Lake Macbride State Park Campground

This site was super easy to do same day booking campsite. Had a bathroom with showers and multiple water wells spread out. There were rangers checking out the area every so often. And not to far from a store to buy things we forget to get.

Pros:

• clean bathrooms
• good Starlink north clearing (site 13)
• right next to trails
• quiet
• pretty level sites

Cons

• bugs (actually had a hornets nest in my electrical plug-in compartment)
• showers had to be continually pushed to keep rolling

My niece who lives nearby recommended this place to stay when we went to visit her since was a short drive from where she lives.  Full hook-ups, nice clean bathhouse, quiet nearby trail within walking distance, beautiful lake. Will stay here again when come back to visit her.

Doesn't feel like a bunch of campers crammed together, at least in the reserved section (modern campground). The higher up the hill you are, the flatter the campsite is. Entry on this app says big rig friendly, but it might be hard to fit a big rig on the electrical only sites, and also to turn around leaving them. Had a camper that had to relocate from reserved site while we were there for that reason. Only about 2-3 of the walk-in-only sites can fit bigger campers. The biggest downside: hard to tell until you see your site if you have water pump close enough!

Stayed for one night in October. We didn’t make a reservation and arrived after sundown so it did get a little confusing finding the place. But once we found a site we were good. There’s no place to buy firewood nearby so come prepared.

Campsites are very open so there isn’t much privacy and I’m sure Sumer days are very busy with the lake nearby. The site we stayed in wasn’t very level but it wasn’t that big of a deal. There’s no electric but there is a water spigot nearby. No showers but there is pit toilet nearby.

We stayed in a walk-in site for one night at the Non-Modern campground. It was wonderful! We arrived at dark and set up our backpacking tents but were able to see stars and be separated from our neighboring site. The campground had a water spigot to fill containers and dumpsters (no trash at site). There are no amenities at the campsites in this campground. A restroom with pit toilets similar to a National Park are on-site. They were very clean, as was the campground. It is on a lake so you will hear boats in the early morning hours and wildlife.

We stayed in the primitive side of Lake MacBride State Park. Here are our thoughts:

Pros: -Primitive campground is isolated from the electric one, so it’s much quieter -Right on the lake -Plenty of spots to choose from -On a less busy weekend, it would be much easier to keep to yourself/keep from being on top of other campers -Sites 48 & 49 were relatively private and large (backed up to woods) and 49 seemed to have some good flat areas -Modern bathrooms within walking distance -Miles of beautiful, well maintained walking trails -We didn’t fish, but it seemed like everyone who did was having no problem catching pretty large fish -Red Vespa in town at Solon is great pizza within a reasonable distance of the campground!

Cons -Quite a distance to any lake activities and firewood (you have to go into town for firewood or to the total other side of the lake) -Campground is laid out in a way that makes you butt up against other campers on almost every side—virtually no privacy -Was a bit rowdy/loud on Labor Day weekend, but what can you expect -Very few spots had flat area for tents, most were on a hill -Bathrooms were not terribly well maintained

Stayed just overnight and enjoyed the dam at sunset. Stayed here the weekend before the Derecho damaged so many of the trees. Would love to go back

We typically stay in the walk-in section as it is tough to get reservations last minute. If we come in on Sunday or Monday there has always been availability.

We loved our time here. Nice spot, nice and clean bathhouse. Lots of hiking, swimming, water crafts to rent.

The site was very basic. It was not mowed, so we pitched a tent on tall grass. There’s tons of firewood from fallen trees in the woods. It’s walking distance to get to the lake, but very dense algae and moss in that area, kids had hard time maneuvering it. Bathrooms are so stinky! The vault toilet had no toilet paper. The real bathroom was a walk but it was just as smelly. There is a nice playground and a fish cleaning station at the camp.

This is a real family oriented campground. Although it is a primative campground, it allows for fishing, boating and a playground.

Clean sites right on the lake.. Peaceful nights with other friends & other campers.. Good place to launch kayaks from.. We had cell service.. Free firewood for campers was a plus!! $9.00/night!!!

My son and I tent-camped at Macbride Nature Recreation Area (not nearby Lake Macbride State Park) several times circa 2005. Always a good time. You can walk through the forest to get to the injured raptor center with outdoor aviaries. I marked this campground as new to the Dyrt map but the Dyrt changed it to a review of the state park. Oh well!

This park has two campgrounds. The modern side on the north end of the park with full hookups, and the primitive side on the south side of the park with no electricity or water hookups. Both campgrounds have flushing toilets but only the modern side has showers. All restroom facilities are very well kept. Beautiful park with lots to do! Only thing keeping me from giving it 5 stars is how busy both campgrounds get on weekends and holidays giving you little to no privacy since sites are pretty close together.

This is our favorite place to be in the summer. Great trails for hiking and walking and my kids love swimming here as well. The beach area is usually well maintained. Great place to take the family for summer fun.

Stayed at modern campground. Very quiet midweek in October which was great because there would be no privacy between the small sites. Nice walking access to nice beach to dam trail. We appreciated the small playground near the north campground. Showers are meh, but overall value is great at $11 per night. It would be an annoyingly long drive to primitive campground.

Beautiful place ... saw wild turkeys and dear almost ever day walking the camp grounds.. clean and they offer free fire wood

I’m sure we were just unlucky, but the campground was very noisy the whole night we were there. Nice view of the lake, though. If you want to reserve a campsite online, do so at least 2 days ahead.

Close access to boating and town

Clean, quieter than other modern campground on other side. Paddling rentals on other side of the lake. Cheap camping in nature including good fishing access.

Update- closed temporarily due to derecho storm damage

Great shady area to set up a tent or camper. Close to the lake and costs only $9!

Checked in at around 7:30pm and came across the self registration board. Everything was super easy to use in order to get registered. The sites are packed in relatively close, but they do have enough space to feel comfortable. I have camped here many times, but my favorite time is spring and fall. The weather is nice during the day, and cool at night. The crowds are also relatively low, and it mostly consisted of quiet, kind folks in RVs. The fishing on the lake is also good during this time of the year, and I enjoy eating my catch at the end of the day! The rangers in the park were also very kind and helpful!

Did a quick overnight here before a race in Cedar Rapids. Nice campgrounds. The modern campground has electric hookups and nice showers, the other campground (much quieter!) has nice toilets. It was no big deal to pay less and camp more primitive and then go across the park to the modern campground in the northern section to use the showers. Great lake and good playgrounds if you have kids.

Lake MacBride State Park is divided into two areas, and you need a car (or boat) to get between the two sections. You may also be able to take the dam trail with a bike, but I'm not totally sure about that. One side is called the "modern campground" and has spots for RV camping and tent camping, and this campground has toilets, playground, beach, and shower house. The other side is the "non-modern campground" and has RV and tent sites, playground, boat access to the lake, modern bathroom and pit latrine, but NO shower house. Our family of two parents and 2 young boys stayed a Friday night in the non-modern campground in site #49, which is off to the side, close to the woods, and is appropriate for two tents. We had no complaints at all! The campground is well-maintained, the lake is beautiful, the modern toilet house was clean, there was water on site. Our kids played with other kids in the campground at the small but nicely maintained and modern playground. There were some safe little trails in the woods next to our campsite that our kids walked around on with lanterns and looked for bugs and spiders. There was a normal amount of chatter from a Boy Scout group that was near us, but the sound died down fairly early, and it was quiet sleeping. The next morning, we got up and did some exercise and watched the lake while the fog was still low. Saw lots of neat birds, including a great blue heron. There is no swimming beach on this side, but you can launch a boat (boat ramp) or kayaks and canoes. Many of the campsites were empty when we went, and for the empty ones, you just get your campsite on the honor system. I do sort of wish there was a shower house on that side, just in case, but that is probably what is keeping this site quiet. We reserved the campsite through ReserveAmerica, and unfortunately we had to reserve for a minimum of 2 days, so my only other wish would be that we could reserve for just one day, BUT the campsite was very inexpensive, only $9/night, so for $18 plus a very minimal processing fee (I think we paid $22 total for the 2 nights), we had a great place to camp, and much cheaper and quieter than a cheap motel, along our destination from Wisconsin to Kansas! Things nearby to check out include: the beach at the park, the Devonian Fossil Gorge in Coralville, and the Coffee Press (for coffee lovers) in Iowa City.