This is a recreational area by the town Essex Ia. It has a quiet lake, with fish a jumpin. It also has multipurpose trails. There are a few different accesses around the lake. There is the south access that is day use area. It has grilles, picnic tables, and trail accesses. You go to the west and there is the equestrian camp grounds. This one is pretty Basic, honestly. It has electrical hook ups, horse corals, and out house. The north side access is where the normal campgrounds are located. They have rv sites and farther in is the tent sites. All sites have a picnic table and fire rings. This whole area is well shaded and quiet. There is also full bathrooms with a shower, toilet, and sink.

Pierce creek is just on the out side of the town Essex. There is nice quiet lake, with some fish jumping. On the Southside there is a day area with grills and picnic tables. There are also access to hiking, horse and bike trails. You go the west side and there is a equestrian campsite that is pretty basic. There is not much but electrical sites, corals, and a outhouse. Now on the north side there is a regular campground. There are pads and electrical hook ups. As well as the tents sites farther in. The bathrooms are full. There is sinks, toilets and even showers. This place maybe just that hidden gem for some of you in southwestern Iowa.

This is my second review, because second time is a charm. Even though the campsites are closer together than I am use to. We actually took 2 sites, one for us and one for my oldest sons site. This worked out and gave a little more space needed. This also gave us time to really explore those trails I was drooling over. We took one of the more scenic trails and took us over the top of some of those beautiful Loess Hills. I still believe it us a great hiking park, and is only a hour away from Omaha for us.

This is a park for rvs inside the city of Shenandoah, Ia. It's a good place for a overnight or someone visiting someone from the town. Pretty basic but clean.

Linoma Beach is a place that just about everybody in this area is familiar or has seen. They have a big lighthouse off the highway. Unfortunately this place is a private place. You have to rent a lot or space for a long term time period. If you can get a spot and have a rv or trailer it's a place for you or someone to look into.

This is a nice city park, but can't really get pass it being in a city. There is a couple ponds you can fish. The restrooms did seem clean. There are a couple different playgrounds and a few history type building, that were closed when we were there. But I just can't get pass the city vibe camping there. It would be a good overnight stay between getting to your destination, and may get you out of a bind.

First off let me make it clear, I like this park. But for me this is not the greatest camping area. The sites just are to close for me as a tent camper. The could almost use some of the day use picnic area as primitive sites. The rest of this park is great. For one it is clean, and maintained. The hiking trails are not for bikes, and they have several different levels or skills levels. The look out was pretty cool as well. We will return, and do some more hiking. I am not sure the campsites were fall, but it could be because the applejacks festival going on across the river in Nebraska City.

The more I travel I-80 the more I appreciate these little state parks off of it. Cheyenne is what it is. It's a primitive camping site off the interstate with a little pond. You can obviously fish off and/or put a nonpowered boat in it. You obviously can hear the interstate traffic. The thing with this, with camping getting more popular these place may have more of chance of a opening consistently. We passed through this place on Labor Day weekend, and there was only one camper there.

This is a rv park that is located near Lake Manawa in Council Bluffs, Ia. It appears to have the same fate as camping site at the lake. As if you drive by it, it appears to be a ghost town.

This basically a parking lot with rv hook ups, for the casino people. It is probably a cool place for someone spending a lot of time in casinos. It's not really a campground and there are no outdoor activities on site.

This lake is one of the very few in Omaha that offers camping. And definitely of all types rv, and tent. But let me give you a disclaimer of why this is a 3 star. First the park is closed due to them draining it because of zebra mussels. Also I still feel weird about camping in a city, but that's my hang up. This place has always been well maintained, and offered a lot of amenities. They also offered rental boats for the lake, a really nice walking trail, and fishing. But for now we will have to wait to see what the improvements are going to be and how the lake turns out. More information to come later.

This lake in Papillion, Nebraska is a great little lake. Probably one of the best in metro area of Omaha. The fishing is always as well as the kayaking is as well, (especially novice like myself). The birdwatching as well as the wildlife is abundant. Honestly if not for the city noise you could forget your in a city. The campground is strictly for rv camping, and is very nice and clean. It is a perfect extremely short get away for a rv camper. Or possibly be that camper relative visiting from out of town. They have nice fishing accesses, playgrounds and picnic areas. This park I believe was done well from the city of Papillion.

This park is right off the Missouri river, and everytime there is flooding this places gets shelled. We had some major flooding here 2019, and it appears this park is still closed. It has a great view of the Missouri river when it's open and is close to Bellevue. I guess we will see what transpires with it as it's not the first time it's been flooded.

The camp grounds for Lake Manawa are closed, but there is talk of opening back up. For some people there is a light at the end of the tunnel. As there have been a few article surfacing of this campground reopening. This is a nice lake with a lot of activity at it. I guess we can just wait and see, but for now this is a no go.

This is a state park in Iowa right off the Missouri river. And also directly next to or connected to the great nature preserve Desoto Bend. Unfortunately there were massive floods in 2019 in this area that effected the area near the missouri, Platte, and Elkhorn river. Due to these flood this great park is closed along with other parks that are still closed. If you look around and see a few parks that are closed and some that are open but have repairs needed. I hope this park will open in the future. And this and other parks get the repairs that they need. This park is one of Iowa best in my opinion.

This is a secluded campsite near the town Valley, Ne. It is clean and I believe is ran by the Nrd. It offers access to the Elkhorn for airboats, and other flotation vehicles. There are no electrical hook ups but does have rv pads. Nice new bathroom as well as playground and disc golf. When I was here it was a little rainy, but I would come back. It is only 10 dollars to camp, and can stay there up to 7 days. The river access is excellent and there is a day area that you can picnic at.

This is a nice little city park with a man made lake. However it does not allow camping. If you go to the Fremont website it specifically states no camping. Aside from that it is a beautiful little park that offer fishing, and walking path around it. There is a limit on what you can catch and does say on the website what that is.

Been coming to this lake for years. It's a beautiful setting, right in the middle Loess Hills in sw Iowa. The fishing has always been good here. But this camp area is not much at all. The spaces are really small, and not really one view of the lake. There is a new visitor center right by the entrance of the camping area. There also a really small pond by the entrance as well. This place would probably work for a over night stay, but not a destination. But I still love the areas wildlife, and the lake. Or maybe it's just the nostalgia for me.

I will first off stay I have not been to a lot of Iowa parks. But I will say the ones I have been to, that this is the nicest or one of them. They have concessions, boat rentals, boating of all types, fishing, and trails. There are very nice picnic areas, and the bathrooms or restroom facilities are clean. This place is fantastic and offers a lot to anyone. So give it a try.

We been to Viking Lake a few times over the years. And it has been cool to see this place evolve over time. They did drain this lake a few years back. But this little place has a lot to offer for campers. There trails, fishing, and kayaking. There is also a swimming area and beach and clean barhrooms. I have no problem with staying at place anytime.