Prairie Bridges Park
Park
81 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Ackley
Ackley has 86 acres of parks, 58 for every 1,000 residents
0.2 miles of mapped trail cross Ackley, 0.1 per square mile of land. 59% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 2.5 sq mi of land
Trails
0.2 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
86 ac
58 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
59%
of residents within ½ mile
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Ackley have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Ackley is ahead of 34% of U.S. towns. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Ackley’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.1 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4CPark land58 acres of park per 1,000 residents (86 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home59% of residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%B−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 34%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Ackley. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B−. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Things to do
2 places to go in Ackley
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Public pools in Ackley
Ackley Municipal Pool
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Ackley
1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
4Tennis
2Baseball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →1 place on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
Illinois Central Combination Depot-AckleyBuilding · listed 1990
About itWhen to get out
September is the best month for walking in Ackley
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.4 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.0 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.7 | 9.1 |
| High (°F) | 26 | 31 | 44 | 59 | 70 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 75 | 61 | 45 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 3.8 | 5.0 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 4.3 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 1.4 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.8 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Ackley →
Questions about parks and trails in Ackley
How much of Ackley is conserved land?
under 1% of its land, against a typical 3% for an Iowa town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Ackley’s trails?
Prairie Bridges Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Ackley?
3,022 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Ackley or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 86 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Ackley have?
Ahead of 34% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Ackley neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →