Black Hawk Park Campground

Two distinct camping areas at this park, which sit side-by-side. I stayed in the Fogdall Campground, which offers gravel pads, some full hook-up sites with the balance of the sites in this loop offering water and electric. The Cedar Campground offers grass/dirt sites, some with electric and others with no amenities. This makes for a great choice depending upon which type of camping suits you. Since I was staying 12 days, the choice for a full hook-up site was an easy one to make.
Though one has to drive through Cedar Falls if coming here from the south, the ride to the campground is an easy one. Once here, access roads into and around both campgrounds can handle any sized rig. Sites are mostly level (even those in Cedar) and the water and electric worked as one would expect. Both campgrounds filled up to near capacity on Labor Day weekend, but the camps were relatively quiet, especially at night. Sites here are plenty big, though some can be quite close together. Since all sites are first come, first served (which I just LOVE) one can easily wander around until finding a site which suits. I did notice that some folks will drop off their camper in a site mid-week so they will have it for Friday and Saturday. There is a dump station and centrally located bath house, which was reasonably clean. The Cedar campground has water spigots spread out around the area for tank filling.
Great trails here, whether walking or biking. The Cedar Falls/Waterloo area certainly has all anyone could want in the way of shopping or eating. It is also a super-easy area to get around with many multi-lane roads and freeways with little traffic.
All in all, a great campground in a great location. I could easily see myself setting up shop in a well-shaded primitive site here if I was staying for less than a week.

We stayed on one of the hottest days of the year, but the multitude of trees created enough shade to make it manageable! Lots of available partial campsites during the peak of the year. On site showers and bathrooms located in the middle of the campground, which were in a building on stilts with a ramp to access. Probably due to the proximity to the Cedar River and the heightened potential for flooding. Pets were allowed as long as on leashes and attended. There is a dump station in the campsite near where you check in, so there is the potential for some congestion with people arriving and people leaving. We had a big storm that night and heard tell that the park floods easily, so we were half expecting a county worker to come knock on our camper in the middle of the night telling us to vacate. Which didn't happen, but we heard does happen often with it being so close to the Cedar River. Other than that it was a very pleasant stay. It was $18 a night for just and electric site, which we also found reasonable!

With as many sites as this Campground has, I’m surprised we’re the first ones to leave a review. The place is beautiful with plenty of tall, gorgeous shade trees. Lots of great sites, well-spaced, some shady some sunny, some with gravel pads, others just park on the grass. Quick access from the freeway. We arrived on Sunday afternoon and there were very few other campers in the park. The men’s bathroom was in good shape and had 5 shower stalls. The women’s bathroom needed considerable work. The shower area was barricaded off and a sign posted to use the showers at the rangers station. The rest of the bathroom was unlit necessitating a personal lantern even in daylight hours. Whole bathroom could use a good remodel. The showers at the rangers station were a bit of a hoof to get to and once there were not impressive. They looked old, grody, and just unappealing. I’d have to be pretty desperate for a shower to use them. I declined. Bugs... there were a few, but considering the proximity of the pretty, but seemingly stagnant pond/creek, I was pleasantly surprised we weren’t inundated with mosquitoes. Didn’t actually see any in fact. Our weather in mid August was hot and humid. We felt pretty sticky, but being from California, we are wimps when it comes to humidity. Still, we would have stayed longer had it not been for a severe storm expected to roll through. We bugged out. Hookups... sites are labeled E or F for just electricity or for full hookups. So you have options. Our $18 site was an E only. F sites cost a little more. Internet... the cell service was adequate enough for me to set up a personal hotspot and get some work done on the computer.