Named after Thomas Macbride, the “father” of Iowa conservation, Lake Macbride State Park is a popular lakeside destination with family friendly outdoor activities. Several multi-use trails wind around the lake, featuring the sights and sounds of Iowa’s native birds. In the summer, soak up the sun by kayaking, paddling or swimming in the lake. Whether you’re visiting for an afternoon or a weekend, Lake Macbride features numerous amenities to enjoy year round.

Camp in one of the two campgrounds at Lake Macbride. A modern campground is located in the northern unit of the park with full and electric hookups, a shower and restroom, and a trailer dump station. One non modern campground can be found in the southern unit of the park with a beautiful shaded setting near the lake. Some campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and advance reservations can be made through the online reservation system for Lake Macbride State Park.

Lake Macbride State Park Campground

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

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. 

Highly recommend! Non-modern site was great for us! Clean, family-friendly, quiet, but no shower house

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

Primitive Campground

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

Good primitive campground

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. 

Good views of the lake from non-electric campground 

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

Tent camped off an on for 10 weeks 

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. 

Price is right

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!

Wooded walk-in tent sites (MNRA)

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

Family campground 

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

Beautiful area! 

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 

Long Gravel Ride

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 &amp; 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 

Nice Campground, Not Ideal Location

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.

Non modern campground near the lake

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

Not Too Shabby

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.