Bibbins Park
Park
22 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Jared Winkler · CC BY-SA 4.0COutdoors
Outdoors in Bedford
Bedford has 25 acres of parks, 18 for every 1,000 residents
90% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 28% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
25 ac
18 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
90%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Bedford?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Bedford have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Bedford is ahead of 28% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
C
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Bedford’s overall grade.
Conserved landunder 1% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%DTrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4DPark land18 acres of park per 1,000 residents (25 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13BParks close to home90% 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 28%
LessMore
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to C+. 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.
Taylor County Court Yard
Park
3 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
2 places to go in Bedford
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Bedford
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
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
2Baseball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →5 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
The best walking months in Bedford: April and September
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) | 9.6 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.2 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| High (°F) | 32 | 38 | 51 | 62 | 72 | 82 | 85 | 84 | 77 | 65 | 49 | 37 |
| Rain (in) | 0.9 | 1.3 | 2.2 | 3.8 | 5.4 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 3.5 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 1.5 |
January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 5.4 inches fall in May, the wettest month. The climate in Bedford →
Questions about parks and trails in Bedford
How much of Bedford 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 Bedford’s trails?
Bibbins Park and Taylor County Court Yard don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Bedford?
1,466 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Bedford or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 25 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Bedford have?
Ahead of 28% 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 Bedford 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 →