I love Cottonwood Rec. The only problem I have is that people throw their trash about. I take my grabber and a bag and I could pick up litter every single day. I wish they could be caught and punished. Beer bottles thrown into the rocks and river. Trash everywhere. Why do people do this?

Beautiful place to walk your dog on-leash. Lots of great sniffs and open area. There is a loop at the end of the lane at this entrance. Its a little hard to see the turnoff. There are stone markers. Plenty of parking and open restrooms. There are shelters and a playground. If you go now, you can see the pelicans! We had the best time!

Very well maintained place, Im so happy to live close to it. And to be able to enjoy this beautiful places. God bless USA..

Its a small picnic space with 2 shelter houses. Nice with river access. Good for family outing but no play area that I noticed.

A really hidden Des Moines gem actually its in Johnston but so very close to the north side of Des Moines. It has extensive walking areas parking areas and a beautiful area along the river all free. There are maybe 10 shelters and picnic areas that are open for rent many of them that have childrens playgrounds right next to him so its an ideal setting for family picnics wedding celebrations annual picnics company picnics just a great recreation area that is well maintained. You can see all kinds of birds both along the river anything from bald eagles to blue herons to pelicans and in between Ive seen indigo buntings on this trail and things as common as Cardinals and as unusual as an oriole. Its a great place for deer around twilight or early in the morning well turkeys. Native plants native wildflowers. And its relatively flat easy location to get to with accessible walking you could walk in park with a wheelchair and have a nice outdoor experience. the playgrounds make it a wonderful place to take kids to have a picnic and blow off steam.

Clean Bathrooms. Highly recommend coming.

Nice trail, a little hilly for running but it had some pretty views!

Custodians do an excellent job on cleaning the facilities. Beautiful, open shelter houses for day rentals, lots of open field to play in, and river access for fishing

This place is great. The golden oyster mushrooms are coming my up as of August 1st.

Nice park with ample amenities.

Great place to just sit and ponder....

A fantastic place for a ride! You can bike far and fast

Great fishing. Jolene and Cecil were amazing for information and the nicest people weve met down there. They really helped our visit be a great one. We will go frequently because of them.. thanks you two....Your the best!!!!

Great place for volleyball and grilling out

Family friendly, clean, and lots to do!

Everything was fine except when the bug started coming out and they were very very heavy more heavy than normal I should just they do some spraying or something rather when no ones there.

Very nice Dec walk

Reserve for good spot.

Very nice park!

Very nice and clean!

It was beautiful!

Beautiful place to take a walk or walk the dogs