First Tuesdays at 10 AM Hikes (May thru November)
Briggs Woods Park and Golf Course, Hamilton County
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Explore our Hamilton County Conservation Parks and Wildlife Areas with our County Naturalist.
We will hike on the walking trails, bike trails, or mowed firebreak trails in our Hamilton County Conservation Areas.
The hike themes will vary depending on the site location and what is going on with the natural resources at that time of the year.
We will start and end with some hike locations planned and some will be determined by the participants.
The hikes will be at 10 am the first Tuesday of May thru November of 2024.
The TBD locations will be updated below on this posting of www.mycountyparks.com as we decide hike locations.
- May 7 - Brigg's Woods Park Shelter 2 Trailhead (Hike Woodland Trail to Waterfalls)
- June 4 - Bell's Mill Park School House Shelter (Park & Gristmill History Tour)
- July 2 - CANCELED DUE TO RAIN Masterson's Wildlife Area 3988 Hammond Ave. Stratford Iowa 50249 and then Bjorkboda Wildlife Area 1791 400th Street Boone Iowa 50036 (Hill Top & Observation Platform Hikes) Meet at the Masterson Area parking lot for our hike to the hill top and we will discuss the last glacial advance and the hills it left behind. Afterwards we will car caravan to Bjorkboda Marsh a short distance away, continue our geological discussion, and observe the wetland from the observation platform. CANCELED DUE TO RAIN
- August 6 - Floyd County Fossil & Prairie Center, 1227 215th Street Rockford, Iowa, 50468
- Located 1 mile west of Rockford on County Road B47.
- Drive on your own to the Fossil & Prairie Center Parking Lot. From Webster City it is about a 1 hour 15 minute drive.
- Meet John Laird at 10 AM at the Parking Lot by the Fossil and Prairie Center.
- We will hike together from the parking lot to the quarry to collect fossils.
- Bring a sack lunch to eat at noon with the group before you head back home.
- Bring a 1 gallon bucket to put fossils in and a old dining fork to dig fossils up.
- Questions call John Laird at 515-297-0423.
- The Fossil and Prairie Center opens at 1 pm. It may be open at 10 am for our group.
- September 3 - Skillet Creek Indian Mounds 3022 Skillet Creek Road, Dayton Iowa 50530
- Meet at the Skillet Creek Parking lot at 10 am for the hike.
- October 1 - Jewell to Ellsworth Trail, Meet at the Jewell Trail Head, Park on the north side of the Fire Station and we will walk to the trail head together. Just look for the white Chevy Equinox with a Hamilton County Conservation emblem on the door and park next to it. We will hike the trail towards Saratoga Avenue. We will discuss the area history staring at the Ice Age and more recently discuss the history of the rail road and Jewell Junction. We will also discuss how the railroad line became a bike trail as we observe the fall colors. We will observe a wetland and discuss how our wetlands became agricultural lands through the tiling process.
- November 5 - Little Wall Lake Park / Wilcox Nature Trail (Autumn Nature Hike) Park at the lot by the roads end just past the log cabins.
Questions or for location updates: John Laird, Naturalist at 515-297-0423 jlaird@hamiltoncounty.org