Trails, parks and hiking near Des Moines

Gray's Lake is the park most people mean when they say they went for a walk in Des Moines. The Kruidenier Trail runs 1.9 miles around the water on flat asphalt, wide enough that runners, strollers and bikes pass each other without anyone stepping off. The Meredith Trail bridge cuts across the middle of the lake and is lit after dark, which is why the loop stays busy on winter evenings when every other trail in the metro is empty.

The skyline sits directly across the water on the north side, so this is also where the city photographs itself. Come at sunset on a clear evening and you will be sharing the bridge. Come at 7am and you will have it.

In summer the boathouse rents kayaks, paddleboards and pedal boats, and there is a swimming beach on the east shore. The park connects straight into the Bill Riley Trail, so a lap around the lake can turn into a ride to Water Works Park or downtown without crossing a road.

Ledges is where central Iowa stops being flat. Pease Creek has cut a narrow canyon through sandstone bluffs that rise about 100 feet, and Canyon Road runs along the bottom of it, crossing the creek at a series of low fords. Driving through the water is half the reason people come, and the fords are exactly why the road closes whenever the creek is up.

The trail system is roughly four miles of loops, and it is genuinely hilly. Stone steps built by the Civilian Conservation Corps climb the canyon walls to overlooks above the Des Moines River. If somebody has told you there is no hiking near Des Moines, this is the park that proves them wrong.

Go on a weekday if you can. On an October Saturday the canyon parking is full by mid-morning and the road becomes a queue.

The High Trestle Trail Bridge stands 13 stories above the Des Moines River valley between Madrid and Woodward, half a mile long, framed by 41 steel ribs that twist as you ride through them. The effect is a mine shaft, which is deliberate: the valley below was coal country. After dark the frames are lit blue and the bridge becomes the single most photographed structure in central Iowa.

The trail itself is 25 miles of flat asphalt through Ankeny, Sheldahl, Slater, Madrid and Woodward. Most people never ride all of it. The overwhelming majority of traffic is an out-and-back to the bridge from one of the two nearest trailheads.

Both approaches work. From Woodward it is about 2.5 miles to the bridge; from Madrid it is roughly 1.5. Madrid is the shorter walk if you are bringing people who do not want to ride.

The Raccoon River Valley Trail is the longest paved trail in the metro's reach, and its shape is what makes it unusual: a large loop through Dallas and Greene counties with spurs, so you can ride a circuit and come back to your car without repeating a mile. Waukee, Adel, Dallas Center, Minburn, Perry, Jefferson, Panora and Yale all sit on it.

The towns are the point. Adel has a courthouse square you can reach without touching a road, Minburn and Dawson have trailside stops, and Perry has the Hotel Pattee if you want to split the loop over two days. Riders who complain about Iowa being boring have usually not ridden a trail that goes somewhere.

Note the trail pass. The Raccoon River Valley Trail is one of the few in the state that charges: riders 18 and over need a pass, sold daily or annually at trailhead kiosks and local bike shops. It is a small amount and it is enforced.

The Neal Smith Trail runs 26 paved miles from the north side of Des Moines up the river corridor, around Saylorville Lake, and into Big Creek State Park. It is the trail that turns a city ride into a destination ride, and it is the reason a lot of people in the metro own a road bike at all.

The middle section along Saylorville is the good part: water on one side, timber on the other, and the Saylorville dam and visitor center roughly halfway. Riding north the climbs are gentle but they are there, which surprises people who expect Iowa to be level.

At the top end it drops you into Big Creek, so an out-and-back can end with a swim, a fishing hour or lunch at the beach before you turn around.

The Great Western runs 17 miles south out of Des Moines through Cumming and Orilla to Martensdale, following an old rail bed through Warren County. It sees a fraction of the traffic the High Trestle and the Raccoon River Valley get, which is precisely its appeal: on a weekday you can ride for an hour and see four people.

The scenery is rolling farmland, restored prairie and timber, and it changes hard with the season. Wildflowers through late spring and early summer, and a good stretch of color in the first half of October.

Cumming, about five miles down from the north end, is the traditional turnaround. Most riders go out that far, stop, and come back, which makes a comfortable 10 miles.

Big Creek is the lake people in Des Moines drive to when they want water without driving to the Ozarks. The lake covers about 866 acres, there is a sand beach with a swimming area, and boat ramps at both ends. No-wake rules on much of it keep the water calm, which is why it is the standard answer for anyone learning to kayak or paddleboard.

Fishing is the other draw. Bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, walleye and muskie are all in there, and the jetties and shoreline access mean you do not need a boat to catch anything. Iowa requires a fishing license for anglers 16 and over.

The Neal Smith Trail comes into the park from the south, so Big Creek doubles as the turnaround for the metro's longest ride.

Jester Park is the largest park Polk County runs, spread along the west side of Saylorville Lake, and it does more things at once than anywhere else on this list. There is a bison and elk enclosure you can drive past, a nature center with programs most weekends, an equestrian center, a golf course, campgrounds, shelters and miles of shoreline.

For families it is the natural playscape that decides it: logs, water, sand and boulders instead of molded plastic, built for children who would rather build something than climb a ladder. It is the single best reason to make the drive with kids under ten.

The park is big enough that you should pick one thing. Trying to do the bison, the nature center, the playscape and the shoreline in an afternoon is how people end up leaving annoyed.