Iowa Park List

Ambrose A. Call State Park is a 138 acre "oasis" of rugged hills heavily wooded with virgin timber in an area of gently rolling farmland. The park is located near the east fork of the Des Moines River. Ambrose Call and his brother, Asa, were early settlers in the ...

Backbone State Park was dedicated in 1920. It was Iowa's first state park and remains one of the most significant. Backbone is named for its narrow and steep ridge of bedrock carved by a loop of the Maquoketa River. Folklore named this high ridge of rock the "Devil's Backbone". ...

Badger Creek is by far the most popular natural resource, and thus fishing is the most popular form of recreation. The lake comprises of 276 acres. Largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, and catfish are the main sought after species. There are no motor restrictions, but all boats must operate at ...

Banner Lakes at Summerset State Park, Iowa's newest state park, is nestled in the rolling landscape between Des Moines and Indianola on Highway 65/69, within minutes of the state's largest metro area. Many locals remember the area as Banner Pits, when the area was mined for coal by the ...

Beeds Lake State Park has everything one could wish for in a state park and then some. The 'then some' includes a causeway that crosses the lake from southeast to northwest and provides more than one-third mile of great shoreline fishing opportunity as well as a convenient pathway ...

Bellevue State Park is a Iowa state park in Jackson County, Iowa in the United States. It is along the banks of the Mississippi River just south of Bellevue. The park lies in two separate tracts. The Nelson Unit is at the immediate south edge of Bellevue on U.S. 52 ...

Big Creek State Lake was created as part of the Saylorville project to protect Polk City from floods. A diversion dam which forms the 866-acre Big Creek Lake was primarily developed as a flood control project but also offers a wide variety of recreation. Big Creek State Park and ...

Black Hawk Lake lies off the southeast tip of the town of Lake View in Sac County, Iowa. Black Hawk Lake was formed many thousands of years ago by glacial action. In fact, it is the southern-most glacier-formed lake in Iowa. The lake's 957 acres which adjoins the state ...

At over 6,000 acres, Brushy Creek is one of Iowa's largest tracts of public outdoor recreation land. Visitors can get a real sense of being "away from it all" while, at the same time, enjoying a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities such as camping, hunting, horseback riding, and winter ...

When Iowa businessman Lowell Walter died in August of 1981, he and his wife, Agnes, left their dream home, Cedar Rock, to the Iowa Conservation Commission and the people of Iowa. Designed by the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the residence lies on a limestone bluff overlooking the Wapsipinicon ...

Gull Point's beach provides a fine place for young and old to sunbathe and splash in the crystal clear water. West Okoboji and the many other lakes are some of the prime fishing spots in Iowa. Anglers will find challenging sport pursuing a variety of game fish, including walleye, ...

A 900-foot sandy beach is located in close proximity to the picnic area and campground. The beach, which offers unsupervised swimming, is a great place for swimmers and sunbathers, young and old. A concrete path runs the length of the beach and is accessible for the mobility impaired. Clear Lake ...

The Coralville Lake Project is comprised of five campgrounds and offers lake and river fishing, camping, boating, swimming and water-skiing. Several public golf courses are just a short drive from the Project. The environment is wooded. Coralville Lake is located very close to Iowa City/Coralville, which boasts the largest ...

DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge is part of a network of refuges devoted to preserving and restoring increasingly scarce habitat for migratory waterfowl and other wildlife. The refuge is comprised of 8,358 acres in Iowa and Nebraska and lies in the Missouri River Valley floodplain on a former meander of ...

Bluffs, canyons, the Des Moines River, Prairie Creek and Indian mounds are all part of the natural and cultural history that make Dolliver State Park so valuable to the people of Iowa. During the 1925 dedication ceremonies, a memorial plaque, the work of noted sculptor Laredo Taft, was unveiled ...

The "driftless area" of the Upper Midwest derives its name from the fact that it was unglaciated during the most recent glacial event about 12,000 years ago. Glaciers surrounded but did not pass over this land. Driftless Area National Wildlife Refuge was established in 1989 to protect the Federally ...

Prehistoric mounds are common from the plains of the Midwest to the Atlantic seaboard, but only in this general area was there a culture that regularly constructed mounds in the shape of mammals, birds, or reptiles. The monument contains 2,526 acres with 195 mounds of which 31 are effigies. ...

Elinor Bedell State Park is Iowa's newest (1998) state park. It is located on the shores of East Lake Okoboji and represents one of the last remaining open spaces in a region that is among Iowa's most popular tourist destination - the Iowa Great Lakes. The eighty acre park ...

Elk Rock State Park is located on Lake Red Rock, one of Iowa's large impoundments. The area had been inhabited by Native Americans dating back more than five thousand years to the Archaic Culture. In 1842, the Sac and Fox Indians granted white settlers right to this land. The ...

The Iowa Great Lakes Region is made up of the following areas: Claire Wilson State Recreation Area, Elinor Bedell State Park, Emerson Bay State Recreation Area, Fort Defiance State Park, Gull Point State Park, Lighthouse State Recreation Area, Lower Gar Access State Recreation Area, Marble Beach State Recreation Area, ...

Enjoy the "Father of Waters" from Fairport State Recreation Area. The Fairport Recreation Area provides excellent access and viewing of the Mississippi River. The large towboats, recreational boaters, river wildlife especially birds) and the majesty of the river all parade in front of the campground. Fairport offers a variety ...

Fort Atkinson was established as a federal military outpost in 1840. It was built to keep the Winnebago Indians on Neutral Ground (a 40-mile-wide strip of land established by the Treaty of 1830) after their removal from Wisconsin in 1840, and to provide protection for them from the Sioux, ...

Fort Defiance State Park's 191 acres of rugged woodland provide a beautiful contrast to the gently rolling surrounding farmlands. The park's trails, picnic areas and scenic overlooks provide a great place to relax. Its lush cover of vegetation includes hawthorn, plum, locust and many species of the state tree, ...

Pack a picnic basket, grab a few friends and head out to Geode State Park for a relaxing picnic in the sunshine. Geode State Park is one of the most scenic and popular picnicking spots in southeast Iowa. Cool off with a dip in the lake or soak ...

Escape the hustle and bustle of urban life and get away to nature right in the city. George Wyth is located within the Waterloo/Cedar Falls metro area. Trees lessen city sounds and provide a shady, green spot for outdoor recreation including picnicking, hiking and camping. Four lakes provide visitors ...

Cool off from the hot Iowa summer with a trip to Green Valley State Park. Green Valley's 390-acre lake draws hundreds of visitors on hot summer days. Not only does it offer excellent fishing, boating and swimming, it is also the focal point for a great variety of other ...

The focal point for state parks and recreation areas in this region is beautiful Gull Point State Park, established in 1933. Gull Point provides a pleasing, shaded setting on West Okoboji Lake and offers a well-rounded variety of outdoor recreation facilities. Gull Point is a great place for a family ...

Few Americans have known greater acclaim or more bitter criticism than Herbert Hoover. Born on August 10, 1874, Hoover was the son of a Quaker blacksmith, orphaned at an early age, and achieved international success as a mining engineer and world-wide gratitude as "The Great Humanitarian" who fed a ...

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum opened to the public on August 10, 1962, Mr. Hoover's 88th birthday. In the years since, more than 2.5 million visitors have toured the museum and more than 2,000 scholars from every state in the union and a dozen foreign countries ...

Honey Creek State Park is part of the Rathbun Lake recreation complex consisting of eight parks, two marinas and 155 miles of shoreline. This 11,000-acre lake hosts a wide variety of outdoor activities. On a warm day, you'll see people enjoying the water on boats, water skis and jet ...