Overview The West Overlook Campground is located within the Dam Complex at the Coralville Lake Project. The Coralville Lake Project is a multiple use project providing primary benefits in flood control and low flow augmentation, and secondary benefits in recreation, fish and wildlife management and forest management. Coralville Lake provides many recreational opportunities, including boating, camping, hiking, mountain biking, lake and river fishing, swimming, water skiing, picnicking and hunting.Recreation Visitors enjoy Coralville Lake for camping, boating, fishing, swimming and water activities. Anglers will find large and smallmouth bass, crappie, walleye and catfish. Several trails are within the Dam Complex, including Squire Point, Woodpecker Trail, Tailwater Riverwalk and barrier-free Veterans Trail.The Devonian Fossil Gorge is just below the dam, offering a unique opportunity to explore a 375-million-year old sea floor and discover fossil remains of sea life that once inhabited this tropical marine environment. Twenty discovery points can be found throughout the site along with a cell phone audio tour. The Turkey Creek Disc Golf Course is located in the Dam Complex and offers nine partially wooden and open holes.Facilities The West Overlook Campground is located on the west side of the Coralville Lake Dam. The campground offers 89 standard electric campsites. Amenities include modern restroom and shower facilities, boat ramp, playgrounds, and horseshoes. The West Overlook Day Use Area offers a beach, picnic sites, picnic shelter, volleyball court, and playground. The dump station and drinking water is located just outside of the West Overlook Campground.Natural Features Coralville Lake is located in the Iowa River Valley, just north of Iowa City. The West Overlook Campground lies among a heavily wooded forest of mixed hardwood species on the west side of the dam. Wildlife is abundant throughout the project. Whitetail deer, turkeys, pheasants, waterfowl, song birds and other species roam the lands around the lake. Nearby Attractions Iowa City/Coralville offers the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Iowa campus, hospital and clinics, numerous restaurants and shops as well as Coral Ridge Mall. Cedar Rapids has wonderful cultural, historic and ethnic attractions such as The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library and is the home of the Kernels Professional Baseball Club. West Branch boasts the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and Presidential Library/Museum. At Amana Colonies visit seven quaint villages with outstanding restaurants, wineries, historic sites and specialty shops. Kalona is known as the "Quilt Capital of Iowa" and is home to an Old Order Amish and Mennonite Community.
Reviews of West Overlook Campground
20 people have reviewed this location
Ratings Summary
Cell Coverage
Verizon 4G
Confirmed by 13 users | Last reported on June 23, 2023AT&T 4G
Confirmed by 6 users | Last reported on August 01, 2022T-Mobile 4G
Confirmed by 2 users | Last reported on October 13, 2021Reviews
Has several loops. Gravel and paved pads. Good showers. Boat ramp. All network channels picked up. We would pick one of the other campgrounds on the lake as this was was very family orientated. Kids everywhere. Lots of traffic.
Nightly Rate: $10.00
Days Stayed: 3
Site Number: W33
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
With close proximity to I80. The campsites were clean and well-maintained as well as nice showers and bathrooms.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 28
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
This USACE Campground is just a few miles north of Iowa City and offers convenient access to Interstate 80 as well as the University of Iowa campus.
We were in town for the University of Iowa vs Penn State University football game and used the West Overlook campsite as our base camp for the weekend's activities.
We stayed in West Overlook site W-38 which is in a small loop of 5 or 6 campsites and receives very good shade from well established oak and pine trees.
Our pad was gravel and offered a 30 amp electrical hookup and ample space for our 24 foot B+ RV. The pad leveled out the farther you backed into it, but had a noticeable incline to it near the road, so I think it would be pretty tough to level out a coach with a longer wheelbase.
If you want to use a satellite dish for television or internet, this loop is not for you, however as we walked through the other loops we noted that the tree coverage was much less dense and that many people had satellite dishes set up.
We had 3 "bars" of OTA television signal strength showing on our antenna control panel, however we did not watch any television so cannot comment on the number or variety of OTA television channels available.
The bathroom, shower and dump station facilities provided by the facility were all clean and operational.
We did note that the only spigot for potable water was located just outside the campground at the dump station, so if you were tent camping and needed to fill water jugs / buckets you would probably need to drive over to the spigot as it would be quite a haul from most all of the campsites.
We had 2 bars of LTE cell service for both ATT and Verizon at our campsite.
We stayed on a Friday & Saturday night over a big football weekend in late September and the entire campground looked pretty full to us, however we noticed that the "CAMPGROUND FULL" sign was folded down and not displayed, so there may have been an unoccupied site or two somewhere that we did not see.
The campground host did tell us that there is rarely a weekend where they don't fill to capacity, so if you want to be sure of having a spot when you show up it would be best to make a reservation on www.recreation.gov up to six months prior to your arrival date.
Nightly Rate: $10.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: W38
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
AT&T 4G
Close to the worst camping experience we have ever had ! Way overpriced and your packed in like sardines. It's basically a place for all the weekend warriors to go to show off their $80,000 campers that they will owe on well past their retirement.
The entertainment was good though, watching them try to back these monstrous campers in for sometimes 20 mins Lol. Facilities looked like they could be nice, but because this place is basically a small city on busy weekends, there were pretty messy. My guess is understaffed and over paid.
Not one second of peace and quiet, hooping and hollering going on till the wee hours. I could go on and on, but bottom line is it was a nightmare and we will never return or recommend it to anyone !
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 15
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
We are on a 2 week road trip and stopped here overnight. I was easy to get to from 80, clean and had a lake. We enjoyed a sunset paddle 😀
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 37
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
We stayed in the Tailwater West section of this campground. (There are at least 4 sections, West Overlook, Tailwater West, Tailwater East and Cottonwood.)
Tailwater West has about 20 sites and seems tailored for big rigs. There are two pull thru sites and the rest are large back-in sites. There is no office at Tailwater West. After arriving, you need to drive over to West Overlook to check in. The dam is right "above" our site and we could hear water rushing by all night.
We stayed here one night in our way west. The campground is about 10 minutes north of I-80.
A clean, safe, friendly Corps of Engineers campground. And a great value at $13 using the Senior Pass. We camped at West Overlook COE in a Fifth Wheel
Nightly Rate: $13.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: T16
Cell Coverage Rating
AT&T 4G
We used this as an overnight stop while traveling cross country on I-80. This is a great spot only about 15 minutes off the highway and super quiet.
Nightly Rate: $10.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 50
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
We just stopped overnight. This well run campground is COE and is on the Coralville Reservoir. The area slopes from high ground to the lake. We had a site away from the lake as we were only here for one night.
Sites have asphalt pads. Our site had electricity only. The toilets were clean and functional.
The usage is very high on weekends as it is very close to Iowa City.
Nightly Rate: $10.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 11?
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
Campsite was great. Electric hook ups only. Water and dump site right outside park gate. Beach within walking distance. Quiet and great for families. Playgrounds all around.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 2
Site Number: 75
Cell Coverage Rating
T-Mobile 4G
Would definitely come back. The fall color is beautiful.
Nightly Rate: $20.00
Days Stayed: 1
Site Number: 52
Cell Coverage Rating
Verizon 4G
Be the first to add a review to the West Overlook Campground.
West Overlook Campground
Hours
Problem with this listing? Let us know.
Has RV parking changed? Let us know.
-
Parking
-
Pets Allowed
-
Restrooms
-
Wifi
-
Wheelchair Accessible
-
Credit Cards Accepted
- Check In
- 4:00 PM
- Check Out
- 3:00 PM
- Max Length
- 66
- Sites Count
- 89
- Last Nightly Rate
- 20.0
- Lowest Nightly Rate
- 10.0
- Longest Vehicle Length Reported
- 40.0
-
Sites
-
Laundry
-
Propane
-
Showers
-
Big Rigs
-
Boondock
-
Firewood
-
Fifty Amp
-
Tent Sites
-
Cabin Sites
-
Full Hookup
-
Paved Sites
-
Dump Station
-
Mobile Homes
-
Public Water
-
Pull Through
-
Reservations
-
Sewer Hookup
-
Water Hookup
-
Potable Water
-
Age Restricted
-
Dispersed Sites
-
Open Seasonally
-
Permit Required
-
Group Tent Sites
-
Fulltime Residents
-
Standard Tent Sites
-
Pull Through RV Sites
Campground, Restrooms
Nearby Hotels
Related Trip Guides
A road trip along the Great River Road
- 35 Places
- 37:29
- 1,907 mi
The top things to do on a U.S. Route 20 road trip
- 23 Places
- 60:25
- 3,576 mi
The top things to do on an I-80 road trip
- 35 Places
- 53:41
- 3,194 mi