Bellevue State Park Campground — Dyas Unit

I took my son and one of his friends campjng to Bellvue State Park, however, we did not visit the actual park itself. The camp sites were close to one another, many had almost no privacy from the other campsites. We were at campsite 40, which had a severe incline. Also, if you prefer to hammock camp you may not be able to do so. I was able to find one tree and hook the other side up to my vehicle.

CG site atop river bluff with pads, fire rings, tables, RR, recycling, trails, shelters nearby. Sites are close to each other but plenty to do.

Car camping in my Prius and wanted to stay in a non electric (ie tent) space for $12 but all the tent spaces didn’t seem to have anywhere flat to park. From what I could see, most of the nonelectric/tent were down at the bottom of slopes. Ended up paying the $18 and staying in a nice electric spot (didn’t use the electric though). Flat, gravel, shaded. I was right at the end (spot 27) and butted up against a prairie. Super lovely. Really quiet campsite. Most are RVs and they largely park on the other side of the loops. Mostly older folks. There’s not a lot of trails on the campsite side (Dyas unit) of Bellevue but they were lovely and secluded and nice to get grounded. Bathrooms are clean and nice. The soap smells really good! They have showers which were clean. I thought they’d be cold water showers but they were warm! Such a delight.

Wanted to stay near-ish to the Mississippi. While this campground does not have views of the river, a 5 min walk had great overlooking views.

Stayed there recently for Memorial Day weekend. The site we had was fairly steep as far as tent sites go. The site our friends had next to us was uninhabitable due to mud and sloping but the rangers let them switch sites no problem. It was rainy so we didn't get to enjoy the trails but we were told they were decent.

I think if we were here when it is less buggy, we would have enjoyed it much more but at the end of May, we saw a guy wearing a head net he said he wouldn’t sell to us for a$100 (and we probably would have paid it!) 

Be aware if you approach from the north, you will see signs for the park that say no camping! But then there is a sign that says camping is two miles down the road, however, the sign is very easy to miss, and we passed it. 

Sites are nice and spaced a decent bit apart. Site 15 has a nice shade tree. Bathrooms and showers are clean but there are no hooks in the bathrooms to hang towels or toiletries and the bathrooms are separate from the showers. The building has a cement walkway around it but you have to walk through the grass to get there. 

There are beautiful overlooks of the Mississippi River from paved walking trails. The camp hosts were very friendly.

Quiet and beautiful campground. Campsites are walk in and sit back from other sites. Very nice facilities.

We were just passing through the area south of Dubuque and stayed here on a rainy night. Camping is in the Dyas unit, but there are a few trails and a butterfly garden in the Nelson unit (down the road) but no camping. The butterfly garden was suffering a bit from neglect in August.

It was a decent place to stay for a night, but sites were kinda tight, i.e. close to each other. It's still a bargain at $11/$16 for non-electric/electric sites from 5/1-9/30, and the cost is $6/$11 the rest of the year.

The standard amenities include:

• fire ring and picnic table at each site

• dump station and potable water

• modern bathrooms (as well as pit toilets near the road to sites 11-23...not sure why you'd use these because it's not much farther to a real bathroom)

• individual showers, i.e. a door to the outside at each shower

Be sure to check out the photo that shows the site map along with a video that shows each area on that map.

We camped at Bellevue last summer (Aug. 2017) & it was not at all crowded. It was a really nice campground with new shower & bathroom facilities. We had stayed there because we couldn't get a site at Maquoketa Caves State Park and ended up quite happy.