Best Tent Camping near Burt, IA

We tend to stay at campgrounds during the off or shoulder season for a quieter experience so it was with some apprehension that we reserved this campground for a summer weekend so that we could meet friends for Paddlefest. We were happy to discover that despite being a full campground, it was quiet at almost all hours of the day and night. It was, however, an entirely different story on the lake itself, where boats gathered all day to party!

There is little separation between the sites but there are trees located throughout, some of which provide shade to the site. The camper pads were a mix of dirt and gravel and mostly level. We were lucky to snag Site 34 (reserved about three months in advance) – it was on the end, making it a much larger site than the interior sites (all end sites in our section were larger) and we had plenty of shade trees, a welcome relief on a very hot weekend. 

The paved roads leading to the sites are very narrow and would appear to be one-way but are not designated as such, resulting in some confusion. The site numbers are only listed on one side, even though most of the sites appeared to be pull-through. 

The restrooms and showers were clean and had soap and (dated) air dryers. 

Overall, we had a very pleasant two-night stay even though we were prepared for a different experience.

Camped in Site #59 on Oct. 6-7, 2023. Our site had a fire ring, table, as well as electric & water. Spirit Lake is behind the site, although there was no lake access from there. Nice hearing the water lapping on shore. Registering for a site was a little confusing. There was a friendly host in the campground. Our site sloped down toward the lake; had to use our traction boards to level the van as best we can. No privacy between sites. The 6 room restroom/shower was clean. Overall, the campground was large and well maintained. It had an RV park feel to it, which is not our preferred type of camping. I believe folks in larger rigs will be comfortable here.

Site 59 has a downward sloping driveway and the camping area is sloped and tilted but neither we’re too challenging so we set up easily. The sites are close together but because of the slope 59 feels more private. You can see the lake through the trees, speaking of which the site has very nice shade. The bathrooms are great! There are 6 suites-toilet and shower. I didn’t find a recycling drop off so we took that to the next campgrounds. The bikes trails are great! We rode around the lake. There are plenty of places to visit in the area. We enjoyed the beer at West O and had a superb lunch at Monarch Art Cafe.