Dows Pool Park & Campground

As someone else said, there’s not much to do here but it’s a quiet, cheap place if you’re just looking for an overnight or two.

I arrived on a Sunday afternoon, and there were only a couple more campers. They cleared out by 3pm.

I was just looking for a shady spot to stay with hookups to top off my batteries. ✅

Someone mentioned that there are houses nearby, and there are. However, they are mostly covered by trees so I personally did not feel uncomfortable.

By the time I stayed here, the pool was closed for the season but I can imagine that it would be pretty noisy when it’s open.

I only had two locals drive-by the whole time I was here and they seemed friendly.

Only had one bar on Verizon but it was very very strong.
Two bars on T-Mobile and I was able to download, stream, update etc. easily.

This park was open when we couldn’t find anything in the Des Moines area. In fact, we were the only ones here on a Saturday night. This is likely because it is out of the way and there are no reservations. There is a self sign in board. You find a site and pay for what you get. There is a pull through site with electrical only. There were several water and electric sites but they were back in. The water and electric are at opposite ends so you will likely need an extension on one or the other. The site was level enough that I did not have to unhook. The place was crazy with flies but in early June they weren’t biting thank goodness. I did not see a dump station. Antenna got only 2 PBS stations. 2 bars LTE cell coverage but I could stream videos with this. No amenities beside the pool (I didn’t see it because I arrived at night). Best as a stopover spot. I felt it was very private. Houses are a block away. The restrooms are dated but clean. Not sure if it has hot water though.

This 12-site campground is adjacent to the town pool, so expect happy pool noise in season. In early May, we had the place to ourselves. There are cornfields on two sides and neighborhood on two sides. The campsites are visible from several houses. It felt a little exposed.

There's one pull-through site, a few that aren't actually pull-through but probably get used that way when dry, and several back-in spaces. Some sites have electric or water or both, some have neither. All sites with any sort of hookup are $15. No reservations required (or, likely, needed). Most sites look like you can get level with a bit of effort. There's a dump on site.

Note that the park restrooms are locked either out of season or when the pool is closed or both.

The park was quiet except for birdsong our first evening (it's well off the interstate) and bustling with activity all.the next day as they worked to ready the pool for the season (the restrooms are open now). The park has shade trees and lilac hedges and great sunset views. It really is fine, so I feel a bit guilty for not liking it better. But there's nothing here and really the amenities are limited for the price. Next time we'll try Ingebretsen County Park just north of here.