Category: Iowa State

Pine Lake State Park
Pine Lake, west of Waterloo, has a 2.6 mile paved bike trail, but they don’t indicate on their website if it is accessible for wheelchairs.  There is a self-guided nature trail which may or may not be accessible.  Call 641-858-5832.  Here is the DNR website.  There is more information in the Iowa Parks’s website.
?  “Multi-purpose” paved trails 2.5 miles.  Call to find out how difficult these trails are.
?  The 2.6 mile paved bike trail connects the Cabins and Campground to the beach on Lower Pine Lake, and to fishing access on both Upper and Lower Pine Lakes. Other trails circle Lower Pine Lake, or wind through bottomland forest along the Iowa River.

Lake Manawa State Park
Lake Manawa State Park, Council Bluffs has paved bike trails which may be accessible, but are not described so on the websites.   Call 712-366-0220 for more information.   Here is the DNR’s website  and Iowa Parks’ website.
?  There are 7 miles of paved trails, but difficulty is not given.

The Nature Trail is paved and accessible.  Length not given on the website.

Lake Macbride State Park
Lake Macbride State Park at Solon has 2,180 acres offering “Multi-use trails”, birding, swimming, boating, picnicking, camping, and fishing.  Call 319-624-2200 for more information about accessibility.  You can download a map and brochure from their website.
?   –  “A five-mile crushed limestone multi-use trail is located on the north side of the lake and connects the park to the community of Solon. While a majority of this trail runs along the shoreline of Lake Macbride, several portions pass through oak/hickory forest or alongside restored Iowa prairie. More than seven miles of additional hiking trails await your visit, including one especially scenic crushed limestone trail that extends 1.25 miles between the beach and Lake Macbride’s dam.”

Lake Anita State Park 
This state park on Lake Anita offers fishing, hiking and camping.  Call 712/762-3564 to be sure of accessibility.  You can download a map and brochure from their website.
?   A 4-mile paved multi-use trail circles Lake Anita and passed through restored prairie and successional timber.  ” The paved Grass Roots Trail connects Lake Anita with the city of Anita leading to the downtown area.
?  Nature trail 1/3 mile demonstrates some of the trees in the areas.

George Wyth State Park  –
This park near Waterloo runs along the Cedar River and includes three lakes.  One of them,  George Wyth Lake, is a no wake lake with a handicap accessible fishing pier. Call  319-232-5505 for more information about accessibility and trail conditions.  Although the trails are paved, occasional flooding on the Cedar River may make them inaccessible.  You can download maps from their website.
?  There are  “…5.5 miles of paved multi-purpose trails, which are great for biking, in-line skating and walking.”  They don’t mention wheelchairs, but I should think a paved trail good enough for in-line skating would qualify.
? There are 6 miles of grass hiking trails.

Elinor Bedell State Park 
This state park near Spirit Lake is on the shore of East Lake Okoboji.  In addition to hiking there is swimming, boating and fishing.  Trails are paved, but call to be sure of conditions 712-337-3211.
Here is the DNR’s website  and the more informational website from Iowa Parks.
“The park includes an extensive system of paved hiking trails. The trails are accessible to all entrance points connecting activities and points of interest. A raised boardwalk will take park users through the wetland areas and along the lake. The system is approximately 7,500 feet in length, paved, and accessible for persons with mobility impairment.”

Big Creek State Park
This state park, eleven miles NW of Des Moines is near Polk city.   There is fishing, hiking, hunting, and boating.  There is an accessible fishing pier.  Travel Iowa  says the park is “Accessible to Persons with Disabilities.”  Call to be sure just what that includes: 515-984-6473.  Here is the DNR’s website  and the website from Iowa Parks.
?  The website says a “26-mile paved multi-use trail allows bicyclists and pedestrians to travel from the beach south through the Saylorville Lake area all the way to Des Moines.”  This sounds likely for accessibility, but you had better call to be sure.

This downloadable brochure about Iowa State Parks has a somewhat limited chart of amenities

Here is a list, with links to Iowa’s eighty-five State Parks, six State Forests, twenty-four State Wildlife Areas, State Wildlife Management Areas, two State Wildlife Refuges, and three National Wildlife Refuges.