David Bates Memorial Park

Just a simple out-of-the-way little park to set up a tent. Water says it isn't potable and I didn't try it. Some traffic noise in the distance, but mostly covered up by bird calls. One other user was there when we arrived after dark, but we were only ones there come morning. It was mid-week, maybe weekends are busier.

If you ever find yourself in Central Iowa needing a nice free county park - give this one a consideration!

The narrow gravel road gets pretty narrow, and it's a fairly tight turn to get in, but should be doable in almost anything (my 43' 5th wheel cleared pretty easily).

Don't have high expectations of site pads, toilets, or anything else, and you'll be fine! There are a few level places to park, a few picnic tables, a couple fire pits, a porta-potty and river access (to the smallest of boats / canoes). There is a well head there, so if you don't mind the taste of well water, you'll have water available!

There's a Verizon tower near, so I had 4 bars, and pretty fast speeds.

The town of Union is 5 miles away, and has diesel, gas, and a small convenience store. Another 10-15 minutes away is Eldora, which has grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

It's a fairly popular spot for people to drop in for canoeing, fishing, etc, so it does get busy on the weekends...and this is rural Iowa, so it will probably get a bit noisy on the weekends with parties, etc.