Best Cabin Camping near Coon Rapids, IA

One of the more beautiful places to camp in Iowa. Awesome hiking trails and really well-shaded campsites. The hike in spots are great if you like privacy and being in the middle of the woods - but you don’t want to be THAT far from your car.

Beware of the raccoons. They’re plentiful and crazy smart here. We had one open our cooler, steal an egg from the cartoon - without disturbing anything else. Honestly, I was impressed! But some of our friends had them rip through their tents to get at food - not as impressive.

This was one of the nicest county campgrounds I've ever seen. We've been to a lot of them, but this one stands out. Not to mention that the price was unbeatable! So much more reasonable than at home. Set off the road a bit in a tiny little town in Iowa, it's along a river and very close to the Raccoon River Valley Trail, an 89 mile loop trail (paved) that goes through several towns and counties. It costs $2/person/day if you are 18 or older, or a year pass is $10. There is also a lodge that you can rent.

We rented a cabin for $50, because it was only about $10 more expensive than what we were planning on spending for a campsite in Minnesota. Normally, we stay in tents, so we were very pleased to find the options that this campground had to offer at such reasonable cost! If you wanted a tent site without electric, it was only $8. Electric sites were only $12. And the sites were incredibly well groomed. They were clean (I didn't see any trash). And they were tucked into the woods. A caretaker lives on site, and although we rarely saw him, it was obvious that he cared about his job. The bathrooms were clean and cared for too!

We were in a cabin and they were simple, but suited our needs. They had two wooden cabin-style buildings with little front porches (not screened in, but room under the overhang for chairs). Inside, you had two bunk beds, and the bottom bunk of one was a pull out futon, so you really had room to sleep 5 people. (Must mention: The futon in our cabin was horribly uncomfortable. I would have given 4 stars to the review because of it, but the futon alone shouldn't take away from the rest of the campground, which was immaculate). There was also a bathroom with an ADA shower, toilet, mirror and sink. In the room, there was a mini fridge, coffee maker, microwave, little sink and it even had air conditioning! Tucked in the corner was a folding table and chairs. A few hooks scattered around the walls completed the room. The A/C in ours wasn't at full working capacity, but it did chill the room down enough to be very comfortable. And it was very hot outside! We also had a little fire ring and picnic table, just outside the door.

The campground could accommodate plenty of tents and campers alike. Some electric, some not. All with very nice grassy pads for tents, all with picnic tables and fire rings. Grass was well clipped and there were plenty of parking spaces. It was very quiet when we were there, but I assume it gets busy on the weekends. The shower/bath house had separate bathrooms (both unisex) and both with toilet, mirror, sink and shower). Both were very clean for a camp bathroom. A little campground for those wishing to camp together was at the back of the park. It, too, had bathrooms. But they were locked, so I couldn't peek inside.

Bottom line, it was well worth our $50 for the cabin (you can't even get a hotel room for that price any more). I'd love to go back and tent in the quiet of a weekday eve when the crickets are chirping and I can feel the breeze through the tent!

Please note - there are no trash cans at the campground if you are in tents or RV's (the cabins have them inside). It is a carry in/carry out campground

There are LOTS of water pumps all over the campground. Yay for water!!

We had a nice and cold adventure camping Easter weekend this year (March 31). Wish we would have rented one of the cute little cabins that have fire places. This park has great hiking trails.

This park surrounds the whole lake and you can explore everything thing by trail or water. Lots of fishing and swimming, we went looking for wildflowers along the lake trails. Even though there are tons of campsites it does not feel at all crowded. Very nice and clean.

Yay: Hard to choose a campsite, all had great views and little perks. Check out the cabins too.

Nay: None, perfect experience!

Surprise: trails are perfect for XC skiing in winter. We saw bald eagles and deer very close to the tent.

We have a smaller camper and got lucky to fit into a smaller spot that backed up to the woods. We both grew up around here and have always kayaked,fished,hiked, tent camped in the park. Love the scenic trails, there’s so many. Good for pictures. Also they rebuilt the boat ramp and it’s really nice now. Nice river to kayak, not as scenic as some but fun even though the rivers low. There’s 2 cabins you can rent which I did a couple times years ago, they are clean with kitchen. Overall nice park.

The RV parking area isn't really big, but all sites are great & feel private, especially the outer ones. We have never stayed in the cabins, but they look nice & well kept. Bathrooms & showers are nice. We LOVE the hiking trails. Some can be a pretty good workout & steep for a 61 year old, but they are do-able & have resting benches a long the way. There are some beautiful old bridges if you get on the right trails😁 Wifi is virtually non-existent there, but it is nice to be "unplugged" We have a DVD player & watch old movies if its raining. We wish the park cut-up it's own firewood & offered it for sale (there are plenty downed trees available) It would be an extra income for them. As it is, you can't bring in any wood outside the area because of the Elm Tree Borer possibly being transported, so you will need to go to Ft Dodge to buy some (Menards & possibly some gas stations) have bundles you can buy. It would be so much easier right at the park, like some places we go in Minnesota. We live an hour away and come just to hike sometimes. Nice, quiet place

Most packed side by side, back to back. The few good sites are continually reseved.
Campers are loud well beyond midnight. If you like to whoop it up all night, this is the camp ground to go to, no enforcement Small lake is nice, trails are nice. Camp store and beach house (rentals) closed up long ago. 1 dump, long wait. Nearest store 10 miles away, weak cell, down in river valley.

You’ll love this little park if you want to really disconnect and get away from things as there was absolutely 0 cell reception where we were at. That’s definitely not a bad thing since that’s exactly what we were looking for!

The park was very clean and everyone we met was extremely nice! Bring some hiking equipment as well as they have multiple nice trails to go hiking on.

It was clean and looks like they are updating some of their building. The playground needs a massive makeover. Our RV was on the corner so we had a fair amount of extra room unlike some sites. A cute little beach for swimming, one main reason we picked this state park was for the kayak rentals. They were closed so we weren’t able to, which was a big disappointment.

The park is electric only with a dump station and water hydrants through out the park. We have Verizon & AT&T and had no service. This is the first place we have been to without voice service (other doesn’t matter). Just a bit worrisome in case of emergency.

Overall, there are many better state parks that I would rather go to.

These Iowa state parks are extremely clean and well taken care of. The lake is huge with multiple trails that the kids loved. Playground was directly behind us which is a plus for us.

Nice clean park, if passing through Iowa it's a nice overnight. A little loud if tent camping. Area not large enough to separate hard shell campers and tent campers. Plenty of fly's and mosquitoes, plenty of shade.

This state park camp site close to Carroll, Iowa was nice, but we were the only tent campers there, it seemed more like a permanent RV home site. The bathrooms while nice had no working showers, they had showers but no way to turn on the water. There was a cute frisbee golf on property, a beautiful lake, and a nice paved walking path.

Reserved electric unit 090 for the weekend, which had a scenic corn field for a backdrop - this is Iowa! Paved roads, level gravel sites, wide & mowed trails, clean pit toilets and a layout that isn’t too cramped. The pond has multiple shoreline fishing spots with picnic tables and a cleaning station. Basic playground in front of the beach which is a short drive or a ~1 mile trail walk away.

I really like Prairie Rose State Park. It is about ten miles north of Interstate 80 near Harlan, Iowa. The lake is gorgeous and has many different view points. There is plenty of space and a lot of different activities. A lot of folks fish and picnic. There are also a lot of geese.

The camp sites have great views of the lake and the park was pretty empty when I visited. This park truly is a rose in the prairie.