Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Bettendorf, IA

CG offers gravel pads, tables, fire rings, electric, sump station, water, small pond with fishing, paddling, dog park. Close to stores for supplies, dining, fuel.

CG lies within Maquoketa and is seasonal. Has pond for fishing, shelter, dog park, playset, disc golf course. Sites are pulling, have electric and fire pits. Camp supplies including wood in nearby stores. Prairie Creek runs along south of CG.

Gravel pad for one night. Didn’t use facilities, pool was closed for the season. Very nice walk around the lake, dog park was not large, but clean with enough room to run. There were much nicer spots, but we had all we needed for one night.

I suggest this site only if you need to get off the road for an overnight stay. Very few amenities, all but a few spots appear to be full-time RV living onsite, has nice playground, gazebo, dog park (small), lake is small but appears well kept, electric/water/septic onsite.

My Husband were traveling to Montana and this campground was right off the freeway. The grounds are well maintained and the hosts were amazing. They helped you get to your site and get lined up. All sites are pull thru with full hookups. The grounds have lots of mature trees so shade is plenty. There is a very large area to walk your dogs and they have centrally located pet disposal can. They have a pond which was nice to walk the dogs around. I liked that the campground was quiet as we went to bed early in order to get an early start the next day. Keep in mind there are no showers which for us wasn’t an issue but some people might not have that option. We will use them again for sure!!

Great fishing, near Fairport Fish Hatchery, and Wild Cat Den State Park.

Nice location to spend time fishing, watching sunsets, and paddle. Near Wild Cat Den State Park.

Nice campground along Mississippi River with lots of fish to catch. Has playground for younger children, near Wild Cat Den State Park.

CG has views of Mississippi River with good amenities: electric, tables, fire rings, RR/showers. Play areas, camp volunteers onsite, wood available, boat ramp, shelter. This is a seasonal cg and has a train track upon entering park. Wild Cat Den State Park just up US61.

Just off Highway 22 and runs along Mississippi River and railroad tracks. Shady sites, showers, 50 amp service, fish cleaning station, playground, and small amphitheater for naturalist programs.  Near Wild Cat Den SP, Fairport Rec Area, and Towns of Buffalo to north & Muscatine to south ( food, drinks, supplies)

This is one of our favorite parks in the Midwest. We usually make a day trip from Chicagoland, but this time we camped at the park. We are glad we did!

You really can't go wrong with any trail or cave. The kids enjoyed hiking between Lower- and Upper-Dancehall Caves. The trail goes underground and through some water. Window Cave was also a hit. You can climb up about 5-7 feet and out the "window". The kids felt like real spelunkers!

While the park is usually crowded during the day, we find it nearly empty beginning in the late afternoons on the weekdays we visited. It felt like we had the place to ourselves.

The campground is about a five minute walk to the park's main entrances. The campground was very quiet... just the way we like it. There is a family of cats that hang around: they visit from a nearby dairy farm. The kids loved this added attraction. The dog did not.

The bathroom and shower house is clean. There is only one. So it gets pretty busy during "flush hour". Our campsite was right next to the bathroom/ shower and dumpster. We noticed flies and the occasional whiff of trash.

We'll continue visiting this park. And we look forward to camping on site.

General: Very popular state park with a small, 30-site campground (five walk-in tent sites and the rest electric). I read somewhere that the campground was recently upgraded, and I did see some evidence of upgrades. We were dismayed when we arrived at 3 pm on a Sunday to find the place packed with day-use visitors. The campground provided a quieter respite and when we returned after dinner (around 7 pm) to explore the caves, most everyone had gone home! The good news is that likely due to the bats, there were no gnats or mosquitos but there were many annoying flies! 

Site Quality: Gravel pads that all appeared to be level. Although not exceptionally long, we did see quite a few big rigs fit into the spaces. The campground is wooded and there is some separation between sites, but you could still see (and hear) your neighbors. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring with a grill. 

Bathhouse: This did not appear to be part of the campground upgrades. The handicapped stall was closed and because the cave trails were muddy, there was a lot of mud tracked into the bathroom (not the fault of the park). Apparently, people have taken their pets into the showers because there was a sign letting people know they could not do this! 

Activities/Amenities: Explore the caves! Some require spelunking but others have stairs and/or walkways for easy exploration. I had read on the All Trails app that the trail system was confusing and easy to get lost on, but I did not find this to be the case when we were there. There was good signage and if you pick up a map (there were plenty at the entrance to the campground), you should not get lost. There was a naturalist station with several activities that would be good for families. At night, the fireflies are abundant and put on a great show! 

Maquoketa Caves has long been on my list to visit and I’m glad we finally made it!

Caves were closed but we had a great time hiking the trails. Very clean campground. Plenty of wood for campfires, just had a donation box. Electric campsites have plenty of shade. The ground is gravel, which my dog hated. Next time we plan to try the primitive sites. First time camping at an Iowa state park and we were impressed!

One of the 6 campgrounds that you will have to choose from here at Scott County Park, Bald Eagle CG & Cabins is one that is more geared for the RV driving and trailer toting tribes as each site has FHUs with electric, water & sewage, fire rings and picnic tables; however, if you wanted to pitch a tent here, you could, although I would recommend nearby Incahias as an alternative. Unlike some of the other campgrounds here, Bald Eagle kind of lives up to its name as there’s not much in the way of tree cover or brush, so the land is somewhat BALD. The land is incredibly flat, back-in slots are spacious, hard and very level grounds are incredibly well-organized and the bathroom / shower facilities with great HOT running water and are about as impeccably clean as can be.

Near by Bald Eagle is Pride Lake, which makes this pet-friendly CG your top pick if you’re an angler or looking to get some decent oaring with your kayak or canoe. Sitting in front of Pride Lake are 2 very large shelters – Whispering Pines and Hickory Hills – as well as a playground for the kiddos and a restroom facility that is also spartan-clean. Surrounding Bald Eagle is also no shortage of hiking / biking / horse trails. We found the CG itself to be fairly quiet, although lacking in privacy without the benefit of any real brush or trees to blot out our next-door neighbors, but that said, everyone was incredibly friendly with full displays of Midwestern hospitality that this area is known for. There is also a single large cabin available for rent that has capacity for 10 people.

We loved Scott County Park so much because there is a lot that this gem offers up, from fresh water catch & release lakes, a combination of topographies (from woodlands, wetlands and prairie grasslands), a beautiful 18-hole championship golf course, outdoor exercise areas, club house and concessions, stand-alone cabins for rent, designated dump stations and trash receptacles, numerous picnic areas, a massive heated swimming pool complete with a snake-like water slide, volleyball court, ranger stations, seasonal on-site hosts, firewood available for purchase at entry stations, Walnut Grove Pioneer Village and St. Anne’s church at the park’s NW perimeter, 7 community shelters, designated picnic areas, a memorial park, equestrian area and an incredibly well-paved network of roads that allows you to easily access just about every corner of this park.

Happy Camping!

Wildcat Den State Park is somewhat of an unknown gem. Surrounded by cornfields, rolling hills and the Mississippi River, this park is tucked neatly away in Southeast Iowa. We've been here in all four seasons and each one provides a different landscape.

The park offers non-electrical campsites with pit toilets located in the campground area. A portion of the sites are available on a first come first serve basis. The remaining sites have to be reserved. Each campsite has a fire pit and picnic table. There is well water available. There is also a large shelter across the road from the campground area. The bottom portion of the park, where the Pine Creek Grist Mill is located has modern restroom facilities as well as another shelter.

Hiking the Wildcat Den Trail Loop is a must. Looming sandstone cliffs, tall pines, and rock formations are all part of the park's landscape. This is also a great place to view spring wildflowers. There's several spots of interest you'll want to be sure to take in while there, including the Devil's Punch Bowl, Steamboat Rock, The Pine Creek Grist Mill built in the 1800's, the Melpine School, and most recently, a renovated log cabin. The Mill offers tours during the warmer months and it's worth the time to take the tour.

While the trails at the Den are very scenic, they're not well-marked. This is perhaps the only downside of the park. The park is dog-friendly, but they must be on leash at all times.

This is one of my favorite "hidden" parks in Iowa.

Right off highway 80 we stopped in for the night on our way out West and wound up staying 2. Very clean park with lots of shade. Spaces are a bit close together but the grounds make up for it. There's a huge amount of green space surrounding the campsites and even a fishing  pond on site. Our dogs loved the GIGANTIC dog area. Lots of grass to run off their energy.  Full hook ups at a reasonable nightly rate.

The owners were very kind and made us feel welcome. Highly recommend.

Easy drive in spot. We only stayed one night (dog friendly!). Camp sites are pretty spread out so you have your own privacy.

I payed for a two night stay, but incoming storms combined with the overnight experience had me leaving after one. I have mixed feelings about this place. My stay was on a Saturday night, and my dog and I were the only ones camping there. The picnic tables were in a bad state, with boards missing and deteriorating wood, so it could use some upkeep. The grass was nice and green, though, and looked very pretty and well kept. I had no firewood, so when it got dark, I buttoned up my tent, and the dog and I settled in. It was quite dark there. Shortly thereafter, the security guy drove up near my tent, and bellowed out to me like a sheriff trying to apprehend a suspect. It was a little unnerving. He was nice enough when I finally got the dog and I back together to step out to his truck and pay the fees. Yet, this was just the beginning of a long and unnerving night. Apparently this is a favorite haunt for the local late-night scene. For as rural as the area seems to be, there were a surprising number of cars just passing through the parking lot, starting at about 10:30 pm or so. Some stopped to use the bathroom, others just drove through. At around 11:30 a group of young men parked in the lot to go sit at a picnic table by the canal and hang out. Before they did, they spent a good bit of time shining their lights at my tent, and walking too close around it. There is plenty of space there, so there was no need for this. As they got too close, my dog started to let out a series of low growls and soft barks, so I guess this finally sent them on their way to the picnic table. They left around 1:30 am. In the end, I just felt harassed by the locals, so didn’t have the good time resting and relaxing that I’d hoped to. It would be a nice place to camp if it were more welcoming to campers. Perhaps a weeknight stay would be a little better.

Cheap, spacious site. Clean(a little bit old) bathrooms. Easy/medium trails with magnificent views of the Mississippi River. Train is a little bit loud at night. There is sign for ticks but my dog didn’t catch any during a 3-day stay.

The campgrounds are very nice. They have clean bathrooms, a nicely stocked store, and a couple playgrounds. Thay also have an Eco Center with turtles, snakes, and an aquarium that our family really enjoyed. The grounds are on backwaters of the Mississippi so there are boat ramps, docks, and areas to fish. The camp store also offers canoe, kayak, and other boat rentals. Our site was pretty flat, although it was a little tricky backing into it. They put the site number posts at the end of the pad near the road and our site had a tree on the other side, so we had to use the grass across the road to maneuver in and out. I'm not sure what the rules are, but there were a lot of dogs not tied up. Most people kept a close eye on them, but we had a couple wander through and do their business in our site. I also didn't notice anyone cleaning up after their dogs, so walk with caution.

Nicest campground owners / managers we have ever encountered.  Such lovely people and the campground is immaculate.  Hiking trail was a huge hit with our dog and kids and we even saw what we think was a little blue heron (much more elusive than the great blue heron) in the pond.  The sites were too close together for our liking (we generally boondock but needed hookups for the night so probably just not the right choice for us).

We stopped here for a night on both ends of our trip to Southern Illinois. The campground was recently turned into a KOA. The new owners made significant improvements, including a brand new shower house, new playground equipment, mini golf, pool, and laundry. The grounds are lovely and well-maintained and the location is super quiet and peaceful. There was a pretty little pond and a dog run. Plenty of pull-through sites and FHU options, as well as cabin rentals. The hosts were delightful and really accommodating. Will definitely return!

Cute campground with lots of sites for campers, tents and hammocks. We stayed at Site 80, which was right by the parking lot.

We stayed on Father’s Day weekend and Friday night was nice, quiet and secluded. Saturday night was the opposite however, with people at the campers and rvs staying up late.

The main toilets and showers were functional- a few pit toilets were closed by the tent area. The restaurant and bait shop/boat rental was closed due to no staffing.

Very nice trails and lake area- keep an eye out for mulberries and raspberries!

Playground was nice for the kiddos and our dog loved jumping in the lake!