Your Guide to Outdoor Activities in Iowa
Nestled between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers is the midwestern state of Iowa, the only state to have both eastern and western borders formed entirely of rivers. Known for its vast landscape of rolling hills and fertile cornfields, Iowa’s agricultural economy has also made a recent transition to a more diversified economy consisting of biotechnology and green energy production, to name a few. There are several natural lakes within the state as well as well as a multitude of diversified ecological areas, but most of the state still remains primarily agricultural in nature. Still, there are several areas of interest to the avid outdoor explorer in Iowa!
Camping and Hiking
With an abundance of wildlife, those who enjoy camping and hiking can really reap the benefits that Iowa’s scenery has to offer. Several parks are open to hikers and campers, and many of these parks also maintain well-kept trails to cater to hikers of all experience levels. If you’re looking to camp or hike in Iowa, be sure to check out a few of these parks:
Maquoketa Caves State Park: Located near Maquoketa and open year-round, this park features a 6 mile loop trail and 28 different campsites. In the western area of the trail, hikers will go past a restored prairie, an experimental oak savanna restoration and a wildlife food plot.
Arrowhead Park: This family-friendly park features a 17-acre fishing lake as well as modern camping cabins and tent camping areas. You can also rent canoes and paddleboats to experience all that the watering holes have to offer.
Hitchcock Nature Center: Located in the heart of the Loess Hills, the Hitchcock Nature Center is home to over 1,000 acres of nature preserve. Explore 10 miles of nature trails, camp at any of the open sites, or climb the 50' observation tower and visit the new Loess Hills Lodge facility.
Wildlife
While large mammals like moose, bear, and wolves once used to roam Iowa, they’ve been gone for the past 80-100 years. Fortunately, these populations of large mammal may make their way from neighboring states into the area as occasional visitors. The boundaries of DNR wildlife areas are posted every 1/8 mile with green and white "Public Hunting Area" signs. These areas provide all users equal access to public lands, but include few, if any, public use facilities such as rest rooms, drinking water, hiking trails, and other conveniences.
If you’re more interested in fishing, there are also a multitude of natural lakes in the state to visit.
Casey Lake: Fishing is good for 8 to 9 inch bluegills on small worms, flies or wax worms fished around structure, while channel catfish fishing is excellent using worms, liver, and stink baits.
Lake Hendricks: Bluegills are biting in 6 to 8 feet of water on jigs tipped with a nightcrawler, and anglers are having the most luck in cooler evening hours.
Lake Delhi: Crappie fishing is good in deeper holes on minnows or small twister tails.
