Best Tent Camping near Sabula, IA

Tent Camping Reviews near Sabula, IA

571 Reviews of 12 Sabula Campgrounds

• 

  James M.

  Legend

  Apr. 16, 2022

  Buzzard Ridge Wildlife Area

  Unique County wildlife site along Maquoketa River

  Unique hike or paddle primitive site. Native forbs and wildlife surrounding the area. Two parking sites to hike in or access by river. Site is along river, has table, fire ring, latrine. Pack in, pack out and Leave No Trace.

• 

  Stuart K.

  Legend

  Mar. 7, 2025

  Bald Eagle Campground and Cabins

  Barren RV-Riddled Campground Outpost

  One of the 6 campgrounds that you will have to choose from here at Scott County Park, Bald Eagle CG & Cabins is one that is more geared for the RV driving and trailer toting tribes as each site has FHUs with electric, water & sewage, fire rings and picnic tables; however, if you wanted to pitch a tent here, you could, although I would recommend nearby Incahias as an alternative. Unlike some of the other campgrounds here, Bald Eagle kind of lives up to its name as there’s not much in the way of tree cover or brush, so the land is somewhat BALD. The land is incredibly flat, back-in slots are spacious, hard and very level grounds are incredibly well-organized and the bathroom / shower facilities with great HOT running water and are about as impeccably clean as can be.

  Near by Bald Eagle is Pride Lake, which makes this pet-friendly CG your top pick if you’re an angler or looking to get some decent oaring with your kayak or canoe. Sitting in front of Pride Lake are 2 very large shelters – Whispering Pines and Hickory Hills – as well as a playground for the kiddos and a restroom facility that is also spartan-clean. Surrounding Bald Eagle is also no shortage of hiking / biking / horse trails. We found the CG itself to be fairly quiet, although lacking in privacy without the benefit of any real brush or trees to blot out our next-door neighbors, but that said, everyone was incredibly friendly with full displays of Midwestern hospitality that this area is known for. There is also a single large cabin available for rent that has capacity for 10 people.

  We loved Scott County Park so much because there is a lot that this gem offers up, from fresh water catch & release lakes, a combination of topographies (from woodlands, wetlands and prairie grasslands), a beautiful 18-hole championship golf course, outdoor exercise areas, club house and concessions, stand-alone cabins for rent, designated dump stations and trash receptacles, numerous picnic areas, a massive heated swimming pool complete with a snake-like water slide, volleyball court, ranger stations, seasonal on-site hosts, firewood available for purchase at entry stations, Walnut Grove Pioneer Village and St. Anne’s church at the park’s NW perimeter, 7 community shelters, designated picnic areas, a memorial park, equestrian area and an incredibly well-paved network of roads that allows you to easily access just about every corner of this park.

  Happy Camping!

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• 

  Stacie H.

  Guide

  May. 29, 2022

  White Pines Forest State Park Campground

  Lovely natural scenery; campground leaves something to be desired

  Let's start with the good stuff:

  • The park is beautiful. Lovely trees, lots of shade, the hiking trails are nice, well marked, and they even have an accessible trail for those with disabilities!
  • There is a restaurant and gift shop on site. Gift shop sells wood if you run low or forget.
  • The bathrooms and shower house are relatively clean and well kept.

  Now for the not so great stuff:

  • Many of the campsites are sloped and some are sloped A LOT. This isn't obvious from the booking page.

  • The campground is absolutely jammed with camp sites- it's ridiculous. I've never been to a campground where the sites were so on top of one another.

  • We stayed in the Sunny Crest loop and the drinking water well was broken so we had to travel to other parts of the campground for water. When carrying a 10 gallon jug full of water back, that really sucked.

  • The sites that are marked as "hike in" aren't secluded and away from other sites at all, as one might expect. They are jammed in with all the others but there just isn't any parking nearby.

  • It had rained the day before was went and so the road to the campgrounds was blocked off (presumably because the creek was running too high), but there was NO SIGNAGE telling us how to get there another way. There was no one in the park office or in the camping registration station to ask. We finally figured out that we had to take an emergency road/auxiliary road to get to the campground, but that was after about 30 minutes of confusion.

  • The breakfast buffet at the restaurant is mid but very pricey- $50 for 2 of us.

  • The quiet hours and no alcohol policy are not enforced at all. While we were there, there was a very loud group playing beer pong into the wee hours of the morning.

  • About half of the fire rings don't have grill grates so bring your own or bring a camp stove (See pic). Also, when you book your site, there is no way to know if your fire ring will have a grill grate or note.

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• 

  Alex H.

  Traveler

  Sep. 26, 2022

  Yellowstone Lake State Park Campground

  No Flat Spots

  Very nice park. Well marked and maintained trails. A large lake with boat launch and beach area. Separate pet area.

  We spent the weekend at site 101, which is a tent site. I wouldn't recommend this site. based on a quick walkaround, it seemed a bit smaller than other sites. That's not really a deal-breaker, but it didn't really have any flat spots to pitch the tent. We ended up pitching it up on the parking area, but it was still a bit slanted and we could feel the tire divot a little through the air mattresses. Aside from that, it was great. The site had a picnic table and fire ring that we used a lot. It was secluded from the surrounding sites.

  We hiked the Windy Ridge trail and the Prairie Loop trail. both were well maintained and enjoyable trails. We also spent some time on the beach.

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• 

  Sarah B.

  Guide

  Jul. 19, 2024

  Yellowstone Lake State Park Campground

  Def do not recommend for summer 2024!

  I wanted so badly to love this campground experience, but just didn't. Site 19 was an easy walk-in that theoretically had nearby vault toilets, parking, and water.

  Each site only had space for one car to park before walking in. Not a huge deal, but annoying as there were 2 of us who drove separate and we had to problem solve. When we got to the site I was shocked to see that what was labeled as a tent site had literally NO flat space to actually set up a tent. Spacious site, but fully sloped.

  Also, what I would have loved to know, is that the vault toilets are closed because they are doing construction to build something new in that space. Construction that starts loudly each day at 7am. Honestly every site from about #35 down was affected by the noise because the construction is happening in the middle of the loop (and actually blocking some of the one-way road as well).

  The park in general was okay. Per the usual, the pet areas were lacking. No beach at all, just grass covered in goose poop and one cut out on the raised shore between tall grasses and foliage where a dog could potentially jump in. Certainly nowhere for a human to enjoy the water with their pups unfortunately.

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• 

  Amy W.

  Scout

  Apr. 2, 2022

  Morrison-Rockwood State Park

  Family friendly; great first timers

  first timers/ young kids- yes. Primitive campers- no. My husband had never been camping. I grew up with very primitive camping- no electricity, only pit toilets, sometimes fresh water, and no showers (milk jug showers!) Little by little, I’m warming him up to camping. This is a great place for new campers, families of young kids, or just looking for an easier trip. There’s a shower house with flush toilets, warm showers, and surprisingly CLEAN! The site was medium size. Enough room to spread out. Ground was flat so finding a tent site was no problem. Electric hookup worked. Picnic table was good. Check your site before booking! One section of sites is like an open field? No trees and full view of others. But these surround a playground- also very nice. Glamping with young kids? These sites would be a perfect. AT&T and Verizon cell service worked fine

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• 

  James M.

  Legend

  Aug. 5, 2021

  Swiss Valley County Park

  Great County park, preserve, campground

  Campground is well maintained, restrooms, showers, recycling station, fire wood available, campground host onsite, resident park ranger, standard RV sites, some electric tent sites otherwise primitive with fire rings and tables. Trout stream (Catfish Creek) runs through campground and park and is stocked by Iowa DNR, has Swiss Valley Nature center with trails.

• 

  James M.

  Legend

  Aug. 28, 2024

  Sherman Co Park

  Scenic County park along Wapsipinicon River

  The campground offers to camp areas: one better suited for RVs, and the other area is better suited for primitive tent, camping. Sites have picnic tables and fire rings, our recites include electric. There is a campground host, shower house, shelter and playground area there too. The tent sites are prone to flooding occasionally from the gun river. There is a boat ramp with access to the river for fishing and paddling.

• 

  Becca Z.

  Guide

  Aug. 30, 2020

  Lowden State Park Campground

  Great camping spot!

  We were so happy with the size of the tent camping sites. They were mostly all flat, plenty of space and gave privacy from the neighbors. We were at site 28 which had both sun and shade. Right across from the pit toilets which I wouldn’t pick next time. There was no shower house or running water in the loop we were at. Across the street were the electric rv sites and a few tent sites. Only compliant is even from the middle of the campground we could hear the road noise. Otherwise great!