The drive was a fairly pleasant except for the horrible bumpety bump bump from driving on Hwy 21 leaving the Pine View towards Tomah. All other roads were in fairly good condition, and we were able to drive 65 most of the time. The only area with a few minor hills was in Minnesota along the Mississippi River. Otherwise, it’s flat with plenty of corn and soybean fields.

Brushy Creek State Park Iowa has 3 campgrounds. 2 considered equestrian and 1 regular camping. The non equestrian campground (regular campground) has 1 row of full hookup pull through sites that can easily fit big rigs. We had the smallest of the pull through sites. Our trailer is about 38 feet plus with car and truck fit with no issues.

Park Pros

• Lots of hiking and biking trails. Including a 12-mile multi-use (including bikes) trail around the lake. You will need to walk your bike in a few areas. You might need to slalom through horse dung too.
• Close to Dolliver State Park that has rugged (more interesting) hiking trails vs. flat. The Dolliver Campground is small and would be very hard to maneuver around. I do not recommend camping at Dolliver State Park.
• Wildlife on the trails (fewer in the campground area)
• Beautiful sunsets
• Fort Dodge is within 15 minutes which has all the necessities for day-to-day needs.
• Reasonably prices at $35 / day for full hookups
• No fees for extra cars
• Bathrooms are clean and functional.

Park Cons

• Bathrooms and water spigots are turned off mid-October
• No laundry facility
• Bathrooms have push button showers that don’t stay on long.
• Earliest booking is 120 days in advance
• Pit Toilets where the breeze could cause unpleasant smell
• Midge bites are painful, and October seemed to have fair number of midges
• Asian Lady bugs once harvest starts
• Horse owners are not required to remove horse dung from the trails.

Internet / Cellular service

• Starlink service – Great at site 47 -99 mbps download, 7.1 upload and 43 ms latency
• US Cellular – Great – 11.4 mbps download, 4.57 mbps upload and 38 ms latency
• T-Mobile / Mint Mobile – Terrible – service digital text did not go through. Service is better in the center of Fort Dodge but not great.

Site 47

Beware of the pit toilet and wind direction. We smelled the Pit Toilet a few times when the wind was blowing in our directions. Otherwise, we did not smell the toilet. Though, I am wondering if the toilets are harboring the extremely hungry midges that keep on biting us. Though John got the worst of it with >30 bites that caused extreme itchiness.

Site 47 details