David Bates Memorial Park

We got here on a Monday afternoon and there was only one tent camper. There are no defined sites but there's plenty of space, even for big rigs.
The place is well maintained. That same day a crew came here to mow the grass and check on the young trees. The portable bathroom has maintenance every week but they only flush it and refill it so don't spect too much.
We had good Verizon signal (Visible) and 0 to 1 bar with At&t (Red Pocket) but had plenty of space to set up the Starlink Antenna.
There's not much to do around but the place is nice and quiet. It seems to be mostly used by local fishermen during the day. We only had 3 other parties camping here during the week.

The Mexicampers would stay here again!

Spent 5 nights here the people that had the upper spot left the next day so I stole there spot so I would have more shade but that had left quite the mess to clean up trash and dog mess. I had plans to stay the hole 7 days aloud but 3 more campers showed up and just let there dogs run and where coming up to my camp and my dog don’t like other dogs especially just running around his camp when he is tied up so we left for a Wal-Mart in Fort Dodge. Other then the trash and the free range dogs it is a nice spot and if I’m ever back that way I would stay again

Lush beautiful grass; well trimmed, mature trees scattered around (but not too much for those like me with solar!) Iowa has some of the most beautiful parks open to the public and this is a perfect example!

It doesn't seem to be a highly trafficked area but I did hear a story or two about locals who come and trash the place on weekends. We were there on a Saturday night and there were some people having a big campfire, although nothing was left the next morning. So maybe everyone got responsible? I don't know, but what I DO know is this is one of the most beautiful FREE spots in the Midwest!! Worth checking out

Oh also, be sure to stop into Gingersnap's general store while in Union!

We only stayed an afternoon to make lunch at the fire pit. i recommend you bring some firewood. There are only three fire rings I could see, so about three sites. Open grass. There is a trail along the creek and into the woods but I didn’t get a chance to walk it. The road to get inside the park is long. There is a David Bates Memorial Park sign before going in. The road goes up a short way to the top of a hill. About half way is a porter John.

If you ever find yourself in Central Iowa needing a nice free county park - give this one a consideration!

The narrow gravel road gets pretty narrow, and it's a fairly tight turn to get in, but should be doable in almost anything (my 43' 5th wheel cleared pretty easily).

Don't have high expectations of site pads, toilets, or anything else, and you'll be fine! There are a few level places to park, a few picnic tables, a couple fire pits, a porta-potty and river access (to the smallest of boats / canoes). There is a well head there, so if you don't mind the taste of well water, you'll have water available!

There's a Verizon tower near, so I had 4 bars, and pretty fast speeds.

The town of Union is 5 miles away, and has diesel, gas, and a small convenience store. Another 10-15 minutes away is Eldora, which has grocery stores, restaurants, etc.

It's a fairly popular spot for people to drop in for canoeing, fishing, etc, so it does get busy on the weekends...and this is rural Iowa, so it will probably get a bit noisy on the weekends with parties, etc.