Best Glamping near Ely, IA

Nice quiet little primitive campground next to the Wapsipinicon River. Unfortunately, when I was there the last weekend of May, the gnats were bad, and the mosquitoes were just starting to gear up. HOWEVER, take bug spray and enjoy the rustic peacefulness of this "best kept secret" for primitive and inexpensive camping sites. Beautiful location, ranger close by, wood for sale just across the bridge, fire pits and picnic tables at every site. Good for RV, trailer or tent camping… level ground and lots of shade. Primitive bathrooms, no showers or running water.

Very well kept campground! Bathrooms and entire area was really in perfect shape. One of the cleanest showers and bathrooms I have seen. $10 for tent, $16 for electric - how can you go wrong?

Only issue is that the spots are pretty close together. Around 2:30am there was so much smoke in our van from nearby campfires that I woke up sick and my dog threw up all over the bed. At 3am we decided we needed to move to an electric site because it was too much to have the windows open. I felt really bad for anyone in a tent. I coughed all the next day.

The campground was not that busy so there is no way I would stay here on a busy holiday weekend due to the spots being too close. If a few people make a fire you better shut down all your windows. No sleeping in the cool, night air here.

But this is an issue at other places too. Just never experienced anything on this level before. Esp considering no one in our section even had a fire going.

I wish campgrounds would start banning these fires. But that’s a topic for a later date.

Other than that it was a great spot.

We stopped over for the night, and it was a good respite. They have mini-golf, a nice pool and a creative rugged play area for the kids. Unfortunately, the pool was closed for the evening cleaning, so we didn't get to use it. There was a beautiful wetland just down from the campground. It is right off the highway, so it was loud when we were outside, but we couldn't hear it at all when we were in our Tab 400. The manager, son of the owner, was really nice and helpful. His mom has owned the RV park for 27 years and ready to retire. There are some friendly seasonal and long-term residents who are in a separate section, but you see them driving through on their golf carts and are super fun and gregarious.

It’s smaller than a football field and tucked behind one of those old-school gas stations that you see in the middle of a desert that looks permanently closed, but then you see old Jethro sitting on the corner around the bend from the fuel pumps smoking a cigarillo not worrying about whether the place blows up or not. That’s how I found Little Bear Campground. When I arrived, the place was closed, but thankfully there was a sign posted on the door to call Mike, so I did. And he couldn’t have been nicer, offering me up any open site in the place. 

So, I took a spin around the joint, which I would describe as ‘intimate’ with all of the very level grassy spots being fairly close to one another, interspersed with plenty of cover shadow from all of the trees that you’ll find this place populated by. The place was half empty, so I guess whatever crowdedness might actually exist in reality was somewhat lost on me. That said, if you are driving an RV or hauling a 5th Wheeler, I would certainly be less than impressed by seemingly the great proximity you will have to your fellow neighbor. Maybe that matters to you or maybe it doesn’t as many of the RV locations I have seen over the past year all land on more intimate quarters than not. The sites for RV / 5th Wheelers are small rock / gravel, which I gather from my mobile home hauling friends is that it is the preferred surface when concrete is not available. 

While we showed up the last week of the season to encounter that the community pool was closed, apart from this, there really wasn’t a ton of other amenities to speak of although there was a community hall where I understand that group activities like bingo, euchre and other family-friendly games are played. Of course, there were the basics of in-ground fire ring and standard-issued picnic tables. There was a kid’s playground with swingset and teeter-totters that had definitely seen better days. Apart from the main office, which I presume served also as a mini-market and as I understand has both showers and laundry facilities (although I wouldn’t know as it was locked up) there isn’t much here. 

The few primitive camping sites that do exist here are located on the western side of the property up against the corn fields, which I actually appreciated, and had very good mature trees growing around the area, but one would definitely feel like a ‘second class citizen’ here. As a tent pitcher myself I was absolutely bummed by the lack of privacy, where seemingly you would be on full display for the rest of the RV parking crowd having full view of your campsite. In all, there’s 45 RV slots here with all of the basic hook-ups including water, sewage and 30 / 50 electric amp. By my count, there was 5 or so individual primitive camping sites. And for $22/night for tent camping and $33/night for RV parking, you really can’t beat the prices. 

Insider’s Tips? Here’s a few: (1) Should you be looking for some place to try out the local fare, while there’s Taste of India (which by the look of the place I would steer you away from), there’s only just a handful of other joints nearby that might be of interest like Saap Saap, a Loatian joint (yeah, I just said that, a Loatian joint in the middle of nowhere, Iowa) that is actually quite good in the little town of West Liberty, which is, ironically, south of here (not west) and offers up a few other culinary finds like JB’s Grub & Pub, Shanghai Chinese, Puebla Mexican Restaurant and El Patio; (2) If you are looking to marinate in some good US history, then you are in luck as there is a museum near here to little known / revered President Herbert Hoover that has a bunch of exhibits and other dusty things; and (3) Should you be wanting to embrace nature, then head west to Hickory Hill Park that offers up some really nice hiking, biking and walking trails on 185 acres of pristine Midwest prairieland. 

Happy Camping!

Little Bear Campground is located right off I-80 at the West Liberty exit. It is right next to a trailer park. There are a few tent sites ($22/ night)and Rv sites($33/night). We pulled in late to stay the night. It had full hook ups with a fire ring and picnic table. The spot was good sized and clean. There is an office/ gift shop and a convent store within walking distance. There is 2 cute little cabins which run $49 a night. There is a pool(closed for season), and a playground for kids. I was surprised that the interstate noise was much quieter than I thought it would be. All and all it was a pleasant place to stop over.