Wilson Lake Park — Attraction in Iowa

This was my destination for the night when bicycle touring the area. Pulling into the campground on a Wednesday afternoon, the facility was almost empty. One man was setting up his RV for Memorial Day weekend (and would come back to camp later), and another couple was already set up.

I checked out the tent sites, which were terrible, quite honestly. Two were in a sunny meadow--hot!--and two were down in a little hollow off the way, with lots of hot, dead air and no view. I opted to take an electric site for an extra five dollars, which was a good site.

I was told by one camper that the campground had recently been upgraded with some cement slabs and a new shower, flush toilet facility because of camping funds derived from workers who had arranged to stay at the park when a fertilizer plant had been built nearby.

One camper was a scuba diver and had received permission to explore the lake to find the source of the cold, submerged spring sources. It was an interesting talk to hear about how cold the water was at the source.

The small lake is spring fed, so the water is cold enough that trout are stocked there. There is no swimming, but a road circles the lake for walking. I enjoyed my stay here near Donnellson. Phone receptivity was good, due to the proximity of the down, no doubt.

I would camp here again, even though the lake is not directly visible from the campground. I gave this spot three stars because the tent sites were so limited and because the campground was separate...

**Edit!! 6-28-25. We recently decided to give Wilson Lake campground another chance and it turned out to be a great experience! They have new hosts and they were great! It was very family friendly and we had a great time! We will definitely be going back!

Had a horrible experience, 8-12-2023. We had 4 couples with several kids, no music playing, just sitting in a circle talking before posted quiet time of 1030pm. A couple kids were riding bikes with training wheels and the campground host called Conservation on us without prior warning or any indication that anything was wrong. Conservation officer came in very rude and disrespectful creating a very uneasy situation. He made several snide remarks and asked if it was our first time here, which it was not, but it will definitely be our last. Situation could have been handled much better if the campground host would have spoke to us before calling Conservation. We were also told by the campground hosts when we pulled in that we should put money in an envelope and drop it in the box when we leave. During his visit, the conservation officer stated that if we would have just paid when we came in there wouldn’t have been any issues. Very conflicting...

Wilson Lake Park provided a nice afternoon for fishing. The lake had an abundance of large blue gill and sun fish. There were also several small to medium sized trout along the shores. There is a nice campground. Also, the park was well cared for and there was no tall grass around the lake. We fished from several spots along the shoreline and caught 5 fairly large sun fish and blue gill. We also caught one six inch trout. All were released back into the lake. The day provided a great opportunity to get outside and enjoy the nice scenery provided by the tree around the lake shore. Our furry friend enjoyed laying under a couple of trees along the shore as well. If you want to beat the heat and try your hand at fishing, I recommend Wilson Lake Park. It is easy to get to and has a lot of outdoor...