Monroe Recreation Park
Park
20 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Billwhittaker at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Monroe
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park in Monroe
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 0.1 miles of mapped trail cross Monroe, 0.1 per square mile of land. 26 acres are parks and preserves, 12 per 1,000 residents.
Ahead of 39% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
under 1%
0 acres · of 1.7 sq mi of land
Trails
0.1 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
26 ac
12 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.5 mi
0.5 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
1
What kind of outdoors town is Monroe?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Monroe have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Monroe is ahead of 39% of U.S. towns. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.
C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Monroe’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. 0.4C−Park land12 acres of park per 1,000 residents (26 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13B−Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · IA 91% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 39%
LessMore
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.
Tool's Point Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Madsen Field
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Things to do
1 places to go in Monroe
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Picnic areas in Monroe
1 picnic area without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Trails & water
1 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.5 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
8Baseball
2Tennis
2Pickleball
1Basketball
1Football
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
September is the best month for walking in Monroe
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) | 9.5 | 10.5 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.2 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 30 | 35 | 48 | 61 | 72 | 81 | 85 | 83 | 76 | 63 | 48 | 35 |
| Rain (in) | 1.0 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 2.0 | 1.4 |
January is the driest month (1.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 5.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Monroe →
Questions about parks and trails in Monroe
How much of Monroe 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 Monroe’s trails?
Monroe Recreation Park and Tool's Point Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Monroe?
0.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.5 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Monroe?
26,144 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Monroe or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 26 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Monroe have?
Ahead of 39% 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 Monroe 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 →