Best Cabin Camping near Allerton, IA

Nice little campground 4.5 miles of the freeway...9 minutes away from a small town with stores that stay open till 9. A bait shop onsite, closes early. Most rv sites with power, walk in tent sites w/o. Rates are great $12/15. Showers and flush toilets onsite as well as cabin rentals, canoe rental and fire wood available. Downside is a lot of flying bugs...not really biting just annoying. The lake has a lot of fish in it I hear... Family friendly.

Nice park, a little run down, but there's a new park ranger in town who is trying to fix it up. New rental cabin almost finished, clean beach, boat ramp and fishing. Clean spacious bathrooms, nice playground for the kids and a really cool equestrian section. No store, no wood so get what you need before you get here.

excellent way to spend a day with family. boat rentals were a blast and added bonus.

General: This small county park (16 electric, 14 tent sites plus three cabins) is not reservable which might be an issue on summer weekends but on a Sunday in April, was no problem. Including us, only three sites were occupied. The rates are very reasonable -$15 for electric, and $12 for tent sites. 

Site Quality/Facilities: Each site has a generous-sized picnic table and fire ring. Some sites are better than others, however. Sites 2 and 3 (both electric) are sloped down and the driveway is a bit overgrown. No physical separation between sites which when we were there was not an issue but might be when more crowded. Some of the sites have a direct water view but again, some are more sloped than others. 

Bathhouse: A short hike uphill from all sites but it was very clean when we were there. The showers also looked clean, but I did not use them so cannot comment on how well they worked. 

Activities/Amenities: Fishing! We saw a few boats on the water when we were there and there were two docks, one of them handicapped accessible. Swimming is not allowed but there is a nice day-use area not far down the road with a nice beach and picnic area. There are also horseshoe pits and a small but very nice playground. No hiking trails that I could discern. There was also a small little free library. 

When we were there, we appreciated the quiet, out-of-the-way setting. It is close to the town of Leon but we circumvented it on the way in and out so I don’t know what services might be available.

Nine Eagles is near Lamoni, Iowa near the Iowa-Missouri border right off of Interstate 35. I camped here with my son and his Boy Scout troop in the youth group part of the campground. I can't speak for the rest of the park's camping facilities, but the youth group site is a large open space surrounded by tall trees. The grass is well maintained and the campsite is clean and beautiful. There are not any bathroom facilities at the campsite which is why I give it four instead of five stars, but the park is beautiful and a peaceful place to camp. I wish I would have had my camera with me to take some pictures to share.

Honey Creek State Park is located on the north side of Rathbun Lake in southern Iowa. Boat ramp at the park is large (6 lanes) with several docks to assist loading and unloading. Location is about 10 minute drive from Honey Creek Resort which provides a nice 18 hole golf course, water park, and restaurant.

Shower house / bathroom was very clean. Camping site contained a few trees so we were able to string up a tarp to provide shade and protect firewood and furniture from rain. We were there the week before the 4th of July and during the week, there were only about 6 other campers there. The weekend was a bit busier but still sites to be had. Be careful driving around the park as I don't think there was a day we didn't see at least 8 deer wandering around the campsite or near roads.

Nice park - would definitely stay there again.

Campground Review: Honey Creek State Park is on Rathbun Lake, a very popular place to boat, fish and camp in Southern Iowa. We camped in the Group Campground with out Boy Scout Troop. We pulled into camp after dark and between the headlights of our vehicles and our lanterns (My Goal Zero Light House 250) we set up camp in the dark.

We explored the campground, there were some nice trails and nice spots to camp. The bathrooms were clean but they were a little bit of a walk from the Group Site. The weather was great and the bugs weren't bad. I would recommend Honey Creek State Park.

Ranger Review: The Goal Zero Light House 250 is a nice lantern. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The light settings are perfect. You can use half of the lantern or the full lamp power. You can adjust the lighting power by turning the knob on the front. It can be charged with a wall charger, a solar panel, or the green hand crank on top of the lantern.

We used it when setting our tent up in the dark and it did a good job. At 250 lumens it is just the right amount of light to let you see what you need with out blinding you in the dark. We did not start a campfire that night, instead we placed the Goal Zero Light House 250 on the ground and we surrounded the lantern with our camp chairs as if it was a camp fire. We were up for three hours talking and never did the lantern light weaken.

I like this light. It is too heavy and bulky for backpacking but it is great for car camping. There is a smaller model but I don't know if it will work for backpacking.

Facilities are available and very convenient and comfortable. Nice lake to swim and fish. Absolutely beautiful park and really nice trails. Thanks, Tina

Update: I returned to nine eagles this year with our Boy Scout Troop. They have spent some money since I was last here building new pavilions and updating some of the equipment. The group site still doesn't have restroom facilities but it is not to far to walk to a bathroom. The grounds are well kept and the camp host is really friendly. This campground remains a solid four stars. I highly recommend it.

Wonderful area for horses. Great trials.

We arrived on Thursday evening. After a short debate we opted to pay the extra money for an electric site - based solely on the fact that the water wasn't turned on in the basic site loop (we later discovered it was also off at the swimming beach).

At a guess the basic sites aren't used much as they seemed less kept than the electric sites. Finding a place to pitch a tent in the electric loop was a challenge but we did find one that had enough level grass. Site 4 - close to the water spigot and a modest walk to the bathroom/showerhouse.

Though it was definitely busier come Friday night not all the sites were full and most seemed to be retired or semi-so with grandkids. No party atmosphere - which is what we happened to be looking for this trip.

A nice, quiet place to spend a weekend away with Amish country store a close distance by.

We camped in spot #20 of the north loop. I would not recommend any spot in the center second of the loop. It was more like parking than camping. If we parked in the direction to utilize the full hookups we would have had our awning out over our neighbors campsite.
The state park has some nice trails for hiking. Use bug spray because the ticks are bad. Some nice views of the lake

There is a boat ramp, hiking trails, showers, and the ohv park is only 30 min away on the other side of the lake

Facilities have just recently been updated. Great place to camp. Our kids love it.

New facilities are great!

We had a great time out camping. Excellent area.

Spacious campground with clean facilities.  Some campsites are close to the lake.  Several hiking paths-Lakeshore Trail goes around the whole lake, so be sure to reserve 2-3 hours to conquer this path-more if you like to take in the scenery.  Quite a bit of wildlife seen during kayaking and hiking-muskrat, beaver, swans, geese could be found on the water. Also seen: deer, bald eagles, frogs, toads, turtles.  There were many that enjoyed fishing on the lake, as well. We spent our time hiking and kayaking, but fishing seemed pretty good for those partaking. Also has a nice beach!

I have camped at lake wapello for 32 years in a row over my birthday in September it is the cleanest friendliest best wildlife great fishing wonderful campsites a place that I will always return to.