Searching for a tent camping spot near Elma? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Would you prefer a quiet dispersed site or an established camgpround with amenities? Either way, The Dyrt makes it easy to find the perfect place to pitch your tent.
Quiet, remote tent camping under dark skies for the minimalist. One mile hike-in to site. Direct access to more remote areas of the NE side Forestville State Park and 50 acres of wooded private trails. Sites are located on the lower area of our property. Approximately 100 yards between sites and each are not within site of each other. All sites are located directly on a main trail circling a walnut grove. A shared centrally located compostable outhouse is located within 50 yards of each site.
This is a beautiful, remote property nestled between our organic Century Family Farm and Forestville State Park. We offer these limited campsites to a very specific demographic, minimalists looking for a quiet experience in nature. Years have gone into the making of these sites to be in balance with nature and our farm. These sites will be only open during spring and fall months. Camping does not include access to our other agritourism opportunities on our farm.
Please read through our description carefully and be sure this is the right fit for you prior to booking. Please contact us with questions. I would much rather leave the site open/unbooked than not meet your expectations. You must check in at our office prior to going to your campsite.
Additional items that will be delivered to your site. Plan ahead. $5 fee per delivery trip.
No hunting on property and no hunting groups.
Know before you go. Our outhouse has a dry compostable SunMar toilet. Instructions are located inside the outhouse. There is a solar motion detected light inside the outhouse.
Up to 2 dogs are allowed per site. Dogs must be vaccinated and not display aggressive behavior towards people or other animals. Dogs must be leashed and supervised at all times. For the safety of your pets and our livestock, visiting dogs are not allowed on the private trails. Hiking with your dog is available on and off trail in Forestville.
Please meet us at a pre-arranged time at our farm store/camping office at least one hour prior to sunset. You will be given parking instructions and directions to hike in to your site at that time. Please pack and plan accordingly to be able to carry/pack in all of your personal items. Additional items (listed above) are available on loan to check out for your camping experience. These items will be brought to your campsite for you.
$35 / night
$5 / night
This peaceful primitive campground includes a picnic shelter, pit toilet and fishing access to the Little Cedar River. Purchased in 1966, this park is managed for camping, picnicking, and wildlife viewing.
Saude Recreation Area is a 75-acre area with playground, ball diamond, pit toilet, shelter, primitive camping, woodlands, and grasslands. There is a restored prairie on the area.
Scout
I arrived midweek around 8:00 PM and the office was closed. I was tent camping on motorcycle and easily found my site way back on the property. Andy came out to my site in the morning to say hi and ask if anything was needed. He definitley cares about the people staying here. With the gravel roads and very soft grass site, it was easy to manuver a large bike. Out in the tent sites there was very little light, which made star gazing amazing. If it wasn't for the store and well done shower room I would have thought I was in the wilderness especially in the tent area. Great place for quiet midweek, not sure what the weekend is like. The only reason it is not 5 stars is from my site I had to walk out to the field for wifi reception. With no Verizon cell service, not sure if others did, I needed to comunicate with family.
John Carpentier Coon Rapids, MN
Scout
Very nice, clean campground with a lot of amenities. Tent camping on the river was neat, but tents were very close together due to the small sites
Scout
Free firewood, free wifi, water and electric at each campsite. Found a nice shady site for tent camping.
Scout
Stayed here in a tent while on a bicycle camping trip and it was adequate. It is located in a city park within a couple minutes walk of the downtown area. The bike trail crosses the south end of downtown so close to that too. This would not be a good place to camp if you'd like to be out in nature
Biggest gripe is the slope of the tent sites. The majority of the tent sites are on an incline around a pond. There are also a lot of ducks that aren't very afraid of humans. None got into my gear though. There are fire rings at the tent sites. No picnic tables at the individual sites but there are some nearby in the park and there's also a covered picnic shelter. Hammocks would be difficult to impossible as the tent area is a strip of grass between pond and bluff, which has mostly brush or too whimpy of trees to hang from at the base. There are a couple huge oaks but none in pairs.
Quarter showers and clean restrooms are available. $20/night/tent which seemed a bit steep to me considering how slanted the sites were and quarter showers. It is cheaper than the other places within immediate biking distance which were $25/night.
GuideI was there on a Monday and was the only tent around. Site 15 is the best for tent sites, it’s right at the delta of where two streams meet. It’s a quick bike ride to pulpit rock brewing and other parks.
ScoutLoved camping here, we have 4-5 times already this year! We tent camped but they’ve got lots of spaces for campers and tents as well, bathrooms are close, there is a nice lake near with play equipment located at the lake and at the campground, the campground has old bikes for the kids to use, everyone there is so nice! We love it
GuideDecorah is so beautiful. The river is right beside the tent sites. Hiking trails close by. Caves and water falls only a short drive away. Tubing, canoeing, and kayaking services behind camp grounds. Super affordable site rates. Shower house. Picnic tables and fire pits at each site.
ScoutThis is a great little park if you need a place to stop for the night. It was very inexpensive for tents ($10 I think) and the tent camping area was very nice with 3 giant pine trees and some picnic tables and fire rings. As someone who bicycle tours I appreciated fire wood being on site and close to where the tent area is. The bathrooms aren’t the best but they worked. Overall its a safe, clean, welcoming campground for both tents and RV’s.
Scout
This is a great campground with lots of shade and spacious tent pads! The large oak trees throughout the campground made for beautiful scenery and nice spots to string a hammock up. My site was right next to the bathroom building which did have a light on all night, but I had an eye mask so that didn’t bother me. $25/night for a tent site
Traveler
It was kind of loud, but it was busy. The lake for swimming was a little gross but we did it anyway. The bike trails are excellent and same for hiking. Bathrooms were a little old but clean when we were there, but there were massive hornets all over the bathroom area. It's also pretty bright here at night because it's right in the city. But overall, a decent, cheap place to tent camp if you want to explore Cedar Falls.
TravelerThis is a convenient small campground next to a city park. The touristy shops and biking trails are within a few blocks of the campground. The RV campsites have water and electricity. We found the sites to be rather close together. The sites are first come first served (no reservations). There are also numerous tent sites, as this seems to be popular with the bicycling crowd. This really is a beautiful area of southeast MN.
TravelerFrom someone who typically prefers backpacking and sleeping in remote areas, this campground facility, pretty much in the city, is okay.
The facilities are nice, bathrooms were clean. What I didn't enjoy was how close each RV site is. The sparks from our fire were making their way to our neighbors site.
The campground is situated next to the Trout Run Trail, providing quick and easy access to the 11-mile loop or in to the city center of Decorah.
Overall, decent for a city campground, but very crowded. The tent sites near the river look more spaced out.
Legend
We tent camped here and loved it. We were able to do a lot of trail exploring and had a great time on the “scenic” cave tour. The trails were well maintained but difficult to understand in some places as signage was lacking.
There is a primitive loop with pit toilets, a tent loop with no electricity but access to showers and flush toilets, and a trailer loop with all accommodations.
There are great cold water trout streams that are shallow enough to wade in and play in if the weather is warmer. Hiking trails of varying skill levels but all in mostly wooded areas. Forestville townsite is closed during the week but you can wander around the outside of the buildings and site. No gates or posted restrictions.
Scout
This campground has a lot of fun activities from April 15 thru Oct 15. They have permanent sites and rentals. There is tent sites and rental campers also. Sewer, water and electric. Some weekly activities include canoeing, tubing down the Turkey River, swimming, fishing and paddle boats in the Lake, a splash pad for kids and occasionally a dumping tank for free, also miniture golf. There. Is a store and bar on the grounds as wellas a pavilion for use any time where they also have children's movies every Saturday night during season. New bathrooms with shower's and rentals for canoes and tubes for the River. Very family friendly and affordable.
RangerWalking distance to downtown and easy access to Root River Trail.
RV sites were close to each other with little privacy. Many tent sites around the perimeter. Short walk to bathhouse. Showers are not free, 4 quarters for 5 minutes. No laundry available. Campground is first come/first serve and doesn’t take reservations or online payment. Payment is made at adjacent city office.
Sites are gravel, fairly level. Water and electric available at rv sites.
Nice park nearby with stocked fishing pond. There is some noise due to the park being tucked into the city.
Garbage and dump station free for campers. They ask for a donation for dumping if not camped there. Tight access at dump station might make it difficult for larger rigs.
Strong Verizon signal.
Guide
First off about the camping area. The sites are huge but pretty open and we needed 50’ of cord to hit electrical box (not a big deal) The lawn was nicely mowed and the sites are very level. We have a travel trailer but the tent sites looked really nice. Overall we liked our site and have no complaints. This is definitely a canoe and kayaking community! We brought are kayak with us and went down the Upper Iowa River Saturday and Sunday, if you are at this campground make sure you spend a day on the river. The owners of campground are very nice and helpful, they offered a shuttle service for 25.00 a car load to get us to drop off point with our kayak but we had transportation so it wasn’t necessary. They did give us directions to a 4 or 6 hour float and we went with the 4. The owners also told of us of a nice hike near a spring in the area that we really enjoyed. I’m a bit of a brewery buff so we hit Toppling Goliath and was not disappointed.. We did check out some of the other campgrounds and did find that some have you packed in like cord wood so double check if you go somewhere else.
LegendFor us, this would be a three-star campground (a bit too crowded and noisy) but it is a mecca for families, and because there is so much to do so close to this campground, it deserves four stars. You could easily spend several days here enjoying the following:
• Walk to the city of Decorah on the Trout Run trail (about a mile) where there are shops and restaurants. This trail is over 10 miles and circles the city and is a nice multi-use trail.
• Walk to nearby Pulpit Rock (trailhead is about a five-minute walk from the campground)
• Explore nearby Dunning’s Spring and Ice Cave (a short drive away)
• Go tubing, kayaking, or canoeing. There is an outfitter a five-minute walk from the campground where you can rent equipment.
• Drive to the town of Bluffton (about a 15-minute drive) and another spring (Malanaphy)
• Many activities in the campground including a playground, basketball court, and volleyball net
The campground is divided into two sections, separated by a pedestrian bridge. It is very close to Route 52 so you will hear road noise unless you are in the tent sites close to the river. Each site has a metal picnic table and fire grate, and the electric hookup sites are sprinkled throughout the campground, however, when we arrived, the person in the site next to ours was using our electric hook-up. Thankfully, we only needed a 110 outlet (which he was not using), so we were okay. When we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, the dumpster was overflowing, but it had been emptied by the time we got up on Monday morning. The restrooms and showers were clean. Check-in was smooth and friendly. Firewood is available for a reasonable cost.
Because this is so popular with families, I would definitely recommend reservations in the summer (the campground was completely full when we were there)
Scout
I have been visiting Chimney Rock Camp and Canoe for 20 years. Every time I visit I have a wonderful time enjoying the scenic Upper Iowa River. This part of Iowa is a treasure. Deb and her crew are always helpful and accommodating. They run a great canoe/kayak/tube rental with shuttle service. This is a private campground. I appreciate the laid back vibe. We have been here during the week and have had the place pretty much to ourselves. The weekends are a bit more lively, but with friendly folks. Some of my favorite memories are on the shuttle bus up to the drop in and laughing with fellow campers/ river floaters. We love Chimney Rock and pray this little slice of heaven is available for us to enjoy for years to come. We prefer to stay down by the river sans electricity. We have done this for years in a tent and now in our hybrid camper. There are cabins, electric sites, showers and a dump station.
Ranger
I have camped here a few times and fished here often.
The campground is actually just the parking lot with a few makeshift fire rings available. There is a port-a-potty available most of the year (but not winter). A couple sites are very close to the stream, which is wonderful to have the flowing water sound to help me fall asleep.
This campground can get very busy during the spring, summer, and fall. RVs will often run their generators all night long, which is not great for those in tents. I tend to avoid camping here when it is busy (I still fish, just no camping when it is crowded).
Winter offers quite a bit more solitude, both in the campground and on the trout stream. Many times I have been the only person camping here during winter. The campsite is not plowed, so a 4WD is recommended.
North Bear Creek is one of the most popular trout streams in Iowa. It offers fishing for a variety of skill levels from simple power-bait up to fly fishing.
Scout
It’s quiet, clean, and has some pretty views of the Iowa nite sky
ScoutThis campground has it all. Easy access for kayaking and tubing on the Upper Iowa River.
GuideGood little campground with tent,cabins and rv sites and reasonable
GuideWe visit on memorial day weekend with a large group. Camp right along side the Upper Iowa River....80 foot limestone bluffs! Campground shuttles and rents canoes/kayaks.
GuideThis is a quiet county park with beautiful views of the Turkey River valley!! Best for self-contained campers and tents if you don’t mind roughing it.
Traveler
We stayed in Spot #1, which is by the water. We were in a tent, so it was warm, but overall it was a great stay. Very well maintained and a couple nice trails. Dog friendly.
Traveler$15 tents. Includes electric and water and showers and firewood. Best value I have found yet. They have a bunch o pavilions and facilities. Pool, tennis, lake.
Traveler
Duttons cave is a beautiful hidden gem. The park is small but the cave and streams are beautiful. It makes you feel like you're not even in Iowa. The campground is small with small campsites but the rest of the park makes up for it.
Tent camping near Elma, Iowa offers a variety of experiences, from serene natural settings to engaging outdoor activities. Whether you're looking for a peaceful retreat or an adventurous getaway, there are several options to explore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Elma, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Elma, IA is River Ranch Camping with a 5-star rating from 1 review.
What is the best site to find tent camping near Elma, IA?
TheDyrt.com has all 17 tent camping locations near Elma, IA, with real photos and reviews from campers.
Keep Exploring
