Best Tent Camping near Oskaloosa, IA

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.

Got here a bit late and almost didn’t get a site. Very clean and nice with grassy tent sites. Best free site I have ever been to.

The Lake has been recently drained and refilled. The new trails around the lake are so wonderful. Electric and tent sites. Brand new five season cabins. Great all year round!

Used to go here as a kid, was always good fishing. We visited one week before the water and modern bathrooms were ready, so that was challenging. The park seemed a little rough to be on the cusp of true spring camping. Derecho looks to have hit here, lots of clean up to do. I never saw a ranger or any staff. Gorgeous tent camping area and waterfront sites. Great bike trail that goes right into Grinnell. We were in site 39 and it’s a great one!

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.

The campground at this state park is very well maintained. Multiple electric site are available to reserve, along with a handful that are first come-first serve. They also have a bunch of tent sites as well. Pit toilets and a modern showrhouse. Drinking water is available throughout the campground. Most sites are level with at least partial shade. Picnic tables and fire rings at each site. The campground is clean and quiet. Gets busy on the summer weekends, but very quiet during the week. There is a beach to swim, and great fishing in the lake.

Rock Creek is known for its crappie and large mouth bass fishing. The lake has lots of features like brush piles, vertical structures, mossy areas and you can go over by the bridge and fish the rocks. It’s a great place if you have a boat or kayak/canoe.

The camping is very nice. There are RV electrical sites available along with water/sewage. Most of them have tables also. The spots aren’t huge but there are lots of places to camp. On the weekends it’s pretty busy but during the weekday it empties out.

The tent camping side is really big also and it’s hardly ever filled up. You can reserve some spots right on the water and fish from your tent. Most all the sites have their own fire ring and some have tables.

There are lots of restroom facilities located around the lake that are pretty clean.

For activities you can go hiking, fishing, there is disc golf and there is a beach to go swimming in. Morel mushroom hunting is pretty popular here in the wood areas. They have grill pits to grill on and picnic tables through out the area. There are also some playgrounds for the little ones to play in.

I highly recommend this place.

Literally a single stone’s throw from I80, one of the busiest thoroughfares you’ll find yourself on here in the great ‘Hawkeye State,’ this is one campground that very much deserves your attention, despite being a KOA. In fact, this campground outpost is so close to the highway that you’ll be hard pressed not to see or hear it during your entire stay. While this KOA does sit down a bit from the hustle & bustle that comes with a major interstate highway, a good number of the available RV sites sit on a sloping hill that is the same elevation as the highway itself, so if you do have the choice, opt for the lower sites (more on that later). 

Sitting just 30 minutes east of Des Moines, Newton KOA offers up about 100 sites for RVs and 5th wheelers offering up all the standard hook-ups (water, sewage and 30 / 50 amp- but be careful because some sites only offer 30 or 50, while some do offer both, so be sure to ask when making your reservation). For mi tent pitching bredren, there’s about a dozen or so sites to choose from and all are fairly intermingled with the RV sites, although each site does sit on a plush patch of grass, so this KOA does a nice job on that front of integration. Oh, and if you don’t have an RV, 5th wheeler or a tent, on worries, this KOA will rent you one of its three cabins. 

As this is a KOA you can expect a ton of amenities and this place does not disappoint with: catch & release fishing pond w/ fish cleaning station (that is oddly placed about as far away from the fishing pond as you can get), disc golf course, K9 camp for the puppies, cable TV, WiFi, in-ground pool (available 5/25 until 9/3) with ADA pool lift, horseshoes, meeting rooms, firewood for sale, LP gas refueling station, pool table, shuffleboard, social lounge, two kids playground, laundr-O-mat, basketball court, restroom & shower facilities, mini-market with basic groceries, ping pong, jump pad, game room, gaga pit, designated dumpster and dump station and of course the scattered fire pits and picnic tables. Just to go above and beyond, this KOA serves up free breakfast of flapjacks on Saturdays. Yahoo! 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) Whether you are pitching a tent or pulling up in your RV, the best sites IMHO are those in the lower valley, but located right in front of the main office, where there are 6 RV slots numbered #45 – 50 and 6 tent sites numbered T1 – T6; (2) Should you get hungry and might want to try some local fare, check out Taco John’s and La Cabaña Mexican Restaurant, which I guess stand for ‘local’ around here, although there is Newton Family Restaurant. If you are looking for something really different and amazing, I would suggest heading on over to Dan’s Sandwich Shop, which feels like real Americana from a bygone era, complete with a diner-esque vibe and matching elbow counter to warm up to over a nice piece of apple pie, scoop of ice cream washed down with a hot mug of coffee; (3) While this KOA has a mini-market, you will find a bigger selection with better prices just down the road at the local Walmart, where just due west of this, you’ll find a Hy-Vee Grocery store with a wine & spirits shop positioned there as well. Further down the road, you have excellent fresh cut meat from Fareway Grocery, but check out the local hotspot, Newton Market as well; and (4) While what you will discover from an outdoor standpoint at Newton KOA is interesting, if you want something more substantial, head to Newton Arboretum & Botanical Gardens for 6 acres of family-friendly landscape to explore with more displays and demonstrations that you can shake a stick at! Seriously, there’s a butterfly garden, peony border and nearly 200 individual species of trees here to check out. 

Happy Camping!

I stayed at Elk Rock State Park with my son and his Boy Scout troop. The weather was perfect that night and we were able to have a nice fire. The next day we broke down our tents pretty quickly because of the rain.

We obviously stayed in the group campsite, but the campground is big with lots of trees and good facilities. It even has an equestrian part of the campground for you horse lovers.

Lake Red Rock is really close so it is a great place to stay the night and then pull your boat down to the lake for some fun on the water. Iowa doesn't have any mountains but it makes up for it with a lot of green scenery and some wonderful activities like horseback riding and boating for the family.

This is a very good state park and campground.

This campground sits right next to a busy highway and the tent spots are right out front and have very little shade. The tent spots are very close to a busy highway. The tent spots are also VERY close together which is frustrating.

The lake is right next to the tent spots and you can walk to the beach which is nice. 

The water faucet was pretty far from the tent spots near the front. Bathrooms are new. There's a playground for the kids which is nice.

The RV camping is all within nice shaded areas. I wish the tent spots were back there.

We were definitely the one little tent in a sea of RVs at this campground. People were actually coming over to look at our tent (lol). There was not a lot of privacy, but otherwise it was a cool campground. We were able to camp right on the edge of the lake. Bathrooms and showers were relatively clean. Firewood is available. Depending on where you are in the campground, some AT&T service is available.

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.

Unfortunately there's no lake view, but there's full hookups and a good mix of tent and RV sites. Be careful of low lying trees for taller campers.