Grant River Campground

Price show reflects Golden Passport discount. This is a Corp of Engineers campground right on the Mississippi River with wonderful views. The downside (unless you are a train watcher) is the train track right next to the campground. When the bigger freight trains would come through, our big rig would rock back and forth. So be forewarned.

Having said that, this is still a nice campground that appears to fill up on the weekends. Coming in you have to take a small, paved, country road to get down to the river level. But it is perfectly acceptable for big rigs. You can get a site one of three ways. 1) Reserve ahead of time online (must do a day or two before) 2) Arrive in person during the hours of 5 pm to 7 pm (everyday) or 9 am to 11 am (Friday and Saturday) when the gate office is staffed and be assigned a spot. 3) Arrive when the office at the gate is not staffed, call the reservation number, and find out which sites are empty, park, then pay when the office at the gate is open. We ended up doing option 3 and had to wait on hold until "an operator is available" to find out which sites are free. NOTE: There were 2" x 2" paper reservation assignments clipped to the poles. That would have indicated somewhat which sites were free. We didn't see until after we called and waited on hold.

The roads are paved, and about 50% of the sites are also paved. The rest are gravel. We had 50 amp electric. There is no sewer at the sites. There is a dump station, but no potable water at the dump station. There are water hydrants through out the park, but we didn't have enough hose to reach any from our site. So if you need water, get it before you park.

The campground is nice and grassy. All sites have a fire ring and a picnic table. The sites are a little closer than in your typical CoE campground, but OK. There are also some tent sites. The bathrooms appeared to be new, although we didn't check out the interiors. There is also a new playground. No WiFi. Verizon service was adequate. Using a MiMo antenna on my Jetpack, Verizon was excellent. I was able to pick up seven TV stations from Dubuque. There is also a boat ramp

This is a great little campground. The freight trains are the only annoyance. We purposely ran our A/C at night for white noise. That is the only reason we wouldn't come back.

If you drive 12 miles north to the town of Lancaster, you will find a Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store and a Red Robin Laundromat.

I'm a fan of trains, the Mississippi River and ACE campgrounds so this was perfect for us. YES, there are a lot of trains as in several an hour for the entire afternoon into the early evening. They didn't run all night (perhaps one) and then started before 7AM. Since there is a crossing over the tracks to get to the campground the train always blows its horn. Seems no sites are any better than others in regards to this. The campground is composed of 2 loops, the one further from the entrance being somewhat smaller and nicely laid out. Sites are open as previously described and water spigots spread around but at a distance from most sites. We picked up an extra 25' hose (we needed one anyway) when added to our other hose was plenty long enough to fill our tank. Many sites closer to the river were completely paved including picnic tables and fire rings. Most sites were occupied and kids were out playing but there is a big open grassy area along the banks of the river. Watching the river sunset was lovely. We had the luxury of a tow car so used it to explore the Potosi Brewery (beer excellent, food so-so) and the Cassville Ferry ($15 per vehicle passengers included) and Ballville on the Iowa side.

The views in most of the campground are very nice. The playground was closed, but when open it’d be nice for kids. The bathrooms were ok at best but the showers have a good bit of mildew and the handicap shower doesn’t have a handheld shower head. The train tracks are super close and very busy from early morning to late evening but only a few overnight. The trains during the day wasn’t a big deal but Nighttime and early morning was a beyond annoying. There’s not a lot to do locally but it’s relaxing and the views are good.

Price reflects our 50% discount with the Lifetime Senior National Park Pass. This is a beautifully laid out and well maintained Army Corps of Engineers campground. It's also the first one that has caused me to say I will not return. We have a lovely site right on the Mississippi River, which is great. It's a quiet campground, also great. But the TRAINS! The track is adjacent to the campground, and it's busy. Multiple fast moving trains at all times of the day and they blow the horn just as they are passing the campground due to the track crossing at the park entrance. I don't mind it during the day, however I was awakened 4 times overnight by passing trains. It's enough to make me say never again.

Our campsite was excellent. Very clean, well maintained. I would give this place 4 stars if not for the trains coming by. There was steady train traffic 24 hours a day approximately 3-4 trains per hour. Our site was about 100 yards from the tracks, which is one of the furthest away.

Campsites are electric only and there’s only one dump station. Plan to depart early if you want to dump here before you go. There was a fairly long line in the mornings from 7-9 AM.

We love this campground and enjoyed our 3rd time here. The riverside sites have a nice grassy area leading down to the river.

We enjoyed watching the barges going up and down the river as well as trains passing on both sides of the river.

The campground is clean and well maintained. Check in person was friendly and check in was quick.

As previously mentioned, yes there are trains. We got used to them. They didn’t stop my husband from being able to work from inside the van during the week. Our mobile internet was able to pick up reception for remote work. The shower house was nice and cleaned often. The area was nice and shady enough for walking around to get daily steps in. The people were friendly. Potosi Brewing is just 2 miles into town and they have pretty good food as well! Overall, we enjoyed our stay.

Had two weeks left after 3 nights. Campground 150’ from active train track that runs from 2:30am until 12:00pm and blows their horn 3to 4 times every time they pass the campground. If you don’t mind train whistle then it’s not bad

This is a nice campground. The campsites were mostly level and easy to access. The camp has showers and flushing toilets. There was a tornado warning while we were there. The local fire department came through the camp and told us to take shelter in the bathhouse. There are trains coming through at all hours and the tracks are close to the campground. We had good phone/wi-fi coverage with T-Mobile.