Elk Rock State Park — Attraction in Knoxville

We use primitive sites exclusively due to the privacy and grass usually more available. The equestrian tent sites are nice, a few large enough to accommodate our rig. Nice trees. A lot of poisin ivy that needs attention, as it is very close to camping areas and cause trouble with young children and pets. The water at the primitive equestrian sites is awful and needs replaced. Filled containers at the regular equestrian camping sites to avoid using it. Quiet loop, though. Room door a 12x20 tent, boat, two vehicles, and large trailer for hauling gear, bikes, and kayaks. Parks for the kids a short bike ride aways, as well as restrooms and showers. Fishing and hiking trails a little further down the road, and close proximities to Knoxville and Pella, if you have events there. Usually never full, save for the week and weekend of the Knoxville Nationals. Lots of wildflowers, bats, insects, animals-outdoorsy kids will love it. A couple geocaches in the park, otherwise, the Red Rock area in general has many within driving distance/biking distance. Ranger is a...

Elk Rock State Park has three trail systems: red, orange, and yellow.

The Red Trail is at the west end of the park. It's marked with red plastic stakes in the ground.

The Orange Trail is in the middle of the park. It's marked with orange plastic stakes in the ground.

The Yellow Trail is at the east end of the park. It's marked with yellow plastic stakes in the ground.

To piece this together took three different trail maps and a trip to the park. The map on the IDNR website uses blue to mark the middle trail. Another trail map is a sign near the road entering the equestrian area. This map is missing colors for the some of the trails. The third map is a sign near the trailhead of the Orange and Red Trails. This map has the correct colors for the trails but the legend and some other parts of the map...

We stayed April 15-29. It was the first 2 weeks of the camping season. We enjoyed the trails in the park. There is an equestrian campground and nonequestrian. Each with a bathroom and shower house. For the first 12 days of our stay the bathrooms were not cleaned. The camp host arrived the same day we did and the bathrooms had been closed all winter. There were LOTS of dead bugs and dried up worms in the bathrooms and showers. Moldy walls in the showers. I recognize no one had been there to clean prior to our arrival but they stayed that way for most of our stay. My husband swept the worms and bugs out of one of the showers himself. 2 days before we left, the camp host did spend some time cleaning the bathrooms. Most of the bugs were swept out but the showers need attention. We probably...