Coles Creek Recreation Area

We saw the park had full hookups but as a walk in on a Saturday we were only able to get a site with electricity. We are Golden Pass holders so we only paid $8 for one night. Lots of families camping but the spaces are very spacious. We had a view of the beach area on the lake. Very peaceful.

Site was level - didn't need any leveling blocks.

We passed many ‘a cornfield to get here. Electric only. Dump station with fill water on-site.

Be sure to check out the local farmer bar with pizza takeout (Deb’s Red Rose)…there’s no official sign except a Bud Light banner swinging in the breeze, but it’s on Boulder on your right, just before Wiedle Rd.

Not much of a view of the water from our campsite, but the reservoir and swimming beach was only a ¼ mile walk. There is also a boat launch in the park. Bathrooms were very clean, did not use showers.

We spent one night here in Loop 4, Site 86 on a weeknight in mid-October.

We were very impressed with the campground. Generously sized campsites, plenty of access to the lake, facilities all appeared to be well maintained and very clean. There are plenty of campsites shaded by a thick deciduous canopy, and there are also plenty right up on the water with less shade.

Loop 4, where we stayed, offered electric-only sites, and we noticed that some of the other loops offered full-hookups if you prefer. Each loop offered a centralized latrine building with flush toilets, and there is at least one facility in the campground that offers free shower that operated with the ‘push button’ type water controls. The same building with the showers also offered coin operated laundry machines. We did not use either the showers or the laundry facilities but they both appeared to be clean and in good repair.

Site 86 was right on the water and offered beautiful views of the lake and sunset. The parking pad was asphalt and our 25 foot rig was perfectly level without any blocks.

The cell coverage here was solid with Verizon LTE service providing 21 Mbps down and 10 Mbps up.

When we stayed, the campground was only about 10-15% occupied, although from the reservation placards on the campsites, it looked like weekend occupancy was going to jump up to near 100%, so you would be very wise to make an advance reservation on the www.recreation.gov website. This is a US Army Corps of Engineers operated facility, so a valid America The Beautiful Annual Pass / Senior Pass / Access Pass will net you 50% off your camping fees.

We only stayed the one night because we were on a 21-day Midwest roadtrip and had tickets to attend an event in Indiana the next day, but we made a note to come back here again when we had time to stay a few nights.

Another very nice COE camp ground in Lake Carlyle. Loop A has full hook ups. B & C was for groups an d D & E just had electric. We stayed on loop D and had a level site with plenty of room.

We camped here during a very wet period. High water had flooded out numerous sites. Sites have asphalt pads with mown grass. Ours had electricity but some have full hookups. Toilets were clean and showers were available.

The campground is right on the lake, hence the flooding problem this year.

With over 120 sites, this campground is larger than most COE sites I've been too. The weekend I was here it was completely booked. The weekdays were a little quieter. There is a laundry room here with 2 washers and 2 dryers which was nice. Each takes 4 quarters to operate. Like others have stated, there is only one dump station and the line can get long especially on Sundays. I did notice some people also using a site in Loop 1 (maybe 14?) to dump. It was a full hookup, pull through site that was empty.

If you're looking for a quiet place for a walk or run, head over to the Lotus group camp area (near the entrance). It was completely empty when I was there.

We stayed in a reserved spot for 5 nights. Nice spot parallel to the lake then added 4 more nights at a FCFS site in the next loop. Overall pleasant experience. Only a few full hookup sites, all have electric with 1-2 fresh water filling stations per loop. there is a dump station and fresh water fill near the entrance. They have showers and laundry, boat launch and swim beach.

The site is fully paved and under several shade trees. The full hookup site was fantastic...everything worked with plenty of water pressure and voltage. We camped at Coles Creek Campground in a Travel Trailer.