Wapello County Conservation — Attraction in Iowa

Pioneer Ridge Nature Area, the home base of Wapello County Conservation, is an awesome 1,000 acre property that is an amazing place to visit year round! They have modern cabins (2, with one being handicap accessable) with indoor plumbing, beds, tables, chairs a kitchen and recently WiFi internet and approx. 3 camping cabins that are only big enough for a couple of cots with the bathroom being an outhouse pit toilet with no running water. They have a large campground with water and electricity. They have a very nice equestrian area for loading/unloading trailers and miles of trails for hiking, jogging or horseback riding! The trails are well kept with a brush mower and there are loads of geocaching sites throughout the area! There is also a large nature center that has many attractions and the naturalist is great at her job and has been working with kids for many years. They have a pond for fishing and a paved trail that runs around it for walking or jogging. Their website has most of the specific data about the property with a nice color coded map. We stayed two nights at the Burr Oak modern cabin and had a wonderful time. This is an amazing place to reconnect with nature, enjoy the good old outdoors, and help youth buried in a digital world expand their view from an 8" phone screen! In my opinion, this amazing gem is underutilized by the general population. So when your out here on an average day, it will feel very secluded, especially if you take some of the further out trails. Though it's easy to miss from the highway (it's very nice sign sits a little way back off the road) stop and enjoy all this wonderful place has to offer! Nature is NOT...

Wow. All I can say is WOW.

First off, what is with this town and not labeling your trails properly? Or is that a state thing? Cause we have been to multiple places around Ottumwa at this point and quite frankly I havent been very impressed with any of them.

This one in particular had very few trail labels and the ones they did have weren't very informative. No markers along the trail to keep you going in the right direction on the trail you wanted to take. And the trails were more for horses or fourwheelers than people. Basically is just a a bushhog wide cut through and mostly around the woods. Trails were messed up and caved in. Also a little uncomfortable for a mom and 3 young kids. With the prairies and such tall grass I didnt feel comfortable to see my surroundings for any possible dangerous wildlife.

In a smll town with very little to do other than parks every few miles, I would think you would take better care of the...

What a gem! This a very expansive area and a small but nice campground. We were out late enough on a moonless night to star gaze away from all the city lights. Such a peaceful place. Also was fun to see many horse back riders on the trails. Tried my hand at fishing in one of the small ponds along a trail and it was very scenic. The whole area...