Escape into nature and disconnect from daily life with glamping near Rockford. The Dyrt can help find the best glamping in and around Rockford, IA. These scenic and easy to access Iowa glamping locations are perfect for any adventurer.
Clear Lake State Park offers diverse activities on one of Iowa’s most popular lakes. The 3,000-acre lake is a draw for boating, fishing and windsurfing. The park features 50 acres of open spaces and mature oak trees along with a highly popular campground. Several acres of picnic grounds with tables and grilles are available for day-use. The nearby town of Clear Lake is a summer tourist destination with numerous stores and restaurants. Camp in one of the most popular campgrounds in Iowa’s state park system. The campground contains two modern restrooms, shower facilities and two dump stations. A quarter of the campsites are available on a first-come, first-serve basis and advanced reservations can be made online through the online reservation system for Clear Lake State Park.
$16 - $22 / night
$11 - $16 / night
Legend
Clear Lake is a popular place to spend time in North Central Iowa. McIntosh Woods State Park is right on the lake front. The campground is not on the lake, but it has some nice shade with open space.
It also has Yurts to rent as well. There is a large station for cleaning fish and a huge picnic area with wide open space and a nice playground. There is a beach for swimming but there is no lifeguard on duty. There is also a boat ramp and a few docks for launching.
This is a great campground if you like to boat or fish. Before you get in the water make sure you check with the locals to make sure there is no harmful algae. This is a great place to spend the weekend.
TravelerBeautiful shaded campground near the lake, not far from town if you forgot something. We stayed in one of the two yurts- bunk bed plus a futon and table/chairs inside. Picnic table and grill outside. Walk to small town/restaurants.Clean bathroom facilities in area. Short hikes. Fishing nearby.
Legend
Why Should You Camp Here?
Iowa state parks are a bargain! This one is $11 for a non-electric site, $16 for an electric site. (Rates go down to $6 and $11 from 10/1-4/30.) There is no separate park entry fee (unlike some states).
You can rent kayaks, canoes or pedal boats near the campground at Wyth Lake. And there are 3 other nearby lakes.
There's a small beach at Wyth Lake.
The Cedar River is on the edge of the campground.
You're so close to Cedar Falls and Waterloo which means there are craft breweries!
We were only there for a night but I saw this on reserveamerica.com: "The Lake-to-State Park Bike Route is a 50 mile route connecting Pine Lake and George Wyth State Park. The route primarily utilizes county highways and established bike routes and paths once inside Cedar Falls/Waterloo."
We didn't do everything we could do there, because we were just passing through. Check this out: https://iowastateparks.reserveamerica.com/camping/george-wyth-state-park/r/campgroundDetails.do?contractCode=IA&parkId=610125
Amenities
The usual fire ring and picnic table
Dump station and potable water
Flush toilets and running water in bathrooms along with push button showers. Ok, push button showers are not ideal. Just keep pushing that button and hopefully you'll be okay with the temperature that you can't control!
Traveler
You will love this park. There are about 20 self-serve sites with electric and water. Self serve firewood. Dump station and dumpsters near the exit. Clean bathrooms and showers. Lots of space at each campsite. Good hiking and horse trails. Sitting right on the Cedar River, it’s a great location to kayak and tube. Cheap at $20 a night. We showed up at 8:00 on a Fryevening and spots were available!
TravelerNice county park along the Cedar river. Boating and fishing was fun. Had a small swimming beach, nice bathrooms and showers dump station. Saw many people swimming off their boat/pontoons as the bottom is sandy and the current is very very slow. PS Don't try to tube down the river at the end of July-- too slow. It had a nice boat ramp with 3 docks and has nice big campsites. The only down side was the noise from the traffic going over the bridge nearby. There is also a nice walking trail a couple miles away on the river by Mitchell that we enjoyed.
Guide
We spent 4 days here and the park is a busy place! Very clean!!!!! Dump station was easy access! We were right by the shower houses. Check in and out was simple. We made our reservations online. The park had paved roads, great for bike riding, playground was a hit! The sunset was gorgeous in the evenings at the beach! We will be back!
ScoutOverall nice place to stay. We stay each year with family so there are about 4 of our campers all there together.distance between sites can be wide or narrow depending on which site you’re on.
Pros: Clean/well maintained, easy short path through the trees to get to the beach, sturdy picnic tables all around, long “driveway” for campsite
Cons: pads are gravel and not very level, pads are very narrow, beyond the trees on one side of the campground is a major road so you’ll hear cars passing by, not a lot of restroom/bathhouses
ScoutWe love coming to Clear Lake! The campgrounds are always very well kept, bathrooms very clean! Easy access to the lake, and the town has so much to do during the summer months!
GuideThis is our second time camping at the Clear Lake State Park. The park is clean, the shower house is nice. It’s hard to control the temperature in the showers, too hot for little kids to stand directly in the water. The playground was fun for the kids, nice beach access! Limited full hook up sites. I wish there were more full hook ups that you could reserve. Paved roads are great for bike riding. Great shaded spots. DNR cruises the park daily which is nice to see.
ScoutClear lake state park is a nice campground. It does get very busy during peak season and traffic is continuous. It is clean and close to the beach. Down town and other shopping is a short drive away. Lots of families camp here. Spots are nice.
GuideThere are only 6 full hook up sites and the care taker made sure we got one. The rest of the sites are beautiful with electric hook up. Nice clean bathroom and hot shower!
GuideThis is a state campground. So as most will know the sites could be better maintained. The bathrooms are updated and nice. When there is heavy rain you will however have your own pond at most sites. I guess you pay for what you get. I love this campground because they are large spots. Close to the beach and fishing is awesome. A big campground but reserve early!
GuideGreat campground. Family and friends get together a must here. Close to the beach, town and the lake has great fish. Reserve early!
GuideLoved this state park. Sites not too level, but spacious. Camped in mid April and park was not very busy which was nice. Full hook up sites and W/E only sites. Close to town and lots to do.
TravelerI love this campground! Clean, well maintained, and the hosts are very friendly. Trail to the beach is clear, the playground has nice, safe equipment for the little kids. Sad that there were so many back up sites over the holiday weekend, would have liked to have been able to camp here. It being full more than a week before the holiday, shows how great it is.
GuideNice campground with grassy pull thru sites. But very close together. If full, you would have no privacy. Fortunately, it was 1/4 full, so no problem. Bathrooms clean, nice warm showers! Nice beach, lots to do. Would be a fun place if you don’t mind camping next to neighbors!
LegendWe tend to stay at campgrounds during the off or shoulder season for a quieter experience so it was with some apprehension that we reserved this campground for a summer weekend so that we could meet friends for Paddlefest. We were happy to discover that despite being a full campground, it was quiet at almost all hours of the day and night. It was, however, an entirely different story on the lake itself, where boats gathered all day to party!
There is little separation between the sites but there are trees located throughout, some of which provide shade to the site. The camper pads were a mix of dirt and gravel and mostly level. We were lucky to snag Site 34 (reserved about three months in advance) – it was on the end, making it a much larger site than the interior sites (all end sites in our section were larger) and we had plenty of shade trees, a welcome relief on a very hot weekend.
The paved roads leading to the sites are very narrow and would appear to be one-way but are not designated as such, resulting in some confusion. The site numbers are only listed on one side, even though most of the sites appeared to be pull-through.
The restrooms and showers were clean and had soap and (dated) air dryers.
Overall, we had a very pleasant two-night stay even though we were prepared for a different experience.
GuideWe can't wait to go back. Our camp was so private & we were happy because we had a new puppy that was from a hoarding situation & not real social. We didn't want to bother any neighbors if she was loud. She did very well with our other two. They all enjoyed walking on the trails with us😁 The bathrooms & showers were awesome & the park guy was very nice & informative (I feel bad I didn't get his name.) It will definitely be a place we will go back to!
TravelerI prefer Clear Lake State park, but this was ok. We had lots of rain, and the sites got a bit muddy. The beach area was closed due to e-coli. Restrooms were clean, and always stocked.
LegendNot a big campground. Sites arranged in a circle around a clean shower house. Potable water. Only 2 non-electric sites. Most sites level. Sites are close to each other, not offering much in the way of privacy. Camped here on the off season, so it wasn't crowded. Short walk to nice lake & marsh. Walking trails. Camped here during waterfowl hunting season, so there were several gunshots nearby at around sunrise. 3 bars T-Mobile. About 5 miles west of I-35; good place to stop for one night. Electric sites,: $18; non-electric $14. Would stay here again.
Scout
40 site Totally renovated 2 years ago nestled along the little Cedar river above the dam. New Shower house/bathrooms. Natural themed kids play area including a huge tree house. City water and sewer with 50 and 30 amp to each site. Man made swimming pond with a lighted waterfall. Volleyball and walking trails with primitive camping across the road. Cabin with air conditioning and fully furnished further up the river on 200 acres of county land. Fishing above and below the dam. Picnic table and fire ring at every site.
GuideBeautiful large sites along the river so you can fish as well as has a pond that you can swim in with three beach entry areas. Large bath house with restrooms and showers and a little free library inside. Very long parking pads- big rig friendly and very roomy sites. Nice walking trails on the east and south side of the park. Very creative natural play park for children to play on. Full hook up sites with a very reasonable nightly rate. It appeared that some of the campsites were seasonal but couldn’t confirm that.
Traveler
Camper spots were huge with plenty of space between sites. Fire ring was on a cement slab. Bathrooms were clean. Good cell phone signal. Small lake for fishing and swimming working walking distance
TravelerWe camped with family in the group circle site. The circle group site has a nice big area for the kids to play. The playground and lake was also fun for the kids too.
TravelerExceptionally clean. New basthroom/ shoer house. Water electric at each site. Dump station on site. Nice swimming beach and many fishing jetties.
Guide
We camped here to try a new place (we try to pick one new place each year). We were a little underwhelemed when we first pulled in but that changed pretty quick. There weren't many other spots occupied, those that were looked fairly permanent. We had the RV and used the electric hookup. We found that it was quite a peaceful campground when we went. There was a giant wood pile where you could grab wood for a donation in the box and a wheelbarrow was provided to use which was quite convenient. The trails and hiking was the best part though. We went for hours with our dogs and had so much fun. They were easy. Some right along the river, some grassy and along fields, others ran though the woods. There were shelters and restrooms (I did not check them out having the RV) some play equipment as well as a chapel area which was interesting. It turned out to be a nice little campground.
ScoutWe like this campground a lot, very nice shade, playground area, as well as nice trails. Clean restrooms and shower stall
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Rockford, IA?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Rockford, IA is Clear Lake State Park Campground with a 4.4-star rating from 12 reviews.
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