Pleasant Creek State Recreation Area is a 1,927-acre Iowa state park near Palo, built around the 410-acre Pleasant Creek Lake and developed in the 1960s to provide eastern Iowa with a large recreational lake. The area now supports year-round outdoor recreation on land and water. The lake has four boat ramps, a kayak launch, clear water that attracts scuba divers, and fishing jetties serving anglers seeking channel catfish, muskellunge, largemouth bass, and white bass. The surrounding park also allows hunting, offers eight miles of multi-use trails for hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, skiing, and snowmobiling, and includes modern campsites and camping cabins for overnight stays.