Hawarden City Park
Park
11 acres0.6 mi of trail
Park Path
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: City of Hawarden Staff · Public domainA−Outdoors
Outdoors in Hawarden
Hawarden has 112 acres of parks, 42 for every 1,000 residents
92% of residents live within a half mile of a park. The biggest trail networks: Hawarden City Park (0.6 mi). 6% of Hawarden’s land is conserved, about 97 acres.
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns · #45 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it
Conserved land
6%
97 acres · of 2.8 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.3 per sq mi of land
Park land
112 ac
42 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
92%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
1.4 mi
1.4 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Hawarden?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Hawarden have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hawarden is ahead of 76% of U.S. towns, #45 of 140 in Iowa. Park acres per resident hold the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
A−
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hawarden’s overall grade.
Conserved land6% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%BTrails0.3 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4B−Park land42 acres of park per 1,000 residents (112 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home92% of residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%A−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 76%
LessMore
Iowa towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 68%
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A−. 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
The longest trail network is Hawarden City Park, with 0.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Big Sioux Recreation Area
Managed by Sioux County Conservation Board
94 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
97 conserved acres
6% of Hawarden’s land. Who manages Hawarden’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County97 ac
Local Conservation Area · 97 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Big Sioux Recreation Area Local Conservation Area | County | 97 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Hawarden
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Hawarden
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Campgrounds in Hawarden
Eagle View CampgroundFee · In Big Sioux Recreation Area · Sioux County Conservation Board
DirectionsMeadowlark CampgroundFee · In Big Sioux Recreation Area · Sioux County Conservation Board
DirectionsTrails & water
2 named trails
Named trails
Open to bikes · 0.5 mi
Park Path0.4 mi
Avenue L0.2 mi
Biking & sports
1.4 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
1.4 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
6Basketball
5Baseball
1Beach volleyball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 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 Hawarden: 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) | 9.3 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.6 | 15.3 | 15.1 | 13.9 | 12.4 | 10.9 | 9.7 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 27 | 32 | 46 | 60 | 71 | 81 | 85 | 83 | 76 | 62 | 45 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 3.0 | 4.2 | 4.4 | 3.2 | 3.3 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 1.3 | 0.9 |
January is the driest month (0.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Hawarden →
Next door
Hawarden and its neighbors
Hawarden has the second most mapped trails of the 2 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hawarden | 6% | 0.3 | 42 | 92% | A− |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Hawarden
Where can I hike in Hawarden?
The longest trail networks: Hawarden City Park, 0.6 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Hawarden is conserved land?
6% 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 Hawarden’s trails?
Hawarden City Park and Big Sioux Recreation Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Hawarden?
1.4 miles of bike routes are on the map: 1.4 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Hawarden?
1,038 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hawarden or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 112 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Hawarden have?
Ahead of 76% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #45 of 140 in Iowa. 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 Hawarden 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 →