Shell Rock County Park
Park
55 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Photo: Billwhittaker · CC BY-SA 3.0B+Outdoors
Outdoors in Shell Rock
19% of Shell Rock’s land is conserved: 197 acres
122 acres are parks and preserves, 75 per 1,000 residents. 88% of residents live within a half mile of a park.
Ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. What drives it
Conserved land
19%
197 acres · of 1.6 sq mi of land
Trails
0.0 mi
0.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
122 ac
75 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
88%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.2 mi
0.2 mi paths
What kind of outdoors town is Shell Rock?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Shell Rock have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Shell Rock is ahead of 70% of U.S. towns. Conserved land holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
B+
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Shell Rock’s overall grade.
Conserved land19% of the land · typical IA town 3% · U.S. 4%ATrails0.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (0 mi) · IA 0.3 · U.S. 0.4DPark land75 acres of park per 1,000 residents (122 acres) · IA 19 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home88% 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
Water is 6% of Shell Rock’s area (0 of 2 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 18%.
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
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Shell Rock Wildlife Management Area
Nature preserve
51 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
McCauge Park
Park
12 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Hoyt Elliot Memorial Park
Park
2 acres
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
197 conserved acres
19% of Shell Rock’s land. Water is left out: Shell Rock has 1.6 square miles of land and 0.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Shell Rock’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
County105 ac
USDA easements (NRCS)92 ac
Conservation Easement · 92 acLocal Park · 55 acLocal Conservation Area · 50 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 92 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shell Rock Park Local Park | County | 55 | Open |
| Shell Rock Wildlife Area Local Conservation Area | County | 50 | Open |
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
3Baseball
2Tennis
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →3 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service).
When to get out
September is the best month for walking in Shell Rock
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 | 59 | 71 | 80 | 83 | 81 | 75 | 61 | 45 | 31 |
| Rain (in) | 1.0 | 1.1 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 4.8 | 5.8 | 4.4 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 2.7 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
January is the driest month (1.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 83 °F). 5.8 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Shell Rock →
Questions about parks and trails in Shell Rock
How much of Shell Rock is conserved land?
19% 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 Shell Rock’s trails?
Shell Rock County Park and Shell Rock Wildlife Management Area don’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Shell Rock?
0.2 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.2 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Shell Rock?
4,648 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Shell Rock or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 122 of them inside the city line.
How much outdoors does Shell Rock 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 Shell Rock 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 →