Coles Creek Recreation Area

We spent one night here in Loop 4, Site 86 on a weeknight in mid-October.

We were very impressed with the campground. Generously sized campsites, plenty of access to the lake, facilities all appeared to be well maintained and very clean. There are plenty of campsites shaded by a thick deciduous canopy, and there are also plenty right up on the water with less shade.

Loop 4, where we stayed, offered electric-only sites, and we noticed that some of the other loops offered full-hookups if you prefer. Each loop offered a centralized latrine building with flush toilets, and there is at least one facility in the campground that offers free shower that operated with the ‘push button’ type water controls. The same building with the showers also offered coin operated laundry machines. We did not use either the showers or the laundry facilities but they both appeared to be clean and in good repair.

Site 86 was right on the water and offered beautiful views of the lake and sunset. The parking pad was asphalt and our 25 foot rig was perfectly level without any blocks.

The cell coverage here was solid with Verizon LTE service providing 21 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up.

When we stayed, the campground was only about 10-15% occupied, although from the reservation placards on the campsites, it looked like weekend occupancy was going to jump up to near 100%, so you would be very wise to make an advance reservation on the www.recreation.gov website. This is a US Army Corps of Engineers operated facility, so a valid America The Beautiful Annual Pass / Senior Pass / Access Pass will net you 50% off your camping fees.

We only stayed the one night because we were on a 21-day Midwest roadtrip and had tickets to attend an event in Indiana the next day, but we made a note to come back here again when we had time to stay a few nights.

We passed many ‘a cornfield to get here. Electric only. Dump station with fill water on-site.

Be sure to check out the local farmer bar with pizza takeout (Deb’s Red Rose)…there’s no official sign except a Bud Light banner swinging in the breeze, but it’s on Boulder on your right, just before Wiedle Rd.

Not much of a view of the water from our campsite, but the reservoir and swimming beach was only a ¼ mile walk. There is also a boat launch in the park. Bathrooms were very clean, did not use showers.

We saw the park had full hookups but as a walk in on a Saturday we were only able to get a site with electricity. We are Golden Pass holders so we only paid $8 for one night. Lots of families camping but the spaces are very spacious. We had a view of the beach area on the lake. Very peaceful.

Site was level - didn't need any leveling blocks.