Lake Macbride State Park — Attraction in Big Grove Township

We camped at the primitive (south) campground this weekend. There are beautiful trails, a bazillion places to fish, boat, hike, picnic, and nature-watch. The bathrooms at our campsite were decent (although no showers). There is free firewood for registered campers (we had no idea, and had already gone out to purchase some in Solon, until we were driving around to find a better site for next time and saw a tiny sign on a wooden structure kind of tucked away at the northern part of the primitive campground). There was nobody at the campground, that we found, to answer any questions or check in and we discovered that the boat rental place was actually closed for the season (check their Facebook page instead of Google, cause we had erroneously planned on some boat activities and realized we were ill informed).

We had chosen a site next to the lake, but had a constant stream of people walking in and around our site to go to the lake, bathroom, trails, and playground. Day and night we had no "bubble" of space. They would walk within a foot or two of all our stuff and often were speaking very loudly and (when dark) flashing lights at our tent. We also had to listen to loud music all day and until around 11PM, dogs barking non-stop, kids yelling from the lake/park back to their site, kids gatekeeping the bathroom, etc. While all this is "normal" and camping is a mixed bag... it really was amplified by the way the campground is laid out and the site we chose. Highly recommend tucking yourself in the northern area of the primitive campground vs the southern area. The sound is buffered better with trees, there's less traipsing through your site, and a bit more privacy (although not by much).

Overall a beautiful area with lots to do (more in the obsession, but still plenty without the boating or camp office) and a mixed bag of possible human obstacles that can help you master...

Great Camping, Fishing, & Rec

This is my family's favorite place top camp in Iowa. the campground (primitive) is clean, big, and close to fun stuff, the fishing is pretty good, and the recreation options here are unbeatable

CAMPING - we tent camped in the primitive campground. the best lots here are 57 and 56 IMO. they are right next to the lake, the closest to the water-flush bathrooms & playground, the flattest, and both have shade trees. the other sites on the primitive campground lot go up the hill away from the lake, the further you go up, the more shade you'll get. the campground was really busy when we arrived on Sunday and thinned out into the week.

FISHING - my kids had a good time catching bluegill, crapie, and even walleye. We fished from the shore. we caught 10 walleye over 2 days, but they were all in the 8-12 inch range. we put them back into the water for you, good time with largemouth as well. My family does not catfish, but we saw some really nice channel cats get pulled out (24") while we were hunting walleyes

RECREATION - the rec options here are unbeatable. the waterfall/spillway is the highlight. It is situated between two cool bluffs, you can safely walk around in the rushing water and climb up and down the fall (be sure to bring water shoes/sandals) some of the pools in the falls were 2.5' deep and fun for my kids to splash around in. My boys (8 & 6) played there for 3 hours and had a blast. There is cliff jumping on the opposite side of the bluff (towards the macbride side of the dam) from the waterfall, we saw people going off a 15' ledge, it looked like a blast. The beach here is sandy and clean. the swimming area is basically sea-weed free and sandy bottom (not mucky). there is alot of watercraft to chose from at the rental concession which is right next to the beach.

this is a fantastic spot to...

We stayed 2 nights at Lake Macbride State Park in a camper van on April 15-16, 2024, the first day it opened with the water turned on. There were lots of empty sites as expected and we did not make a reservation for the off-season. The modern campground in the north is a little difficult to find if you are traveling from the south as one has to go around the lake. There was a nice brick bath house with clean flush toilets and strong showers. Many sites were flat & shaded and not too close to each other. There is a scenic walk trail around the lake to the dam in one direction and to the beach in the opposite way. Lots of benches, which made it very nice to sit for a while to watch the wildlife. Good fishing from shore or with a boat. The camp host was helpful and very nice.

The only negative was the state was not fully prepared to be open for business. The web site showed a discounted rate for off-peak season. But when you arrive, there was a sign posted giving only the peak season rate. This caused campers confusion over the rate to pay with the self pay envelope. In talking to other campers, people were paying all different rates given the confusion over the web site versus the peak season rate posted. It should be a simple matter to post rates for different seasons and not expect visitors to figure it out for themselves. This problem needs to be fixed immediately.

Easy access to the Amana Colonies to the west. We would rate this...