Trails

Trails provide places to exercise, places to seek solitude, places of education and information, a connection to communities and interfaces with stream corridors, discovery of wildlife, and entrances into the country life. Some of the trails are linear cooridors or linear parks giving access and interaction with our local flora and fauna. They provide a means for exploring geologic and cultural history. Dallas County Conservation areas provide a variety of trail choices ranging from narrow, secluded nature trails to a hard surfaced multi-use recreational trail suitable for biking, jogging, and in-line skating.

Most of the Dallas County Conservation areas offer some type of trails for park users. Forest Park has a mowed trail that perimeters fields of re-established prairie. The Voas Nature Area also has a number of mowed trails that take the park visitor through fields of prairie and allow the exploration of some prairie potholes. There are also two woodland nature trails at the Voas Nature Area. Park users can find several mowed and one mulched trail at the Kuehn Conservation Area. These trails traverse around fields of prairie and along the South Raccoon River. In most DCCD areas that have prairie, the prairie will have a fire break mowed around it. These fire breaks also make excellent trails. The Raccoon River Valley Trail is an asphalt surfaced trail that extends from the Clive Greenbelt Trail in Polk County west through Dallas County to Yale in Guthrie County. It starts again at Herndon in Guthrie County and ends in Jefferson in Greene County.