Little River Recreation Area

The last review was from 2017 so I wasn’t sure what to expect. But wow were we pleasantly surprised. We just needed a spot to layover for a night and work for a day. We were coming in late and there weren’t any other spots in the area that we wanted to pay that much money for. We decided to just make a go for it since it was first come first serve. We figured we’d drive into Des Moines Cracker Barrel if they were full. But when we got there there were plenty of open sites.
This park feels like forever to get to and it is on a partial dirt road so you do drive slower. But once you are there it is such a well taken care of facility and was more than adequate for what we needed. It was delightful. We needed a place we could work from our rig and a place that our four children could play! We were worried about the past review that said they had no signal. However, on the upper terrace of back in sites we were able to have 4 bars of AT&T signal and turn on our work hotspot. We didn’t have an issue. There are two playgrounds, a swimming beach, and even canoe rentals. They provide child’s swimming life jackets for free and the bath houses are older but very well maintained. It is quite a hike to the bathhouse. The pride put into this place is fantastic. There are also cabins you can rent and stay in. There is a boat loading area and then directly behind the campsites there are boat docks.
We saw an older gentleman sitting in his camp chair hauling in sunfish after sunfish. When we got there there were several other campers there as well as a few tents.. but when we went inside for lunch they all left except one… and we never saw but that one gentleman! Everyone must have been out on the water. My kids feed some geese bread crumbs and we road our bikes to all the different landings and areas. It was very easy to spend a full work day here entertaining kids and letting dad work.
There is water available but not at each site. We used 30 amps in our 30 ft Class C motorhome.
The pad we had to back on was very narrow making it a large drop out our door. The rest of the spots had very nice pads and we chose site 1 because it had the most signal.
We also had a paper wasp invasion while at this site and called the park rangers. Within a half hour a nice lady came out and sprayed our area and gave us a can of wasp repellent to use should it get worse. It didn’t.
We loved the beauty of the place and how empty it was but how well managed it was. You can stay for a max of 14 days and it is first come first serve. Each site has a fire ring and picnics table. This place is a gem. We wished this place was closer to home because we would use it a lot!

We were crossing the country in a hurry and happened upon this little gem. It is about 2-3 miles down a gravel road next to a small lake. The campground was terraced down to the lake. Some sites were right above the lake (it was essentially in your back yard) and some more above it. I think almost all of them at least had a view. It was $10 for a dry spot, $15 for electric. We had 30 amp - was not able to tell if they had any 50 amp. The site we were on was good and level - they are gravel sites, have tables and fire rings. There is a restroom building at the top of the hill (might the a hike for some) that was a good size (that's about all I can say, we didn't use it). There is potable water near the check in area for full up but no sewer dump. The sites are first come, first serve. We arrived in the evening on a fall Friday night and had two spots to choose from. In the summer I think you might try and arrive as early as possible. You can have two vehicles per site. The town of Leon is not far away, Which has a small grocery, and a medical clinic. The lake at the rec area is nice and there were people boating it. We had almost no cell service, so don't expect to stay plugged in (the only one we don't have is Verizon, so maybe that one might work).