Best Tent Camping near Leon, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Nine Eagles is near Lamoni, Iowa near the Iowa-Missouri border right off of Interstate 35. I camped here with my son and his Boy Scout troop in the youth group part of the campground. I can't speak for the rest of the park's camping facilities, but the youth group site is a large open space surrounded by tall trees. The grass is well maintained and the campsite is clean and beautiful. There are not any bathroom facilities at the campsite which is why I give it four instead of five stars, but the park is beautiful and a peaceful place to camp. I wish I would have had my camera with me to take some pictures to share.

This is the best State Park campground in SW Iowa, it has everything anyone needs...love it here and the views are beautiful!

Campground Review: Honey Creek State Park is on Rathbun Lake, a very popular place to boat, fish and camp in Southern Iowa. We camped in the Group Campground with out Boy Scout Troop. We pulled into camp after dark and between the headlights of our vehicles and our lanterns (My Goal Zero Light House 250) we set up camp in the dark.

We explored the campground, there were some nice trails and nice spots to camp. The bathrooms were clean but they were a little bit of a walk from the Group Site. The weather was great and the bugs weren't bad. I would recommend Honey Creek State Park.

Ranger Review: The Goal Zero Light House 250 is a nice lantern. I give it 4 out of 5 stars. The light settings are perfect. You can use half of the lantern or the full lamp power. You can adjust the lighting power by turning the knob on the front. It can be charged with a wall charger, a solar panel, or the green hand crank on top of the lantern.

We used it when setting our tent up in the dark and it did a good job. At 250 lumens it is just the right amount of light to let you see what you need with out blinding you in the dark. We did not start a campfire that night, instead we placed the Goal Zero Light House 250 on the ground and we surrounded the lantern with our camp chairs as if it was a camp fire. We were up for three hours talking and never did the lantern light weaken.

I like this light. It is too heavy and bulky for backpacking but it is great for car camping. There is a smaller model but I don't know if it will work for backpacking.

I drive by East Lake on my way to church every Sunday. It is a great park with pavillion's, a lake, basketball, volleyball, horseshoe pits, playground equipment, etc.

There just isn't much for camping. It is very limited. There is not a shower house either. This paek really is to serve the residents of Osceola, Iowa to enjoy daytime activities.

Three Mile Lake is awesome. You can read my other review on main campground at Three Mile Lake.

Both campgrounds are equal in cleanliness and in great views of the lake. You can't go wrong if you get into the South campground "Mallard Point" campground.

Put this on your list if you are visiting Southwest Iowa.

Rathbun Lake has a lot of camping options. What I like about Bridgeview is the number of campsites with lake views. The bridge isn't much to see so don't be fooled by the name.

The campground is clean with modern amenities. There is plenty of sites for tents and RV's. This is a great place to relax at Rathbun Lake.

First, there is no dump station! All sites have water and electricity with 20, 30, and 60 amp plugs. The sites are 20 dollars. The campsites located near the entrance are pull-through but need maintenance. The campsites along the lake will support short to medium length RVs or trailers, and all are back in. As of this posting, all are not level and in poor condition. The city of Huneston, Iowa is a few minutes away and has several gas stations and a grocery store.

5 pedestals around new unfinished shelter. No water at all, no dump, no trash, no fire ring, lots of litter. Long winding single lane access road, be a big problem if 2 rigs met. Someone would have tough back up. Pond did look promising for fish cover. Main Amtrak RR line and highway on north border. Town of Thayer on otherside of highway is in a very bad way. Very small camper, tent for fishing only.

Buck Creek is operated by the Army Corps of Engineers and is one of several campgrounds on Lake Rathbun. There are a lot of campsites with plenty of views of the lake. The campground is clean but needs to be updated.

If you have an RV, or camper, or you prefer to sleep in a tent, there are plenty of sites that would accommodate you. This is a nice campground.

I'm a single person tent camper. I like this spot, space between sites are far enough you don't have to hear your neighbor, but close enough that you could have a conversation if you wanted to.

Showers are nice enough, the water spray kinda gets your dry clothes moist. Water temp is not adjustable, is on a conserving 15 second push button.

The bike/walking trail is amazing, will take you all around the lake and into town. Right past the hospital and into McKinley Park.

This park may deserve a different rating at a different time of the year. This is Iowa's largest State Forest, and the Woodburn Unit plays host to several Backcountry campsites and 6 miles of trail. There is a picnic table and fire ring at every campsite. The trails are wide and well graded and not too much up and down except for periodic creek crossings which necessitate a steep descent-ascent. The trails are lightly trafficked.

You will find absolute solitude at this park, we didn't see anyone else out there with us. Perhaps for good reason. The defining characteristic of this park is it's insect life. Repellant and an active bat population kept the mosquitoes away, but the ticks were everywhere! My wife and I had more issues than other members of our party, but we were near constantly plucking them off of us. A frightening proposition for any backpacker.

In general the insects were diverse and abundant: ants, spiders, beatles, butterflies, moths, flys, ticks, wasps, you name it. Cobwebs would form overnight across the trail you just traversed and broke them the day before. At Buck Stop, a careless previous occupant made numerous gashes into a living tree with a blade, but we found a small swarm of Tawny Emperor butterflies making use of the opportunity. Amazing! Again, most insects were not an issue with heavy use of repellant, but the constant threat of ticks put a damper on our excursion.

Additionally, when we went in early July the creeks were dry. Making the only water source the spigot at the parking lot. The trail from Black Oak Camp to the Parking Lot is the shortest and easiest for this purpose if you find yourself running low.

We heard plenty of wildlife in early evening and at night: owls, raccoons, deer, coyotes.

We started out Friday evening with our packs and hiked and camped the park until Sunday morning.

We hiked all 6+ miles of trails here. Our first night in we camped at Buck Stop Camp. This site is on top of a ridge and is wonderful, you feel absolutely surrounded by wilderness; however, the site was a bit overgrown and thus undersized in terms of usable tent space. Our second night we stayed at the exact opposite corner at Longbeard. This is a great, bare, mostly flat site that is quite large, could host a large camping party.

Summary: This park may be better during the fall when the ticks have gone dormant, but at that time I believe it starts to get its use as a public hunting grounds. The lack of overland water in the summer and thriving tick population makes it a challenge to be at ease. The trails are easy to moderate, well graded apart from a few steep down-ups to dry creek beds. Good training ground for backpackers, tuck your pants into your boots, and happy trails!

Rathbun Lake is a destination for boaters and campers in the State of Iowa. The Army Corps of Engineers operates and maintains several facilities around the lake. Island View campground has some really nice views of the lake.

Island View campground is clean. The sites are pretty open, there are trees but there is also a lot of open space. The park has a nice play set for kids and there are baseball fields nearby.

This is a great place to go if you like to boat. There are three different boat ramps in the park.