Prairie Rose State Park

There are only a handful of full service hookups. But for all other sites there are frequent faucets for water And the park has a dump.

We are here when only 10 sites are in use so plenty of nice open spaces.

The crowd and cacophony in the peak season could be a bit much.

Playgrounds, boat launch, beach, several picnic areas round out this lovely treed park.

Beautiful campground. Shows that you don't have to be in the middle of a huge wilderness area to create a special campground.

East side was entirely RVs and hard-sided campers, west side was 80% tents. Not a lot of division between sites on the east side (it was basically just a field with a loop road running through it, but the people were quiet and respectful of one another.

Very dark skies in the summer, Milky Way was easily visible.

We go to Prairie Rose each summer as we enjoy the serenity it provides. There are two loops and we always stay in the much smaller, quieter west loop. Spacing is good and site 86 has a fair amount of shade. The east loop is packed in a little tighter and seems to have more of a hubbub about it.

Swim beach is on the far side of the lake requiring a car to reach. Launching kayaks etc can be done from many spots. Always lots of anglers on the lake as there are a couple spots to launch your watercraft.

Hiking trails around the lake exist. Going around the entire lake would be a major jaunt and require some highway trekking. We have generally gone half way or perhaps a bit less around and then doubled back. You come across herons, geese and other water fowl as well as a large assortment of dragonflies and birds.

Verizon is 2 bars and stable in the upper west loop and over the air TV was available from Omaha and stable even though a good 50-60 miles from the towers.

We only spent one night here on a cross country trip but we could see this was a very special campground in the middle of Iowa corn country. The sites are spacious (typical for better state parks) and here are many walk up sites including some full hook up ones. Internet was pretty good (AT&T and Verizon.) The CG is about 10miles from I-80 so things are very quiet here which we appreciate on any cross country trip. Access to and from the interstate is very easy.