Oak Bluff Campground

A lot of places in Iowa are closed to camping until April or even May. I looked west and quickly found this. There are areas of the park that are "closed for winter", but I was able to find a primitive spot for an overnight to get out and enjoy the rebound from the subzero weather of the previous weeks.

Some sites in that section are quite spacious.....although it was just me, so I had a lot of space! there were several water spigots in that section as well, so water is available during the camping season. There was a restroom fairly close by, and in the 15 hours I was there, the ranger checked on the restrooms twice. I didn't use it, but that is an indication that they aren't torn apart.

No one was at the entrance, so I had to go the the education center to find self registration. The primitive rate is $15, but they reduced it to $10 in the off-season. A pass is required to camp, so you can add another $5 if you're a Nebraska resident, and $8 if you're from out of state. Season passes are also available. $40 resident, $45 non-resident.

All primitive sites had shade. Lots of trees throughout the park. Beautiful.

We arrived in the dark so that made it hard to navigate the park but we found our spot! When we booked it we got the 2nd to last reservable spot and we know why it was left, it was right by the bath house and a park. There were lots of kids and pretty noisy but they respected quiet hours, it was quiet at night. The park is awesome! We hiked and visited a couple overlooks that were beautiful. The leaves were just starting to change. We’ll definitely be back!

We stayed here while I was working in IA, NE and SD. The park is a bit out of the way and a 20 minute drive into South Sioux City. The town of Ponca does have a grocery store and a laundromat. Turkey Ridge campsites 1-36 are first come and first served, Oak Bluff 37-73 are reservable. All of these site have electric and are paved. There are also sites right on the river bottom, all gravel. We camped in site 54. Turkey and deer were found around our site almost every morning. The park was very quite when we stayed here in April '19. Cell phone service was obtainable in the higher areas of the park.