Shady Creek Recreation Area

We stayed in mid July. Arrival was a little odd. We had site 20 reserved, but there was no one at the front gate. Check-in/check-out is 5:00 PM, and a sign on the building says their hours are 5:00-8:00 PM. We arrived at 5:00 PM. There was also a sign saying to just find an open spot, then check-in at some point later.

Fortunately, our reserved spot was available. Seems odd to have reservations, but then make it a free for all though.

Once we got set up, I went back to the front gate to check in. It appeared someone had been there (lights on inside) but no one was around. I ended up coming back another time and found someone.

The sites are spacious, and angled. I wish more parks angled their sites this way as it results in easier set up and more camp space. While there is no city water, there are a LOT of water hookups. If you have hose extensions, you will most likely be able to top off if you run low during your stay.

The park was full, but it was an older crowd and laid back. Everyone was friendly, and we enjoyed our stay.

The shower house looks like it could use some updates. Only one shower stall was available in men's room during our stay, and the other was out of order. We didn't need these accommodations, but I noted them for the review.

There is no camp store, but wood is available for purchase if you can catch someone at the front entry building during the limited open hours.

For $20 a night, this park is definitely worth it if you are visiting something in the area or passing through.

Decent COE campground. Name is accurate, plenty of shade trees. Pretty spot along the Mississippi with all back-in sites, average shower house, no full hook-ups but a dump station and water throughout. Boat ramp and playgrounds. Would be very peaceful if it weren’t for trains rolling right by multiple times per day (and night) - the trains have to blow their horns at every road crossing. A/C fan won’t cover up that noise and we were woken up by them several times during our stay. Verizon works well here, T-Mobile has no service.

Incredibly friendly campground host lady recommended a site with a view of the river. Did me a solid. Beautiful site. Huge back-in with electric. Water spigots everywhere, but no city water. Level concrete pad, picnic table, fire pit and view of the river. I live on a comparitively small river in CA and just think the Mississippi is wonderfully majestic. There is really something ineffably soothing about the flowing water.

I sat outside to work for a few hours, but was interrupted by thunderstorms. The temperature dropped about 15 degrees in 15 minutes. Eerie. So, I moved inside and finished up my work. Went to bed and sleep incredibly well.

I woke up at 5:30 and checked the weather. There were more thunderstorm coming. So, I hurriedly broke camp and headed out before 6 to a stunning sunrise along the I-80.

This place is well worth the detour off the 80 for a stop-over or a weekend of camping by the river. Just beautiful.

Our site was a concrete back in with a great view of the Mississippi River. Electric only, there is a water spigot to fill up your tank and a dump station. The sites are well spaced, with trees everywhere. The campground is between a railroad line and the river with lots of barge traffic but surprisingly it was not noisy. The city of Muscatine has everything you need and is only a 15 min drive.

We stayed here on Wednesday and Thursday nights in mid July 2020. All of the sites have concrete pads and most are nicely shaded. The campground was clean and the grass mowed. We were in site 18 which backs up to the river. I had power issues with the 30 circuit, my surge protector indicating low voltage but my meter showed 115 volts. I used a 50 to 30 amp adapter and had no problems with that. Being close to the river I expected more problems with bugs but it wasn't any worse that those at a campground in the middle to the state a week before. While we were here the area was very quiet. As mentioned by others, there is a rail line next to the park. A couple of trains passed while we were here but with the AC running I didn't hear them. The $20 rate was reduced to $10 with the America the Beautiful Senior Pass.

The state of Iowa has done a wonderful job with building COE parks all along the Mississippi. We passed two other smaller COE parks on the way to ours. Shady Creek is a FHU park with long concrete site with a gravel patio area that holds a picnic table and a fire pit. Sites are shaded with mature trees but we were able to get an opening for our roof top dish. This park includes a boat launch, large playground, and various fields. The bathhouse was very well maintained. The park is very quiet except for the train which is rather close. This park has the sites the furthest distance from the tracks which run along the river. All of the parks are located between the water and the tracks. The trains weren't that often and didn't bother us at all. Our price reflects a 50% Senior National Park discount. We would stay here again.