The
old train trestle is on the south side of the park.
It’s
part of the walking/biking path.
In our “glamping” post, we mentioned being gone 5 weeks.
You might say our daughter had an after-graduation bucket list of things she
wanted to do while we were visiting. (And we had time to kill before helping
her move anyway.)
If you would like to attend some festivals while on your
RV travels, Orange City, IA has a Tulip Festival the third weekend in May. Our
daughters were born in Orange City, then we moved to Texas when the girls were
in elementary school. The older daughter got to participate in the festival once,
but the younger one missed out. This year was the first time we were in the
area during the festival, so it was on her list of activities.
Find out more at this link.
One of Orange City’s municipal parks does have RV spaces,
but we didn’t want to stay there while the festival was underway. This is a
town of less than 10,000 people who entertain more than 100,000 in 3 days.
Instead, we left the Black Hills for Rock Rapids, IA. It’s approximately an
hour north of Orange City, and we have family who lives there.
Rock Rapids has two municipal camp grounds. If you come
into town from I-90 on Hwy 9/Hwy 75, you’ll pass one of them in the smaller
park on the west side of town. Since we didn’t want to be next to the highway
(Semi traffic), it was bypassed in favor of Rock Island Park, at the NE corner
of town. Continue east into town. Hwy 9 becomes 1st Ave. Rock Island
Park’s address is North Boone Street. Look for Sunshine Foods grocery store on
1st Ave. and the street just east of the parking lot. Turn left and
drive north 2 blocks. North Boone becomes Park Street inside the park. The
campsite registration envelopes are at this entrance. Get your envelope and
follow the gravel road to the campsites. (There is another entrance into the
park on 2nd Ave, but you wouldn’t want to take an RV on this rout.
This entrance is below a steep, cobblestone covered hill.) Here is the city’s
webpage concerning camping.
If asked how we would rate the different places we’ve
stayed so far, Rock Island Park would get an honorable mention. It’s a pretty
park sitting next to the Rock River. Some of the campsites are close to the
playground and a branch of the river that flows thru the middle of the park.
This is the entrance to the walking path bridge.
Once you've crossed the bridge, this is the view of the path above the river
Several
varieties of plants along the path were blooming, including the lilacs.
We
can’t grow them in Texas and were happy to be there while they were flowering.
This
section under water was closed.
Though
the water over the path wasn’t very deep, it was moving fast.
The
old railroad depot has some interesting architectural features.
This
caboose is part of the Lyon County Museum.
The following are things to do in and around the park. Starting
at the old train depot above the park, you will find the paved walking/bike
path. It utilizes the old train trestle that crosses the park and river. On the
other side, the path follows the river to the north side of the park. It was
Kristal’s favorite place to walk the dogs. (Leave the park from the 2nd
Ave. entrance. Go one block west to the post office and turn right on N. Storey
St. Turn right on the sidewalk at the south side of the depot. There is also a section of the path that crosses the river in the park,
just below the biggest dam, which takes you directly to the north side. The
river was flowing over it while we were there, so it was closed.) History buffs
may enjoy visiting the complex of buildings, including the old depot, which
make up the Lyon County Museum. The community swimming pool is open during the
summer months. There is also Smokin’ Hos Pig Time BBQ, located next to the
park’s 2nd Ave. entrance. We camped in the park for 1 ½ weeks, thru Memorial
Day Weekend, and the BBQ joint didn’t appear to be open yet. Since it’s an
outdoor operation, seems a safe guess to say they’re seasonal. The following
link is for their Facebook page.
Northwest Iowa, including Rock Rapids, was hit by major
flooding in 2014. The campsites in Rock Island Park were under water. As a
result, there are new electrical hook-ups, including 50 amp.
The city website mentions water and sewer. We saw water
hydrants near some of the campsites, which means you can fill your fresh water
holding tank. As for sewer hook-ups or a dump station, we recommend calling the
city before you plan to stay there. Since our trailer wasn’t fully functional,
yet, that was a service we weren’t using. We’re not certain it’s still
available after the post-flood restoration. To accommodate our BAV and 31’
trailer, the campsite next to the playground ended up being our best choice,
because it was long enough, and one of the sites closest to the bathrooms in
the park. (The pool complex sits on the hill above the park. Not as convenient
for a disabled veteran. There were still plenty of thunderstorms, too. Our hail
photo was taken in Rock Rapids. Best to be close to the potty when it’s
raining.) While the bathrooms aren’t fancy, they do have flush toilets. The
city employees check on them and tidy up almost every morning. For showers and
dish washing, we went to the relatives’ house. Karl enjoyed the time he spent
with his mom, but overall the park just wasn’t as convenient a place for us to
stay. When our trailer is finished and completely self-contained, we’ll
probably find it easier to camp there.
You should also be aware the park has plenty of activity.
Weather permitting, the playground is popular with the daycare near the pool,
and area families. The locals either like to take a slow cruise around the park
or do some fishing on the river. It can be a little quieter on a weekday, but
gets busier in the evenings and on weekends. The campsites filled up for
Memorial Day weekend. We’re not sure how busy they are during the summer, but 4th
of July and Labor Day are probably in-demand dates too. One other thing that
might affect your stay in Rock Rapids would be the speedway races held on
Friday nights. They can get loud, and how late they run depends on the
schedule. For those who might find the races interesting, the link follows.
An advantage municipal parks can offer is price. Rock
Rapids was charging $15.00 a night while we were there. Not bad for a campsite
with electricity. Sometimes RVers will boondock overnight in shopping center
parking lots while on the road. If you’re comfortable staying overnight in a
community, why not see if a municipal campground is available instead? Or perhaps
you need an inexpensive near-cation. While we enjoy state parks and army corps
campgrounds, visiting small towns can be an interesting change of pace,
especially if you time your visit with an event peculiar to the community.
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