Weird outdoor & roadside things to do in Des Moines

Looking for weird outdoor & roadside oddities in Des Moines? These 5 are the genuinely strange ones — South Des Moines Sculpture Park, High Trestle Trail Bridge, Harmon Tunnel at Pammel State Park and more — each hand-vetted and sourced, not pulled from a top-ten list. Great for an unusual date, a weird afternoon, or showing a visitor the side of Des Moines they'd never find on their own.

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South Des Moines Sculpture Park A self-built roadside art environment that locals call 'a poor man's Pappajohn's' — about 18 homemade sculptu… McKinley Park (south side)
High Trestle Trail Bridge A soaring half-mile former railroad trestle bridge 13 stories above the Des Moines River, wrapped in 43 twist… Madrid
Harmon Tunnel at Pammel State Park The Harmon Tunnel is Iowa's only auto tunnel — a 150-foot passage hand-dug through a solid limestone ridge in… Winterset
Clark Tower Clark Tower is a genuine 25-foot limestone castle-tower built in 1926, reached by a one-way, one-lane gravel… Winterset
Briar Patch Amphitheater A Deadhead who followed the Grateful Dead through 80+ shows came home to rural Iowa and carved a natural-bowl… Bevington (25 min south of Des Moines)