11 hills in Iowa, most of them run by a county or city

Sledding Hills in Iowa: Every One an Agency Names

Q: Is there snow tubing in Iowa?

1 of the 11 hills below is published as a tubing run rather than a sledding hill, and 1 of those rents tubes on site. A tubing run usually runs to published hours and often closes for conditions, which a sledding hill rarely does.

Q: How do you know whether a hill in Iowa is open?

No hill here publishes a conditions feed, so opening follows snow rather than a date. The agency page for the park is where a closure appears first.

Q: What does Iowa say about sledding on its own hills?

6 of the 11 pages carry guidance from the agency that runs the hill. Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation writes: Sledding can cause severe injuries. Sled at your own risk. Each of those sentences is reproduced whole on the hill it belongs to.

Q: Which state has the most designated sledding hills?

New York, with 14. Across the country 202 hills are named by the agency that runs them, spread over 35 states, and 15 states name none at all.

Every hill below was named for sledding by the Iowa agency that runs it, on a page linked beside it. What it costs, whether it runs tubing, a tow or lights, and the agency's own words.

Hills a public agency names

in 6 towns

A county or city

Most of them named by

11 local, 0 state, 0 national forest

That print no charge

no state winter parking permit

1 / 1 / 0

Tubing, tow or lights

1 publish hours, 0 a conditions page

The answer

Whose website to open first in Iowa

Iowa has 11 hills that a public agency has named for sledding in writing, and all of them are run by a county, metro or city park department.

County, metro or city: 11

The first website to open in Iowa is a county or city parks department rather than the state park system, because that is where most of the designations below were published.
10 of the 11 print no charge and 1 print a fee or a parking charge.

Grouped by who named it

All 11 Iowa hills

Each card opens with the agency’s own words, because that sentence is the reason the hill is on the page. Everything under it is an attribute the same agency published on the same page. Where an agency adds guidance of its own, it is quoted whole and nothing is added to it.

Named by a county or city11 hills

Bowman Woods

City park

Cedar Rapids. Run by Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation

When snow piles up, sledding hills open at Bowman, Jones, and Shawnee Parks. These hills are natural and not groomed, so conditions can change quickly. Sled at your own risk and take a moment to review the posted safety tips at the parks and below.

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation publishes this with the hill: “Sledding can cause severe injuries. Sled at your own risk.”

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids

Shawnee Park

City park

Cedar Rapids. Run by Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation

When snow piles up, sledding hills open at Bowman, Jones, and Shawnee Parks. These hills are natural and not groomed, so conditions can change quickly. Sled at your own risk and take a moment to review the posted safety tips at the parks and below.

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation publishes this with the hill: “Sledding can cause severe injuries. Sled at your own risk.”

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids

Jones Park

City park

Cedar Rapids. Run by Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation

When snow piles up, sledding hills open at Bowman, Jones, and Shawnee Parks. These hills are natural and not groomed, so conditions can change quickly. Sled at your own risk and take a moment to review the posted safety tips at the parks and below.

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Cedar Rapids Parks and Recreation publishes this with the hill: “Sledding can cause severe injuries. Sled at your own risk.”

Winter Recreation - Parks and Recreation, City of Cedar Rapids

Fairmont Park sledding hill

City park

Fairmont Park. Des Moines. Run by Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Sledding Hill

Fairmont Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Fairmont Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Harmon Park sledding hill

City park

Harmon Park. Des Moines. Run by Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Sledding Hill

Harmon Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Harmon Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation

MacRae Park sledding hill

City park

MacRae Park. Des Moines. Run by Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Sledding Hill

MacRae Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

MacRae Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Valley High Manor Park sledding hill

City park

Valley High Manor Park. Des Moines. Run by Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Sledding Hill

Valley High Manor Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Valley High Manor Park - City of Des Moines Parks and Recreation

Fejervary Park sledding hill

City park

Fejervary Park. Davenport. Run by Davenport Parks and Recreation

Seasonal Sledding Hill

Fejervary Park - City of Davenport Parks and Recreation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Fejervary Park - City of Davenport Parks and Recreation

Bunker Hill Golf Course

City park

Dubuque. Run by City of Dubuque Parks and Recreation

Sledding is allowed in all City parks and Bunker Hill Golf Course.

Winter Outdoor Opportunities - City of Dubuque, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

City of Dubuque Parks and Recreation publishes this with the hill: “Please remember that sledding in any City park or property is at your own risk.”

Winter Outdoor Opportunities - City of Dubuque

Cone Park tubing hill

City park

Cone Park. Sioux City. Run by Sioux City Parks and Recreation Department

700 ft tubing hill

Cone Park - Facilities, City of Sioux City, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

Tubing, tubes rented on site$15.00 Friday and Saturday sessions, $10.00 Sunday sessionsMon/Tues/Wed/Thurs CLOSED; Friday (Snow Glow) 6 pm-9 pm; Saturday 2:30 pm-5:30 pm; Sunday 12 pm-5 pm

Friday - Snow Glow 6 pm - 9 pm $15.00; Saturday 2:30 pm - 5:30 pm $15.00; Sunday 12 pm - 5 pm $10.00

Sioux City Parks and Recreation Department publishes this with the hill: “Snow tubes are provided – no outside tubes are allowed”

Cone Park - Facilities, City of Sioux City

Crescent Hill at Hitchcock

County park

Honey Creek. Run by Pottawattamie Conservation

Daytime sledding sessions may be available during Winter Break.

Crescent Hill at Hitchcock (Previously Mt. Crescent Ski Area) - Pottawattamie Conservation, read September 23, 2026. Read it at the source

chairlift, select evenings during the ski season

Pottawattamie Conservation publishes this with the hill: “use sleds provided by Crescent Hill. The use of personal sleds is not permitted.”

Crescent Hill at Hitchcock (Previously Mt. Crescent Ski Area) - Pottawattamie Conservation

Cost and parking

What sledding costs in Iowa

10 of the 11 print no charge and 1 print a fee or a parking charge. Nationally 140 of the 202 hills print no charge at all, and the ones that do are nearly always the two things that cost an agency money to run: a tubing operation that rents the tube, and a tow that carries you back up.

Iowa sells no winter parking permit. 19 states do, and on nearly every hill that needs one the money is for the plowed lot rather than for the slope.

Four people in winter coats seen from behind carrying large black inner tubes up a packed snow run through dark evergreen forest, with more figures at the top of the run — Tubes going back up a run under their own power. A tubing hill is the one kind on these pages that usually charges, because the agency is renting the tube or running a lift rather than opening a slope, and it is also the one most likely to publish fixed hours and a conditions line. Eighteen of the hills here run tubing; most of the rest are a slope and a car park. “Snow Tubing”, Iain Laurence, CC BY-SA 3.0

Iowa sledding questions

Are there designated sledding hills in Iowa?

Who runs the sledding hills in Iowa?

Does sledding cost anything in Iowa?

Is there snow tubing in Iowa?

How do you know whether a hill in Iowa is open?

What does Iowa say about sledding on its own hills?

Which state has the most designated sledding hills?

Sledding hills in other states

Iowa first snow datesWhen the first measurable snow has historically arrived, which is when a hill starts to be worth the drive.Iowa snowpackHow much snow is actually on the ground right now, from the automated stations that measure it.Iowa plow trackerWhether the road to the hill has been plowed, from the state that plows it.Iowa cross country skiingThe groomed trail systems, which is what most state agencies publish instead of sledding.

Iowa read September 23, 2026 from the agency pages linked beside each hill. Hours, fees and winter parking permit prices are set season by season and a hill opens on snow rather than on a date, so the agency page linked beside each one is the thing that governs on the day. Every state is on the sledding hills hub.