Best Tent Camping near Creston, IA

I have to say, of all of the campgrounds and parks that I have visited in southern Iowa near highway 34, Three Mile is the best.

This park is clean with nice amenities and a beautiful lake. During the week you can almost have the place to yourself... it is a different story on the weekends.

You can tent camp or pull your camper and just enjoy the setting. If you don't like to tent camp and don't have a camper, don't worry, there are several cabins for rent.

There are showers and bathrooms and an awesome playground for the younger kids.

I am definitely adding this to my list for regular stays with my family.

I have tent camped at Lake Ahquabi Campground several times. There are some great spots down by the lake that are perfect for tent camping. There is quite a bit to do in this State Park. There are a few trails, there is plenty of fishing, a swimming beach, and they have water sport rentals! The area is very pretty and peaceful. I would recommend for campers with kids and without. There are showers and plenty of bathrooms.

The tent sites are small and depending on your location you may have to haul your stuff to your site. The hiking was nice only 5 miles though.

just camped here, what a nice park. Great little beach, clean water, good for kayaking. Nice paved trail around the park. Wooded, shady at tent sites, quiet and clean. Friepits with grates for cooking.

A one night stay at a beautiful park! Tent camped next to really nice college kids. The paved trail offered great views of the lake! Brought the pup and he was happy and very context. Park was very well maintained - there will be a return trip to this gem!

We've tent camped twice at Springbrook, and though it's not perfect, it's a nice campground we plan to keep coming back to for a number of reasons.

Pros:

-Not a far drive from Des Moines, but still quite remote

-Lots of nice hiking trails

-Easy access to large, mostly clean modern bathrooms

-The lake is a peaceful spot to spend the early mornings, a nice place to fish (but don't expect to catch anything) and its beach is fun on the hot summer days, and tends to not be too busy. Has lots of benches around to sit and enjoy the view.

-No cell reception, which could be a "con" but we like that it forces us to unplug

Cons:

-Tent camping spots are clustered mainly in the middle of a loop, which feels a bit like a fishbowl with no privacy

-It's mainly an RV/camper campground, which can be loud/rowdy at night for tent campers. Lots of parties happening the two weekends we were there. Definitely don't recommend if you want a peaceful weekend away from the world.

-Other than hiking and a bit of swimming/fishing, there's not much to do

-Firewood is a short drive from the campground, which can get inconvenient

This is a really small campground with a few electric boxes to park your camper on the outside of the parking lot next to the lake and one average tent site with a fire ring and picnic table.

The lake is a good local spot for fishing but I would go to Three Mile State Park to camp with my family, it's just an extra 10 or 15 minute drive away.

This campground has both RV full hookup and electric sites very close to the lake. Campsites offer a great view of lake and close access to docks. There is an adjacent area with non- electric sites that would work for tent campIng. All sites have firepots and picnic tables. The lake is great for fishing or kayaking and there is also a beach with swimming. Bring your bikes to ride on a paved trail that goes all the way around the lake. Very clean and quiet campground!

This is a decent state park campground but is always full. It has tent sites separated from the trailer sites. There is a park and on saturdays during the summer they do Disney movies and free popcorn. The lake is good for fishing. They have a beach and volleyball. There is also a biking trail they goes around the lake. It is close to town so if you need anything that is helpful.

I tent camped at “Mine Pond Campground” in Stephen’s State Forest in July 2022. I arrived about 8:15pm and had about 45 minutes of daylight to pitch camp. The campground feels deep in a vibrant Iowa forest surrounded by lush greenery. That said, mosquitoes swarmed me instantly. And “Mine Pond” is a small muddy pond without the most remote possibility of swimming. The pond kind of seems too small to fish but maybe. A storm blew in around dark and it rained much of the night. The frogs sang loudly deep into the night (see my video for the audio), which I enjoyed. A pair of barred owls hooted and laughed in the dark trees. I departed early while it was still dark. I don’t think I’ll return to this place.

This is hands down one of the best campgrounds we’ve been to in the U.S. Everything is beautifully maintained from the grass covered campsites to the clean bathrooms and free showers. Full hookup and tent campsites are plentiful with or without reservations. Beautiful lake, great walking trail, close to town and I-80, but quiet and peaceful. Can’t beat it for $11 a night.

Although there were RVers and a nice group of Boy Scoutspaet of the time, there was no one else in our tent camping side. We had chilly weather, but marvelous views of the water with a rare flock of pelicans! Some of the trails were muddy, but there plenty of others to choose from. Red buds and flowers were starting to bring the forest to life.

All fire pits have an incredible grate system for cooking. There's an over abundance of limbs and twigs for firewood, although a saw would come in handy. Clean, quiet, and as beautiful as ever- that's our lake!

Campsite was pretty packed on a Saturday night in late September. We didn't have a reservation but was able to get one of the last tent sites available. Nice spot, fire pits have nice swinging grates on them. There was a picnic table at our spot as well. Great view of the lake from here. We were in Campsite 092. Only drawback is that there must be a cow farm somewhere to the south as you will hear cows mooing all night at this campground.

Lake Anita State Park is just a few miles off of Interstate 80. When I decided to go to Lake Anita I had very low expectations, it surprised me.

Lake Anita has boating and fishing as its main attraction. If you like birds there are bird houses built all around the park. The lake is beautiful and the campground is built all around the lake with great views.

The tent camping is placed away from the RVs/camper trailers and everything is well kept. I highly recommend Lake Anita State Park for the relaxing environment and the easy access from the interstate.

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.

We just did a day trip here with families who have a bunch of kids. Great park for kids and they loved floating down the river. We did a fun short hike as well. We checked out the camping situation for our next visit to Des Moines and decided a park a bit further away was worth a more secluded camping experience. Sites were not secluded and not very exciting plus they seemed very set up for an RV experience not so much tent camping. The bathrooms look pretty nice though. Definitely a nice place to spend a few hours, but the campground leaves something to be desired for me.

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.

As tent campers we found a lot to love at Lake of Three Fires, but also found ourselves wanting more. It’s got a gorgeous lake, and some camping sites are out of this world, but it can be inconsistent and there’s not a lot to do.

Pros: -While the electric hookup sites were full, primitive campers had their pick of the campground even during the middle of the summer. Plenty of open non-electric sites to choose from.
-Site 55 is an absolute GEM. Spacious and right on the water! We didn’t have any neighbors so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves. -Good fishing at the lake, and plenty of quiet spots to fish from -The lake is quiet and relatively calm -Excellent (and clean!) modern bathrooms, by far the best we’ve encountered

Cons: -There’s not a lot to do other than fishing and hanging out by the campsite -The trails are quite poorly marked and seem to only have entry and exit points at each end of the point, so unless you want to commit to the full 8 miles, you’ll have to turn back at some point -The sites can be inconsistently sized. We found some tent sites that were less than half the size of our site, and they were packed like sardines. -A lot of the sites are sloped, so even ground can be hard to find. -The park is pretty rural, so if you need to make an emergency grocery or supplies run you might be out of luck. -No firewood on site, so you’ll have to come prepared or hope you can find some in town.

This is a small campground in a small town right of interstate 80 in central Iowa. This is a great weekend spot for locals or an overnight spot for a weary traveler on their way through Iowa. This is ideal for a camper of fifth wheel. Not necessarily where I would want to camp with a tent.

You are real close to a Kum & Go and Caseys General Store if you forgot some of your supplies at home. The campground is really clean.

This is a great little park just east of New Virginia, Iowa. I went to the park with my son and Boy Scout Troop for a night hike, that is why there are no pictures. This is a great little park. The hiking trails are pretty easy going through the forest and then opening up next to old Native American burial mounds. This is really a great place to pitch a tent. It is clean and well maintained.

Don't let the name fool you, for a city park and campground, Winterset City Park rocks. You probably didn't know that Winterset, Iowa is the birthplace of John Wayne. You may have seen the Clint Eastwood movie the "Bridges of Madison County," but you probably didn't know that the bridges are real and the movie was filmed in Winterset.

The campground is clean and there is a large space for campers/RV's and a separate spot for tents towards the back of the campground toward the park. The park itself is gorgeous and your just a few blocks away from the John Wayne Museum. If you are in Winterset the second week of October, stay for the Bridge Festival, it's a blast!

The campground is a solid 3.5, clean and well maintained. When you include all of the sites it pushes it up to a 4 star campground.