Best Glamping near Denison, IA

We tent camped in the modern loop. Bathroom was clean, lit, and stocked - even had hand sanitizer! RV loops had flush toilets and showers, but we didn’t stay long enough to make the trek worth it. The walk down to the tent sites was annoying at worst, but plenty doable. Campsites were level enough, and there were a few sites with pads. Lots of ticks to look out for. There’s an airfield nearby so plane noise was regular but not frequent. Wifi didn’t quite reach the tent campsites; nor did Verizon service, but T-Mobile was good. All around a fine campground.

If half of a star was an option, I’d probably lean towards 3.5 stars.

I’d classify this as an above average county run park/campground. All sites are first come first serve. We arrived on a Saturday evening around 5:30pm and found a site no problem. There are two loops. One has electric only sites and the second has electric/water sites. One concrete pad ADA site.

Small beach area for swimming. Two playgrounds. Very nice field of wild comb flowers blooming near the shower house.

The shower house was less than than stellar. IMO it’s cleanliness kept this review from being considered near 4 stars. Usable bathrooms and shower stalls…yes, but definitely lacked attention.

We travel full-time with a 40′ fifth wheel and have stayed at many KOAs— but this was by far the worst experience we’ve had. Upon arrival, we were placed in Site 29, which was muddy on both sides, narrow, and clearly not suitable for a rig of our size. We asked for another option and were moved to Site 27, which wasn’t much better. The sites here are shockingly narrow— barely enough width to safely open your slides, let alone enjoy the space. When my husband asked why no gravel had been put down, the staff responded that it had been raining a lot. He said,“Don’t make excuses for someone else. That pisses me off.” He didn’t yell, threaten, or use foul language— just expressed his frustration after a long day on the road. The employee left without issue. Minutes later, the manager came to our site angry, accused my husband of cursing at her staff, and demanded we pack up and leave immediately, despite us having already set up. When I tried to clarify what had actually been said, she refused to listen and insisted she believed her employee. She even told us she“couldn’t help that people didn’t know how to drive,” which I guess was her explanation for the mud— an inappropriate and dismissive response. Meanwhile, we took photos of visible cracks in the soil— clearly it hadn’t been as wet as claimed. To make things worse:• There’s almost no signage for this KOA until you’re practically on top of it— very difficult to find without GPS.• Another campground nearby welcomed us without issue and told us we weren’t the first to show up after leaving this KOA due to similar poor treatment. We’ll be sharing this experience on our blog and social media platforms— and we’ve heard this manager has a habit of calling guests liars when she receives bad reviews. So let me be clear: we stayed there, we have the photos, the receipt, and the conversation details. This was an unacceptable experience, and we strongly recommend avoiding this KOA.

Vibe: Relaxed summer lake fun. 

Cleanliness: Average 

Facilities: Slightly dated but adequate 

General spots: Good size, good spacing, not private. Large cottonwood trees offer good shade on lake side spots. 

Our site: 10. Close to the swimming area. Not far from bathrooms. 

Noise: Friendly chatter. Mostly quiet. Some music from the summer camp across the lake(see below). 

Cell signal: Good (Verizon)

Other: The lake isn’t huge, but the water was not murky and you could wade out pretty far and still be shallow enough to stand. A summer camp is across the lake and they played some evening music and morning music starts at 7:30.