Wildcat Den State Park — Attraction in Muscatine

The Park itself is fantastic! The trails, historical sites, and upkeep, maintenance are top-notch. The Campground was EXTREMELY disappointing. Nice that water was readily available, but about a 12-person Party showed up next to me right before dark, and they did NOT abide by the 10pm " Quiet" time rules. They were loud and obnoxious until 2am. I'm an early riser bikepacker and only got a few hours of sleep. I left early the next morning even though my reservation was for 1 more night. Hey, I remember being young and partying, all good, but follow the Campground rules. Party as loud as you want until 10, even 11, I would have been ok with. I will return sometime during the week, possibly in the off-season, because, as mentioned, the Park itself is amazing. No way was I going to put up with that group a 2nd night, and ride 30 miles home on a bicycle, in the heat, on 2, 3, hours sleep. Not concerned with the money spent for the 2nd night and not being there, I consider it a donation to an otherwise wonderful Park. I wish it provided separate, very primitive campsites for serious...

We bamboozled the crowds by going on a day that was forecasted to rain but we knew it wasn't. This place is so cool. We took the pine creek trail into the loop, went along the cliffs to the fat man squeeze (you'll know it when you see it) we went up through it, along the picnic area trail to the park boundary trail. This is the easiest trail of all of them. 1.8 miles of deciduous, prairie and pine groves. There are extra trails so make sure you have a trail map so you know which ones to take. You go behind a church, through the campground, and down into the devils punchbowl. It was 88 degrees out and in the punch bowl it was probably 70. Coming down into it, it looks like a hikers playground and it truly is. After we were done exploring, we got on the pine creek trail back to the car. Would totally go back if I'm in the Davenport area again. Anyone should take the great river road into or going out from the park no matter what though. Its a beautiful highway even just the stretch between Muscatine...

One of the best parks I have ever been to. It was a perfect and quick stop on our 8 hour road trip. We stopped here on our return leg and had limited time to spend because we needed to get home. I’m glad the other reviews said it was a smaller park so that heavily influenced our choice and it wasn’t too far off I-80. We drove around it before stopping at a parking area that had two trailhead sign, one of which was to the Punch Bowl. It was highly recommended by other reviewers so we hopped on that one. The scenery was breathtaking and the trails were easy to follow. Going down was little effort however there were some stairs so coming up required a moderate amount of effort that was perfect for stretching our legs. I am normally a mosquito buffet but didn’t get but once but we did stay in motion most of the time. It was such a lucky stop and totally exceeded expectations. We are already planning a camping trip back so we can explore more than...