Find County Parks




Great Camping at Low Cost

Go right to the latest map showing
County Parks with camping

About County Parks

This site provides a means of finding campgrounds in county parks in the US. Many campers and RVers agree that county parks are the best kept secrets in camping or RVing! They often offer camping in neat settings and usually at bargain prices, especially when compared to RV resorts. But until now, these county parks have been hard to find. The goal of this site is to help campers find these gems of the outdoors so they can be enjoyed by more RVers and campers.

The Problem With County Parks

All states have subdivisions called counties (or parishes). And most counties in our beautiful country have parks for the recreation, including camping, of their residents and visitors. Unfortunately, the mere existance of these parks seems to be one of the governments' best kept secrets. The reasons for this are understandable:

• The primary purpose of these parks, at least originally, was for the enjoyment of the county's residents—the local people.
• The governing entity, the county, is an administrative body which is often totally invisible and unknown except to local residents.

The county is far less recognizable by the general public than are cities or states. As a result, county parks are not easy to locate. An RVer from Indiana, for example, who is travelling West is highly unlikely to know the counties in Iowa through which he will travel.

Because counties themselves enjoy such a low profile, their parks are all but impossible to locate unless one is willing to devote a considerable amount of time searching for them or has inside knowledge of the parks.

The Solution

Everyone knows which state he will be in, and usually knows or can easily determine the highway on which he will travel. From this, he can usually determine the area in which he would like to camp. For example, he might determine that a location along Federal Highway 12 in Western Minnesota would be a conveninet place to spend a night. A locating system which would show the county parks with camping in this area would be very useful.

The Vision For This Site

The "fondest dream" for this site is that it will allow a visitor to locate a county park with camping facillities in a specific area of interest simply by looking at a map and clicking

It will also include links to county sites which may provide additional details on their parks.

Ads of interest to RVers or campers are also be included.

Current Status Of This Site

Currently (May, 2010) the map is far from complete; it may never be! However, to begin providing service to fellow RVers, parks of which the webmaster has personal knowledge or has found by browsning, recommendations from other RVers, etc. will be added. Also, links to sites which will lead to county park information will be added as they are discovered. (This info isn't as easy to find as one might think, therefore this site, when completed, will be very useful to the RVer and camper.)

Useful Links

• Camp Iowa
  
  One of the best organized sites I've seen for finding campgrounds! Unfortunately, the site seems to cover only Iowa public (State, County, City) campgrounds, plus a few private campgronds. Not all public campgounds may be listed—although all were listed in my small sample.
  
  If you're looking for a county park in Iowa at which to camp, this site deserves a look!




• City and County Campgrounds, by State, from Roadnotes
  
  Here's another site which will help you find county parks. It appears to rely on campers such as you and I to report parks for listing and we haven't done a complete job. There are many, many, county parks not listed. But it just might have one or more which you can enjoy; take a look.
  
  It also lists some city parks, plus state parks. Better yet, the site design makes it easy to find what you're looking for!
  
  This site offers much more than simply a listing of county parks. Take a look at it; I'd be willing to bet that you'll find something of interest on this attractive, comprehensive, and useful site.




• Spring Lake Park
  
  The picture at the top of this page was taken at Spring Lake Park, near Jefferson, Iowa(US-30). This link will tell you a bit about Greene County, Jefferson, and the park.
  
  Jefferson is home to the Greene County Historical Museum, a fine museum indeed. If you're traveling through and are interested in the history of this area, be sure to visit the museum in downtown Jefferson. (You might have to chase down somone to open it for you, but tell them you're an RVer and I'll bet they'll be thrilled to show you the history of the area!)




• mycountyparks.com
  
  This site might be very useful if you are looking for a county park in Iowa. The map shows over 400 locations!
  
  But it does have its shortcomings for readers looking for a place to camp. First, it shows offices and natural areas which are not places at which you can camp. Second, it does not show all the county parks! For example, Lidktke Mill Park, one mile north of Lime Springs (just off US63 in extreme northern Iowa) has camping but is not shown.
  
  This site is cerainly a step in the right direction. Give it a try!

This site was created to help fellow RVers find and enjoy county parks.
It has no official status or connection to any government entity whatsoever.

Last updated: May 25, 2010 22:22
Contact Webmaster: Keith Williams, Webmaster