Garrett R.
5/5
Pioneer Ridge Nature Area, the home base of Wapello County Conservation, is an awesome 1,000 acre property that is an amazing place to visit year round! They have modern cabins (2, with one being handicap accessable) with indoor plumbing, beds, tables, chairs a kitchen and recently WiFi internet and approx. 3 camping cabins that are only big enough for a couple of cots with the bathroom being an outhouse pit toilet with no running water. They have a large campground with water and electricity. They have a very nice equestrian area for loading/unloading trailers and miles of trails for hiking, jogging or horseback riding! The trails are well kept with a brush mower and there are loads of geocaching sites throughout the area! There is also a large nature center that has many attractions and the naturalist is great at her job and has been working with kids for many years. They have a pond for fishing and a paved trail that runs around it for walking or jogging. Their website has most of the specific data about the property with a nice color coded map. We stayed two nights at the Burr Oak modern cabin and had a wonderful time. This is an amazing place to reconnect with nature, enjoy the good old outdoors, and help youth buried in a digital world expand their view from an 8" phone screen! In my opinion, this amazing gem is underutilized by the general population. So when your out here on an average day, it will feel very secluded, especially if you take some of the further out trails. Though it's easy to miss from the highway (it's very nice sign sits a little way back off the road) stop and enjoy all this wonderful place has to offer! Nature is NOT that far away!
