet, there is nothing wrong with finding a parking spot and just doing a down-and-back for a few miles on one of the sections of the trail. There was only one stream that could possibly cause an issue in late spring when the melt is flowing for those that don’t want to get their feet wet (in chilly post-thaw water). While a full daypack isn’t needed, I would suggest a good quantity of water and possibly a snack. If you don’t know your average pace, I would suggest planning a minimum of 3 hours to make it all the way around. The first time I hiked it, it took 3.5 hours. However, my return trip only took 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Another note is that this park is approved for mountain bikers. It would be more of a cross country style ride without obstacles. It appears to be pretty popular as both times I hiked it there were riders on the trails. Thanks for reading and don’t forget to check out the video over on YouTube.