Recreation abounds in the Fort Dodge region. Recreational opportunities include Iowa's largest off-highway vehicle park with 65 miles of single track, ATV, and ORV trails.

Boone ( BOON) is a city in Des Moines Township, and county seat of Boone County, Iowa, United States.It is the principal city of the Boone, Iowa Micropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Boone County Micropolitan Statistical Area . This micropolitan statistical area, along with the Ames, Iowa Metropolitan Statistical Area comprise the larger Ames-Boone, Iowa Combined Statistical Area. The population of the city was 12,460 at the 2020 census.

Ames () is a city in Story County, Iowa, United States, located approximately 30 miles (48 km) north of Des Moines in central Iowa. It is best known as the home of Iowa State University (ISU), with leading agriculture, design, engineering, and veterinary medicine colleges. A United States Department of Energy national laboratory, Ames Laboratory, is located on the ISU campus. In 2020, Ames had a population of 66,427. Iowa State University was home to 33,391 students as of fall 2019, which make up approximately one half of the city's population. Ames also hosts United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) sites: the largest federal animal disease center in the United States, USDA's Agricultural Research Service's National Animal Disease Center (NADC), as well as, one of two national USDA sites for the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which comprises the National Veterinary Services Laboratory and the Center for Veterinary Biologics. Ames also hosts the headquarters for the Iowa Department of Transportation.

Marshalltown is a city in, and the county seat of Marshall County, Iowa, United States. It is located along the Iowa River. The population was 27,591 in the 2020 census.