lake macbride state park

Free beach, quiet, serene lake, fishing, sailing, kayaking, pontoon rentals and picnic areas. Love the lake trails, especially the one across the dam, with Coralville Lake on one side, Macbride on the other. Campground, seasonal rentals and snacks at concession stand.

We brought our 14ft boat with us while we were camping it has a 15hp. motor on it this was somtime in early june. Guess what you can only have a ten hp. on your boat on a no wake lake. Thats goes from sometime in May until the end of Sept. Then you can have any size motor on the lake from the end of Sept. until May. What a silly law you tell me what the difference between a 10hp. at no wake and a 15hp or a 20hp on up is.

We just spent two nights here. We were going to the nearby Herbert Hoover Historical Site so we didn't use many of the facilities. We arrived on a Monday and the RV sites were all but empty. Most have a red R on them stating they are reservable. There are a good number of sites. There is a sign going into the modern camping area about tight turns and they are so if you have a big rig check it out before hand.There are electric only hookups but there was water available several places in the loop we were on. Most of the sites in our loop were level but I noticed other loops had some poorly graded sites. The sites pull ins are dirt/gravel. There are trees but the only vegetation between sites is grass. Most of the sites are close together. They have nice picnic tables at each site and fire rings with a grill.Facilities: There is a bathhouse with free showers. I use the term shower loosely here. They are the hold the button in kind. The water pressure was so low it was pretty much a dribble and to say they were luke warm is being generous. The shower curtain had a layer of mildew growing on the lower portion. The sinks had motion activated faucets which made trying to shave difficult. There are trails and picnic areas. There is a boat ramp and canoe rentals. With so few campers we had nice quiet evenings.

My husband and I have camped throughout MN, WI, MI, KY and we both agreed that this was one of the worst campgrounds we've ever stayed at. It was our first time camping in Iowa State Parks and we won't be returning any time soon. Here is our list of pros and cons:Pros: Mature trees and sceneryGood firepits with gratesSpacious sites (in the modern campground)Cons:Lack of directions/signs in the park.Poor facilities.Dirty. Yes it's a campground but it doesn't look like the bathrooms/showers get cleaned that often.Most sites are not level despite what the website claims. The concrete driving pads are somewhat level which leads to the big issue - this campground IS NOT tent friendly. The modern campground is built for RVs and has the only shower/bathroom facility in the park. There is a 'primitive' tent only area but it's not within walking distance of the showers/bathrooms and every site in the tent only area is on a slope. We booked an end site in the modern campground because we like to leave our car parked and walk places in the park. We arrived late and when we were setting up our tent in the dark, someone from a neighboring site suddenly appeared and started talking to us stating that the site was meant for a 5th wheel camper only. We booked our site online prior to arrival and it doesn't state anywhere that the sites in the modern campground are RV only sites. We've been here almost 24 hours now and no one has shown up to boot us out.Speaking of park staff - to our knowledge there are none. Someone put our registration card on the campsite marker but there is no ranger check-in station or registration area. We've seen random cars full of smoking teenagers cruising the small campground, occasionally parking and then driving off. People have not been friendly, and with no park staff actively keeping an eye on things we questioned leaving anything unlocked or left alone in our site.In short, if you're looking for a relaxing camping experience utilizing a tent - look for another campground. Run don't walk. If you're in an RV - still not impressed with the facilities and the campground is full of awkward turnarounds. I would seriously consider a different campground if you have small children. No play area near the campground and no one obeys the speed limits. Good luck.

At the end of an old state highway that heads out of Solon, you'll find this little gem of a state park. Access to a lake for fishing, plenty of hiking trails, playgrounds, shelters and group use areas, swimming area, bike trails, this place has it all. You can actually hike or bike to the park from Solon on the trail that starts at the Solon Rec Area.

Lake seems nice. Campground was ok. Bathrooms were gross. If you rent a boat you can not swim off of it. Also if you take a pet they are not allowed in the beach area or on the rental pontoons. We will not return.

* If you are primitive camping, do not follow the GPS! There is no signage in town telling you that you have to go down 5th Street in Solon, IA to find the place. I went to the other site and wound my way through the camp for 30 minutes. I went to the camper host, but no one was there on the July 4 weekend at 5 p.m. (Come on folks this is the one of the busiest weekends!) I drove back out to the main gate to look at the map, and that too needs updating as the paint was faded and there was no information telling campers where to go for the primitive site. I hunted down a park ranger and was informed that I would have to go back the way that I came and go back into town. This was very frustrating, especially after traveling over 4 hours to get here.* The bathrooms need to be check-on more frequently.* I stayed close to the lake (#57). I would suggest in the future going to #56 because #57 is a bee-line for all the campers to head down to the water, and they trample through your site (bad camp etiquette). #56 is close to the water but removed far enough for the foot traffic. It is also around the corner from the washroom.

we set up camp it was quite when we arrived ,later that day we found out we picked a spot in the middle of a group of young men and women they were very loud all day and night, the women in that group were very catty yelling and screaming, fighting each other , they had beer, and hard alcohol , you could here the young men fighting over who took there drugs , the language was extremely vulgar, when other campers with there young children tried to quite this group the were met by these young men threating then bodily injury, the park warden showed up 6 times that i know of, yet allowed them to remain, she told this group to get rid of the hard alcohol, so they put it in the there tents,duh,why not search and rid the camp sight of the heavy alcohol and drugs and these young kids, thanks warden for a miserable camping experience

Macbride lake is great for kayaking, stand up paddle, fishing and swimming. The primitive campground is mass chaos, and DNR just let's it happen. Dogs run free off leash, radios blast all over, campers have no respect for others sites, upper toilet smelled so bad you could not use it however the lower one was nice. The lake is large but you have to take a boat or a car to get to the beach to swim, nothing on site available.

Reserved site 38 in the woods after my normal thourough review of campgrounds and satellite pix. I had to work 4 days in Cedar Rapids.Arrived. Got out. Swarmed with insects around my face. Tried again five minutes later. LEFT.I camp a lot. Never have this kind of problem. May just be Iowa camping....since it is very close to MN. (ouch..not fair?)

The woman we dealt with here on August 24, 2013 was extremely rude and lacks customer service skills. We tried calling her to tell her we were running late because we couldn't find the place (first time here), but the phone had to have been off the hook because it was busy every time we tried to call. When we got there she was extremely rude, initially, because she thought we were returning a boat and we told her we were there to take one out. I guess this was an inconvenience to her. We told her we had a reservation which went in one ear and out the other. She started to set us up with one of her deluxe pontoons (the deluxe wasn't available when we called in our reservation), when we told her again we had a reservation for a different pontoon (on our credit card). We were supposed to be there at 5:30, but got there at 6:30 because we couldn't find the place. She started getting rude with us again. It was about 6:30 and she wanted the boat back in by 7:30. It was sort of okay that we were going to take the deluxe out for one hour, but when it finally sank in that we had a reservation for the other one she made it a big deal that we were an hour late and only taking the boat out for an hour. She kept going on about how we blew her off. Blowing a person off would mean they never called or showed up. She said, "Just so you know in the future, I will charge your card even if you don't show up. I have to turn other people away to hold this boat for you." She made no sense because we still tried to call and we were still there to pay two hours for one hour of using the boat. This is not the definition of blowing you off or losing any business because of us (you still get your 2 hours worth of money). So basically she was mad because we were taking a boat out and not bringing one in then she was mad because we "blew her off". We called her out on her rude attitude and she told us she was "just being nice" by even letting us take the boat out now anyway and cancelled our reservation. She lost this boat rental place two hours plus all of our future business for as long as she is an employee.

We have been going there since I was young, we like to rent a boat and fish, or rent a paddle boat. We like to swim at the beach on the east side, we like to camp on the west side. We like to walk the trails and we like to fish there a lot. It's a fun afternoon with the kids.

A quiet lake with a horsepower limit that keeps the big boats from swamping you or running into you. Birds, fish, swimming beach and more. You can't go wrong.

We went to Lake MacBride for a day picnic along-with entire family consisting of three generations. While my husband and I loved the thick green forest and crystal blue lake, our children settled down with lighting the grill and preparing some delicious stuff, the grandchildren enjoyed running around the open spaces and going up and down the slide. Had a wonderful afternoon.Because of small children with us, we did not go for boating which is one great option there.

We rented a pontoon for 4 hours... When we got there the list of 'what not to do' was pretty rudely read to us. No swimming of the boat was one of the big ones. All day we reined in 6 kids that wanted to swim. While on our return runt o return the boat, the kids hung their feet off the front and splashed themselves and thereby soaking the front deck. We were no sooner docked and the completely rude person running the shack yells at us that our kids were swimming against rules and she was charging us an extra $25 dollars to clean up the water. The high school guys working the dock spent approximately 4 minutes with the shop vac and it was done. I don't mind paying a bit extra but the completely rude and unprofessional manner was inexcusable. The Lake is great and the beach is great. I would recommend against renting the pontoon. Can't swim off it and can't fish off it. And don't get this boat wet or they will charge you.