Ledges State Park — Attraction in Boone

If you have never been and are going for the creek walk, read this first. We had a blast, but wish we had a “starting guide”. So here is what you should know.

I wish we would have done a full lap in our vehicle before we decided where to park.

If you have any kind of fishing net bring it. It is fun to try and catch the little minnows and look at them for a moment.

If you have a pair of walking shoes you can get wet and then switch out when you are done in the water, do that rather than using water shoes or crocs.

Use the restrooms at the top of the park before you come down to the canyon.

How do you get to the creek to start walking? follow the entry signs into the park. Go PAST the campground and then keep going as you go down hill. Once you start down hill it becomes a one way road. The driving path is one great big circle and will take about 12 minutes to drive the whole thing. Do this! Drive the whole loop and then decided where you want to park and start walking.

If you decided to park at the very first opportunity… You will cross a bridge and it will be the very first time you see the creek. You can park just shortly after that.

Parking there you can enter the creek by the bridge, or follow the one way road for just a moment and you will see a much softer entry into the water.

If you choose to go upstream from the above mentioned bridge, the area will be much shallower and have a lot more rocks and boulders to walk around. This is not a hard walk by any means! In fact we found it to be a very beautiful walk. We saw a lot less people going that way and more shallow areas with varying sizes of minnows, deer tracks, and several 1 foot tall natural dams that made a lovely babbling creek experience.

If you choose to go downstream from the bridge you will find the stream wider, probably more people, slightly deeper than ankle height water, and a much less rocky walk. More sand and wider outlets to sit and play in the sand with kids and just deep enough to catch some minnows or splash around.

Trecking down stream you can cross up to 6 areas where the stream goes over the road.It is fun to stand there as the cars go by and get splashed.

Towards the 4th over the road creek crossing, you will find several trails to take that are marked by wood signs noting what trail it is. This is where you can start climbing up into the ledges and forestry.

At the end of the creek walk, and on the start of the uphill drive, on the right hand side you will see a sign for a boat ramp. This is where you can enter into the Des Moines River for kayaking, canoeing or boating.

Hope you have a wonderful walk and that this helped...

Ledges State Park was a really cool day-trip. It is the coolest geography we've found in central Iowa. We went on a warm June day (85-degrees). This was 6 days after a 5" rain storm which was good - the water in the canyon can be really shallow so its great to hit this park a few days after a good summer rain so that there is plenty of water in which to play. there are not really and pools suitable for swimming in the canyon drive area, it's all too shallow. This can be a bummer if you want to swim, but it can also be great! if you want to have a low-stress day of letting your kids explore and have fun knowing they won't find any water deeper than waist-high

the "canyon drive" is where all the action is, You could spend all day walking up and down the river. the road crosses the river a hand full of times and the kids love to stand next to the crossings and encourage passing-by vehicles to drive close and fast so that they can get showered by the water tossed up by the cars - it is funny to watch.

there is parking at the bottom of canyon drive along the river (it probably fills up on weekends, but you shouldn't have a problem on week days). As an alternative you can use the Oak Woods shelter area to park and hike down to the river using the trail head that is at the north end of that parking lot.

from the bottom of the canyon you'll have access to two systems of trails, with the council ring / table rock hike to the south, and the crows-nest hike to the North (use the all-trails app on your phone, it has all the trails here mapped out really well so you'll never be lost). We like the Council ring / table rock hike the best

At the south end of the park away from the canyon, you'll find the "lost lake trail" which goes around a wetlands area. this trail is pretty buggy so you won't want to stand still much, but you'll be fine if you keep moving. There is also a thumb that goes off of this trail to the west that will take you to a ledge hanging 40-50' above the Des Moines river with an unbeatable view. But BE CAREFUL there is no guardrail on this rock ledge and the fall would be extremely bad - this one point is actually a pretty dangerous spot to...

1st time visit to Ledges State Park on Friday October 21st. The weather was great, with temperature in mid - 70's, mostly clear skies, and little wind. Of course we went to see the Fall leaves in full color, but there are some pretty good hiking trails too.

If you're planning on going, plan accordingly so take note ...

1. Many (most) of the trails have some fairly steep terrain, and you will see an example in at least one of my pics.
2. Due to the steep terrain, they poured concrete slabs on many of the incline / decline area which make it easier to navigate.
3. Also, there are railroad ties used as steps in many areas. BUT ...
4. I would suggest staying away from many of the hiking trails as many of them are not for the faint of heart (there are no hand railings!)
5. Especially avoid the trails if it has rained / stormed / or otherwise many make the trails sloppy with mud or slippery leaves.

But again, on a perfect day like it was yesterday, the trails were easy to navigate, and my wife and I are both 69 years old. There is one pic that shows her ahead of me rounding a bend on the trail toward Table Rock. This 20ftsection of the trail is the most treacherous, as you can see we are going down a pretty steep decline and making sharp bend at the same time. But, we made it, and the views from Table Rock were fantastic!

So, should you go to Ledges State Park? YES. There are ample pullovers that you can use in your vehicle to get out and stretch your legs and take in the scenery if you don't feel like hiking. Nice...