Rock Creek State Park Campground

Stayed 2 nights in 6/7. No shade, giant electrical boxes, whole campground is downhill from dump station and the smell on Sunday morning is really unpleasant. Feels like whole campground is crammed together and smoke from campfires is thick enough to chew.

When we were there, teens were running littler kids off the playground; someone dumped all the TP in the men's room in to the toilets on Sunday morning, and the showers were too hot to use, with no way to adjust water temp.

On the bright side, the lake is pretty, it's right there at the campground. Boat, kayak and canoe rentals seemed reasonable and little store was convenient.

No wake lake. Boat and kayak rental and a small store with basic necessities. Campground has some 30 amp and some 50 amp sites. New playground for the kids. Clean facilities.

The campground area is clean. Showers and toilets are clean. The RV section of campground was nearly full but the tent/non-hook up section had lots of space. One can camp on lakeside but be aware that these spots have a slope, not comfortable for my van. Park management was fine with changing campsite. Contact info for ranger was available at entrance. Overall good experience.

Beautiful scenery with lake front camping. Sunset over the lake! Found a great trail to hike, also the opportunity to rent a boat or paddlebord. Clean bathroom with good showers. Limited shade options.

Clean place very open and gorgeous and peaceful

We were definitely the one little tent in a sea of RVs at this campground. People were actually coming over to look at our tent (lol). There was not a lot of privacy, but otherwise it was a cool campground. We were able to camp right on the edge of the lake. Bathrooms and showers were relatively clean. Firewood is available. Depending on where you are in the campground, some AT&T service is available.

This is a really nice rural state park, by a little lake. Had no bug issues, well maintained, lots of diffrent kinds of campers, lot of kids but not unreasonable on the noise. Camp host helpful!

If you have US Cellular you’ll be disappointed with reception. Verizon has reception. Nice campground overlooking a lake. Pontoon and boat rentals. Sites are a bit uneven. Leveled up on worse than these before.

I have camped here alot in my life time. If you don't like busy this campground is not for u. The electric is full almost every weekend. Fishing is pretty good. Currently no playground, a new is under construction.

Stopped overnight on our way home from Iowa City. No reservations & took our chances on finding an electric site. Score! Neighbors were friendly. Water pressure to fill tank was pretty weak but other than taking a little longer, no complaints. Had an owl in the tree above the camper as a look out even! A++++

Used to go here as a kid, was always good fishing. We visited one week before the water and modern bathrooms were ready, so that was challenging. The park seemed a little rough to be on the cusp of true spring camping. Derecho looks to have hit here, lots of clean up to do. I never saw a ranger or any staff. Gorgeous tent camping area and waterfront sites. Great bike trail that goes right into Grinnell. We were in site 39 and it’s a great one!

Good sized lake, nice beach, camp store operators real nice. Decent distance between sites for a state park on Iowa. Boat rentals. On my annual camp rotation.

I grew up a few miles from this state park so stayed here when we went back to visit family. This park, like all state parks, has had it's ups and downs. Unfortunately, the amazing swimming beach with concession stand and changing rooms with showers is gone. Due to the large population of geese, ducks, and cranes, the water is not safe to swim in. 

On the upside, the camping, boating, and fishing are amazing! We dry camped right on the water's edge for $6 a night, 2 weeks for $88! Electric sites are only 12. Their sites are 20/30/50 amp. No water or sewer at the sites but there are water spigots dispersed through the campground and full dump station as you come in/leave. There is a nice camp store next to the campground st the marina for fishing gear, firewood, and a few essentials. You can also rent fishing boats, pontoons, kayaks, and canoes. 

We were able to kayak and bike here and it was amazing! We will definitely be back!!!

Rock Creek is known for its crappie and large mouth bass fishing. The lake has lots of features like brush piles, vertical structures, mossy areas and you can go over by the bridge and fish the rocks. It’s a great place if you have a boat or kayak/canoe.

The camping is very nice. There are RV electrical sites available along with water/sewage. Most of them have tables also. The spots aren’t huge but there are lots of places to camp. On the weekends it’s pretty busy but during the weekday it empties out.

The tent camping side is really big also and it’s hardly ever filled up. You can reserve some spots right on the water and fish from your tent. Most all the sites have their own fire ring and some have tables.

There are lots of restroom facilities located around the lake that are pretty clean.

For activities you can go hiking, fishing, there is disc golf and there is a beach to go swimming in. Morel mushroom hunting is pretty popular here in the wood areas. They have grill pits to grill on and picnic tables through out the area. There are also some playgrounds for the little ones to play in.

I highly recommend this place.

Pros: Loved being right on the water and so close to the playground and restrooms. Nice area to bike around, and had a ton of kids. Showed a movie near the playground in the evenings.

Cons: Beach was covered in poop, too nasty to swim. Rented a paddle boat, and had to come back after 5 mins because they were infested with hundreds of spiders. The horse shoe pit was overgrown with grass.

We found this gem 9 years ago and don’t camp anywhere else.

The marina contains all the toys you need for on the water fun.

Nice and quiet even on race weekend

We stayed here overnight while in-transit from Michigan to Utah. (May 2018) It’s about 8 miles off I-80, so it worked out pretty well. The route from the interstate is not well-signed, so dial up your GPS. Cheap - $11 per site (without power).

The campground was clean and quiet, and seems quite popular with the locals. For sites with electricity, there is a high density of fifth wheels and the like. Quite a high occupancy rate considering it’s two weeks before Memorial Day.

If you don’t need electricity to enhance your camping experience, there were dozens of sites available.

A previous reviewer mentioned the possibility of Spring flooding. This was not a problem. The campground is a series of terraces up the side of a hill and would not flood, in my opinion.

If you don't have a boat no worries you can rent one at the marina. We caught so many fish here we had to actually let some loose because we were over our limit. We spent most of the day on the lake but the campgrounds were nice and quiet while we were cooking around the fire. I wouldn't want to stay here during the summer because it seems a little over crowded and there aren't any trees to hide you from your neighbors. We stayed during the fall and it was practically empty. Our camp host told us early spring can be hit or miss because sometime the campground will end up flooding so keep that in mind when you plan your trip.