Botna Bend County Park

Iowa has many great county parks, and this one is no exception. There are three campgrounds in the park. The South campground, Middle campground, and North campground.

The South campground is closed for renovations. I read they are adding full hookups to this campground. The Verizon signal at this campground is usable for calls& text, but internet speeds are slow. Streaming will probably work but a video call will probably not. 

The middle campground has nice level spots, and a nice shower house with warm water. There are 4 individual bathrooms, each with a shower. This campground had about the same Verizon signal as the South campground- good enough for calls and texting.

The North campground has grass sites with more space between them than at the other two campgrounds. This North campground does not have a shower house, but it has a two room bathroom with running water. The Verizon signal at this campground is a strong 5G signal with great speeds. I also tested T-mobile and AT&T at this campground, and they were plenty usable but no where near as fast as Verizon.

There is a meat shop and a sports bar restaurant within walking distance from the park. The walk within the park is a long walk. From the North campground to the registration box at the entrance is about 1 mile.

While at the park I saw deer, raccoons, turkeys, and a 4 inch caterpillar crossing the road. There are also bison and elk in a fenced in area.

This is one of the first campsites that I have been to in a while. The first time pulling through the park brought feelings of curiosity and wonder to my eyes and mind. The camp was spacious enough for a remodeled school bus and a camper van to fit comfortably and still have space to play frisbee. The campsite also came with a converted tire rim as a fire pit. We had plenty of sunlight for our solar systems on each vehicle which kept our batteries nice and full. The camp came equipped with bathrooms and a shower house. Walking on the trails reminded me of how beautiful nature is, because of all the flowers and tall prairie grasses. There were plenty of insects jumping, flying, and crawling all over the place which was frighting at times. Along one of the trails I even encountered a archery course, this was one thing that I hadn’t seen anywhere else. The park also has an enclosure with Bison and Elk, this was very nice because I got to see them up close and take lots of pIctures. The Nishnabotna River flows right next to the park itself, which makes for a great location to float down on a hot summer day. The park itself, for the day, is $3 and you can let your kids play on the two jungle gyms and walk the trails. For the campsite itself, it’s $15 and you have the option for a cement slab to park your rig or you can park in the grass, and each campsite comes with electrical outlets with enough power flowing through the wires to power all of your electronic needs. The only down fall that I had was one of the trails weren’t all the way mowed at the end; It made me feel like I was walking through the jungle, so it wasn’t too terrible. All and all, this was a good park and I enjoyed my stay and I’d recommend anyone to come visit this park.