0.3 percent of Iowa. Bureau of Land Management acres: zero. Forest Service acres: zero. The national motorized route layer holds no Iowa records, so no federal route mileage appears anywhere on this page
The Department of Natural Resources’s own recreation plan, which puts the state at 36,022,848 acres. The Congressional Research Service measures the same state at 35,860,480 acres. Both are published
The width cap on an off-road utility vehicle at any Iowa DNR designated riding area. The state registers three machine types and a plated pickup is none of them
Hung off a 220-mile paved main route between the Missouri line and Akron. The Department of Transportation says the loops range from interstate highways to gravel roads
1.96 inches below normal, the 91st driest year on the state climatologist’s record. The winter before it averaged 8.8 inches of snow statewide, 13.3 inches below normal
Cabins and yurts fill the gap the weather opens
Because Iowa has no dispersed camping and its shoulder seasons swing hard, the state cabin and yurt system does real work for travellers who would otherwise be sleeping out. Cabins and yurts carry a two-night minimum through the season and a three-night minimum over the Memorial Day and Labor Day weekends and a Monday Fourth of July, unreserved ones rent walk-in with nothing let after 6 p.m., and no facility is let for more than a two-week stay. Camping rates themselves drop between 16 October and 30 April, which makes the off season genuinely cheaper.
Nobody plans a trip around motels, and almost every long trip uses a few. After a week of wind, when the weather turns, while the truck is in a shop, or when the people you travel with have simply earned a hot shower.
What makes lodging work for overlanders
It comes down to parking and attitude.
01Room to park tall and long vehicles, and trailers without unhitching
02Parking you can see from the room, or that is lit
03Late arrivals and early breakfasts
04A hose, a laundry, and no fuss about dust
05Staff who know the local roads and what is open
Before you book
Call rather than click when you have a big vehicle.
01Ask about parking for your height and length.
02Ask about the access road in wet weather.
03Ask about pets, and about leaving gear on the vehicle.
Questions people ask
Will my rig fit?
Ask before you book. Roof tents, campers and high-roof vans do not fit many parking garages, and trailers need pull-through space. Small-town motels and lodges are usually easier than city hotels.
Is it safe to leave gear on the vehicle?
Use judgment, park where you can see the vehicle or under lights, and bring in what you cannot replace. Ask the front desk where they would park it.
How high is Iowa?
From Farmington at 552 feet to Hawkeye Point at 1,670.
Altitude decides what your engine, your brakes and your lungs have to work with, and how late in the year the passes open.
02,000
Feet above sea level
Towns
SibleyOsceola County seat in the far northwest corner, in the county that holds both Hawkeye Point and Ocheyedan Mound, the two highest points measured for this guide.1,514 ft
Sioux CityNorthern end of the Loess Hills National Scenic Byway and the largest services stop on the Missouri, with Stone State Park and the Loess Hills Interpretive Center on the bluffs above.1,201 ft
Fort DodgeWebster County seat on the Des Moines River. Gypsum City, the largest off-highway vehicle park in the state, sits on the southeast corner of town with a county-run campground.1,111 ft
PisgahHarrison County village surrounded by three of the four Loess Hills State Forest units, with the Preparation Canyon unit north and the hike-in backpack camping beyond it.1,059 ft
OnawaMonona County seat mid-way along the Loess Hills byway, between the Missouri bottoms and the ridge loops, and the northern gateway to the state forest units.1,052 ft
CharitonLucas County seat at the centre of the Stephens State Forest units, the largest block of state forest in Iowa and the only one whose published mileage counts roads alongside trails.1,040 ft
Missouri ValleyJunction town on Interstates 29 and 680 and the gateway to DeSoto National Wildlife Refuge, the Bertrand collection and the Missouri River bottoms.1,020 ft
CentervilleAppanoose County seat and the Corps of Engineers office address for Rathbun Lake, with the Rathbun off-highway vehicle area in the northwest corner of the county.1,009 ft
HamburgLast Iowa town on the Loess Hills byway before the Missouri line, with Waubonsie State Park and the southern ridge loops immediately north.917 ft
KnoxvilleMarion County seat and the Corps office address for Lake Red Rock, which carries eight of Iowa’s 26 federal campgrounds, more than any other project in the state.909 ft
DecorahWinneshiek County seat and the practical base for the western half of the Driftless Area byway, the Upper Iowa River and the cold-water trout country.873 ft
McGregorClayton County river town below Pikes Peak State Park, where the Great River Road and the River Bluffs Scenic Byway meet at the Wisconsin confluence.687 ft
LansingNorthern anchor of the Driftless Area Scenic Byway on the Great River Road, with the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center and the bluffs standing over the river.675 ft
Harpers FerryMississippi river town in Allamakee County and the postal address of both Effigy Mounds National Monument and the Yellow River State Forest headquarters, three miles west.651 ft
DubuqueLargest city on Iowa’s Mississippi shore, at the eastern end of the Grant Wood Scenic Byway and on the Great River Road, with Mines of Spain on its southern edge.623 ft
FarmingtonVan Buren County town on the Des Moines River, named for one of the five Shimek State Forest units and the base for the forest’s southeast camping.552 ft
Passes, high roads and summits
Hawkeye PointOsceola County, the highest ground in Iowa. The USGS published figure and our own 3DEP reading at the same point agree exactly1,670 ft
Ocheyedan MoundOsceola County, a glacial kame long taken for the state high point and now a state preserve. Measured for this chart; no agency publishes a figure for it1,612 ft
Pilot KnobHancock County, the high ground above Pilot Knob State Park on the eastern edge of the Des Moines Lobe. Measured for this chart; no agency publishes a figure for it1,452 ft
Pass, road and summit elevations are the figures published by the agency that manages them. Town elevations are the town’s or county’s own
figure where it publishes an exact one; the rest are from the U.S. Geological Survey (3D Elevation Program at the place’s official coordinates),
retrieved September 18, 2026. Every source is listed at the foot of the page.
