Northwest Recreational Park
Park
27 acres0.7 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Laurens Carnegie Free Library · Photo: CelticClicker · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Laurens
Laurens has 29 acres of parks, 24 for every 1,000 residents
0.9 miles of mapped trail cross Laurens, 1.2 per square mile of land. The biggest trail networks: Northwest Recreational Park (0.7 mi). 60% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
3%
14 acres · of 0.8 sq mi of land
Trails
0.9 mi
1.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
29 ac
24 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
60%
of residents within ½ mile
What kind of outdoors town is Laurens?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Laurens have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Laurens is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Trail miles hold the grade up; the share of residents near a park pulls it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Laurens’ overall grade.
Conserved land3% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%B−Trails1.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4A−Park land24 acres of park per 1,000 residents (29 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13B+Parks close to home60% 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 70%
LessMore
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Laurens. 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 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 Northwest Recreational Park, with 0.7 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
14 conserved acres
3% of Laurens’ land. Who manages Laurens’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County14 ac
Local Park · 14 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northwest Recreational Park Local Park | County | 14 | Open |
Things to do
1 places to go in Laurens
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Playgrounds in Laurens
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
5Baseball
1Tennis
1Basketball
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).
Laurens Carnegie Free LibraryBuilding · listed 1974
About itWhen to get out
September is the best month for walking in Laurens
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 | 9.0 |
| High (°F) | 26 | 30 | 44 | 58 | 70 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 75 | 61 | 44 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 3.6 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
January is the driest month (0.8 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.3 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Laurens →
Questions about parks and trails in Laurens
Where can I hike in Laurens?
The longest trail networks: Northwest Recreational Park, 0.7 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Laurens is conserved land?
3% 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 Laurens’ trails?
Northwest Recreational Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Laurens?
1,250 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Laurens or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 29 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Laurens have?
Ahead of 70% 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 Laurens 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 →