Canoeing/Kayaking

Split Rock Park Campground

7 RV Sites, 20 Tent Sites

Split Rock Park Campground in Garretson, South Dakota, offers seven RV sites with 30-amp electric service and 20 tent sites on the banks of Split Rock Creek, sized for rigs to 40 feet with fire pits and picnic tables. A boat ramp and playground sit beside a natural waterfall where the creek cuts through pink Sioux quartzite. Seven back-in sites carry 30-amp electric only, sized to 40 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables — there are no water or sewer hookups, so arrive self-contained. Twenty tent sites cover simpler camping. Restrooms and portable toilets serve the grounds. This is a community park rather than a commercial campground, and the infrastructure reflects that honestly. Pets are welcome. The geology is the reason to come. Split Rock Creek cuts through exposed pink Sioux quartzite to form a natural waterfall and narrow gorge — a landscape of ancient bedrock and clear spring-fed water that contrasts sharply with the flat agricultural plains surrounding Garretson. A boat ramp gives paddlers direct launch access, with fishing, canoeing, and kayaking from the creek, and a playground for families. The combination of geological uniqueness, creek fishing, and paddling launch infrastructure gives this small park genuine regional draw well beyond its size. Garretson sits on the northwestern edge of town in eastern South Dakota, within easy reach of Sioux Falls. The campground serves the short northern plains season, with summer paddling and fishing carrying the demand and fall bringing quieter conditions along the creek. With seven RV sites, reserve ahead for summer weekends.

from $20/night

Wilder Park

52 RV Sites, 6 Tent Sites

Wilder Park in Allison, Iowa, offers 51 RV sites and six tent sites across 88 acres, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 50 feet. Full-hookup and water-and-electric categories in both back-in and pull-through join two fishing ponds, a disc golf course, mini-golf, and a storm shelter. Fifty-one sites run in 30/50-amp water-and-electric back-in, water-electric-and-sewer back-in, and water-electric-and-sewer pull-through categories, sized to 50 feet, with fire pits and site WiFi. Six tent sites round out the accommodations. A dump station, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side, and a storm shelter sits on the grounds — a genuine safety feature in Iowa. The recreational range is unusually broad for a park this size. Two fishing ponds support angling and paddle boats, with a boat ramp for canoeing and kayaking. A disc golf course, mini-golf, ball field, sports courts, volleyball, basketball, pickleball, walking trails, hiking, biking, a playground, dog park, library, and community fire pit fill the 88 acres, with planned activities through the season. Off-roading is nearby. Pets are welcome. Allison sits on Iowa Highway 3 in Butler County, and the park works as both a genuine destination and a practical overnight for travelers crossing the state. The J&C Grocery, Allison Variety Store, and municipal swimming pool are in town, with Waverly 25 minutes away, Cedar Falls 35, Mason City 60, and five golf courses in the area. Summer is peak. Reserve ahead for warm-weather weekends.

from $16/night

Lakeside Casino Resort RV Park

38 RV Sites

Lakeside Casino Resort RV Park in Osceola, Iowa, offers 47 fully equipped campsites with water, sewage, electrical hookups, and Wi-Fi steps from the Lakeside Casino in Clarke County — a campground that combines the practical overnight infrastructure of a full-hookup RV park with the immediate access to the Lakeside Casino Resort's gaming, dining, entertainment, and hotel facilities in the southern Iowa plains community that the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska's Lakeside Casino has sustained as the primary commercial and entertainment hub for the Clarke County region since the casino's opening. Osceola's Clarke County position on Interstate 35 between Des Moines and Kansas City gives the campground the practical interstate convenience that I-35 through-travelers specifically value alongside the casino resort's entertainment programming. Forty-seven fully equipped sites with water, sewer, electrical hookups, and complimentary Wi-Fi adjacent to the casino give guests the complete RV living infrastructure in the most convenient possible relationship to the casino's programming — the walking-distance proximity to the Lakeside Casino eliminates the designated driver logistics that off-site campground guests require for evening casino visits, and the resort's dining options give campground residents the immediate restaurant access that extends the campground's meal planning flexibility. Pets are welcome. The Lakeside Casino, operated by the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska in Clarke County, sustains the gaming floor, multiple dining venues, entertainment programming, and the hotel accommodations that make Osceola's Clarke County position on I-35 a destination stop rather than a pass-through for the Des Moines-to-Kansas City corridor's leisure traveler. The casino's poker room, slots, and table game floor give guests the full Iowa gaming experience in a casino resort setting that the state's river and tribal gaming licenses distribute across the state's commercial recreation landscape. Nine Eagles State Park, 12 miles south of Osceola in Decatur County, provides the natural recreation complement to the casino entertainment programming — a 1,874-acre state park with a 85-acre lake, beach, fishing, camping, and hiking through the southern Iowa rolling timber land that the state park preserves as one of Iowa's most complete south-central state parks. Lake Rathbun, 50 miles east of Osceola in Appanoose County, is the largest lake in Iowa — an 11,000-acre Army Corps of Engineers reservoir that sustains the walleye, bass, and catfish fisheries that Iowa's most productive freshwater lake provides. Lakeside Casino Resort RV Park serves guests year-round in Clarke County's continental Iowa climate, where the year-round casino resort programming sustains visitor demand across all seasons independent of the outdoor recreation calendar. Des Moines, 60 miles north of Osceola on I-35 in Polk County, provides the Iowa State Fair (the largest state fair in the United States by attendance, held annually in late August), the Pappajohn Sculpture Park, and the Drake University campus that give the Clarke County campground's day-trip range into the Iowa capital city's cultural programming. Reserve sites ahead for the Iowa State Fair week and the summer casino entertainment programming peak when the I-35 south Iowa corridor's campground inventory fills from the regional market.

from $45/night

Hidden Bluffs Resort

Hidden Bluffs Resort near Spring Grove, Minnesota, offers a peaceful family camping experience in the scenic Driftless Area. This distinctive region of southeastern Minnesota is known for its limestone bluffs, wooded valleys, spring-fed trout streams, and rolling terrain—creating a landscape unlike anywhere else in the Upper Midwest. Accommodation options include: - Full-hookup RV sites - Comfortable cabin rentals - Traditional tent camping areas - Clean restrooms and showers - Laundry facilities - General store and on-site firewood - Wi-Fi connectivity Guests can enjoy plenty of recreation without leaving the property. More than four miles of groomed hiking trails wind through hardwood forests and limestone bluff terrain, while a spring-fed trout stream provides convenient on-site fishing access. Resort amenities include: - Outdoor swimming pool - Mini-golf course - Children’s playground - Four miles of groomed hiking trails - Spring-fed trout stream - Scenic wooded surroundings - Family-friendly recreation areas The surrounding Bluff Country offers additional opportunities for hiking, cycling, fishing, cave exploration, and sightseeing. Nearby attractions include: - Niagara Cave near Harmony - Forestville/Mystery Cave State Park - Root River State Trail - Lanesboro’s arts, shopping, and dining - Scenic towns along the Root River - Mississippi River day trips and excursions Hidden Bluffs Resort is open during Minnesota’s warm-weather camping season. Summer is ideal for family recreation, while fall brings spectacular foliage to the hardwood-covered bluffs and valleys. Advance reservations are recommended for summer holiday weekends and the popular fall color season.

Camping 109

40 RV Sites, 1 Cabin

Camping 109 is a quiet, family-run campground on the eastern shore of Big Stone Lake in Big Stone City, South Dakota—40 full hookup sites positioned next to a boat launch on one of the state's most northeasterly bodies of water, at a point where the South Dakota-Minnesota border runs directly through the lake and the Whetstone River enters from the north. The campground's lakefront simplicity, clean facilities, and direct boat access make it an unpretentious and practical choice for anglers, paddlers, and families who want lake access without resort-scale pricing or crowds. Forty sites with full hookups in both pull-through and back-in configurations offer 30 and 50-amp electric service, water, sewer, and WiFi, each with a picnic table and fire ring. A playground, laundry room, dump station, and amenities block with clean restrooms and showers round out the infrastructure. The boat launch is immediately adjacent to the campground, eliminating the drive to a public ramp that many lake campgrounds require, and the lake itself provides the primary recreation draw for the cabins and campsites that the property maintains. Big Stone Lake straddles the South Dakota-Minnesota state line in the Minnesota River watershed, occupying the northernmost point of the Coteau des Prairies—the elevated plateau that divides the Missouri River and Red River drainage systems across the northern Great Plains. The lake's 26 miles of length give it enough water to provide meaningful boating recreation in a region where large natural lakes are not abundant, and the fishing for walleye, northern pike, perch, and bass sustains the local angling community through the open-water season. Big Stone Lake State Park, about five miles north on the Minnesota side, provides the public boat launch, camping, and shoreline access infrastructure that makes the lake a destination for visitors from both states. Big Stone City is a small community of under 500 people at the lake's southern end, providing the basic commercial services that a summer lake destination requires without the development pressure that has transformed many comparable lake towns. Ortonville, Minnesota, four and a half miles east across the state line, provides a somewhat larger commercial center and the Brown County Museum, which interprets the history of the upper Minnesota River valley and the glacial geology that carved Big Stone Lake from the Quaternary ice sheet. Wine and craft beverage tasting options in the area provide an additional local draw for the summer evening after a day on the water. Camping 109 operates through the South Dakota lake season, typically from spring ice-out through fall, with fishing season demand concentrated in the spring walleye runs and the fall feeding activity that precede ice-up. The campground's small scale and family management give it the personal character that larger commercial properties lose, and the adjacent boat launch means that early morning fishing departures require nothing more complicated than backing a trailer down a ramp from a campsite. The North Dakota border is a short drive north, and the vastness of the northern Great Plains landscape surrounding the lake makes Big Stone one of those genuinely out-of-the-way destinations where the primary reward is the absence of the crowds that accumulate at more accessible recreation sites.

from $35/night