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Osage iowaPhoto: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0
C+Outdoors
Outdoors in Osage

Osage has 16 acres of parks, 4.4 for every 1,000 residents

The biggest trail networks: Osage City Park (0.6 mi). 90% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 0.8 miles of mapped trail cross Osage, 0.4 per square mile of land.

Ahead of 41% of U.S. towns · #118 of 140 in Iowa. What drives it

Conserved land
1%
11 acres · of 2.2 sq mi of land
Trails
0.8 mi
0.4 per sq mi of land
Park land
16 ac
4.4 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
90%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.2 mi
0.2 mi paths

What kind of outdoors town is Osage?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Osage have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Osage is ahead of 41% of U.S. towns, #118 of 140 in Iowa. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; conserved land pulls it down.

C+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Osage’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 41%
LessMore
Iowa towns of 2,500+ (140)Ahead of 16%
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.

12
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 Osage City Park, with 0.6 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Osage City Park

Park
11 acres0.6 mi of trail
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot

Ash Park

Park
1 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it

11 conserved acres

1% of Osage’s land. Who manages Osage’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city11 ac
Local Park · 11 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Osage City Park
Local Park
Town or city9Open
Unknown Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Unknpwn Park
Local Park
Town or city1Open
Things to do

6 places to go in Osage

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Dog parks in Osage
Wes Carter Memorial Dog Park
Directions
Trails & water

1 named trail

Named trails
Harry Cook Nature Trail0.2 mi
Biking & sports

0.2 miles of bike routes

Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.

0.2 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
7Baseball
7Tennis
1Skate park
1Basketball
1Beach volleyball
1Football

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

History along the way

5 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).

History →
Mitchell County CourthouseBuilding · listed 1977
About it
Cedar Valley SeminaryBuilding · listed 1977
About it
Nathaniel Cobb and Lucetia Baily Deering HouseBuilding · listed 2001
About it
Osage Commercial Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2002
About it
Our Savior’s Lutheran ChurchBuilding · listed 2022
About it
When to get out

September is the best month for walking in Osage

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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.310.411.813.414.715.415.113.912.410.99.69.0
High (°F)242842576979828073604329
Rain (in)0.91.11.93.95.05.64.94.23.42.71.71.3

January is the driest month (0.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 5.6 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Osage →

Questions about parks and trails in Osage

Where can I hike in Osage?

The longest trail networks: Osage City Park, 0.6 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Osage is conserved land?

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 Osage’s trails?

Osage City Park and Ash Park don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Where can I bike in Osage?

0.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of off-road paths.

Is there public land near Osage?

1,865 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Osage or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 16 of them inside the city line.

How much outdoors does Osage have?

Ahead of 41% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #118 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 Osage neighbors.

Town Square →
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 →