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.

Driving Directions

Directions below would require 293 miles of driving. The roads in Iowa were pretty nice and we were able to drive @ 65 MPH.

Hwy 21 is a horrible road. I recommend looking into taking right on Hwy 21 towards Sparta. Left onto County Hwy A (go by Sparta / Fort McCoy Airport). Right onto Hwy 16. Left onto I90. This will cut the miles down to 274.

1. Left onto Hwy 21 towards Tomah, WI
2. Right onto I94 East 2.8 miles
3. Exit 147 to I90 West
4. Exit 159A to I35 South Albert Lee / Des Moines @ 89.3 miles
5. Exit 142B onto US20 West towards Fort Dodge @22.7 miles
6. Left onto Union Ave / County Hwy P73 @ 2 miles
7. Left onto 270th St @1.2 miles
8. Left onto Beach Drive

Rest Stops

• 12 miles Kwik Trip just before entering I94 interstate
• 70 miles Exit 267 Kwik Tri
• 104 miles Exit 233 Loves
• 115 miles Rest Area I90
• 166 miles Rest Area I90
• 178 miles Exit 11 I35 Loves & Pilot
• 194 miles Exit 214 Rest Area
• 212 miles Truck only parking NO RESTROOMS
• 215 miles Exit 194 Pilot
• 248 miles Exit 159 Rest Area
• 264 miles Exit 144 Flying J

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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