West Des Moines and kids (Clive, Johnston: house, live, bill)

[DJF]

Hello, I have a question of a newbie. We are finally settled in our house and getting to know WDM - but where to go with kids over the weekend except Racoon River Park? Are there any nice walk trails through wooded areas or lakes? Any other nice and big playgrounds?
Thanks a lot.

[El Rhino]

Originally Posted by DJF

Hello, I have a question of a newbie. We are finally settled in our house and getting to know WDM - but where to go with kids over the weekend except Racoon River Park? Are there any nice walk trails through wooded areas or lakes? Any other nice and big playgrounds?
Thanks a lot.

There's a nice bike trail that links up with one of the WDM trails at 63 & Grand and goes to Greenwood, Waterworks and Gray's Lake. Most of it is more or less along the river and wooded. Pretty cool.

[mofford]

Yes, the trail runs right by Wall Mart and there is a park just south of the parking lot, one of many along the Clive Greenbelt Trail. This trail actually begins as the Bill Riley Trail in waterworks park and turns into Walnut Creek Trail, then Greenbelt Trail, and continues into Waukee and terminates on 156th at the baseball fields. Makes for a one way run of about 13 miles.

Browns Woods is a nice wooded hiking trail that takes about an hour to walk, and Maffit Lake has plenty to explore too. More info about those places in this thread:

http://www.city-data.com/forum/iowa/...s-near-dm.html

[MastermindDSM]

There are also a ton of trails around Saylorville, Big Creek, and Jester Park. Also look at Walnut Woods state park on the other side of the Racoon River. There is the E.P. True walking and biking trail that follows a wooded area. It runs east to west through the middle of West Des Moines.
Trails - Maps
Lake Map - Saylorville Lake (http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/Saylorville/LakeMap.cfm - broken link)
West Des Moines : Parks and Trails Maps

[mofford]

I don't care much for the trail that runs along EP True, it's pretty much void of any natural surroundings and too short. One of my favorites not far from WDM is the Great Western Trail, a very short drive a mile south of Railroad Ave on 63rd/Hy28, left on Park Ave and at George Flagg there is a stop light where the trail begins. I suggest parking along the gravel road at that intersection so you don't have to bike across Park Ave, but there is a paved parking lot north a block on GF if you don't want to get your car dusty.

Great Western is about 17 miles long, has fine country views and plenty of shade trees. My favorite part of the trail is the swampy section 12 miles south of Park Ave where you cross the North River in Warren County. It is a hard surface trail and is easy to ride without many curves or steep hills. Clive Greenbelt is where to go if you like sharp curves but it can be somewhat crowded on weekends for biking, plenty of shade on that trail as well. The Niel Smith trail that goes to Saylorville and the T2T trail that branches off Niel Smith south of Euclid Ave (goes to Johnston) are worth checking out, but kind of far from WDM.