We embarked upon our late summer – early fall adventure today, departing the Chicago area at 11:00 a.m. This adventure will take us through Colorado, Utah, Arizona and perhaps New Mexico. In our travels, we seldom plan to be at a certain place on a particular date. We prefer to explore interesting places along the way and rely on first-come-first-serve campgrounds at State Parks, National Forests and National Parks. This trip will be no exception, so we are prepared to take our chances on finding campground accommodations at the popular areas we plan to visit.
We enjoyed pleasant sunny weather with a mild temperature in the mid-80’s and low humidity, during our travel west through Iowa on Interstate 80. Evening was approaching, time to find a place to spend the night. Our Iowa camping guide brought us to Lake Anita State Park. This state park is located approximately 50 miles west of Des Moines, Iowa and 5 miles south of Interstate 80. We arrived at the park at 6:00 p.m. We were quite pleased with this park and decided we would spend two nights here.
Lake Anita State Park opened in 1961. The 1.062-acre park features a beautiful 171-acre artificial lake which was formed by creating a dam on a branch of the Nishnabotna River. Lake Anita offers excellent fishing for largemouth bass, crappies and bluegill. Two boat ramps are available for easy access. Any size boat motor may be operated at "no wake" speeds.
There is a very nice swimming beach, with a sandy bottom, located within the park. It is a fair distance from the campground, so access to it by car or bicycle is definitely required. There is a paved bicycle path that circles the entire park. My educated guess is the bicycle path is at least a 15-mile round trip.
The campground contains 161 camping sites (includes 52 sites with electric and 40 with electric and water hookups). All sites with utility hookups have a view of the lake, whereas the non-utility sites do not. There are two modern restrooms with showers.
Camping fees:
Non-electric: $11.00
Electric: $16.00
Electric & Water: $19.00
Internet access was not available at this state park through our T-Mobile service provider. We will just have to wait until our next stop. Of interest, most of the rest areas in Iowa provide free WiFi service.
We look forward to a pleasant stay in this lovely state park.
Total miles traveled today: 384
Tomorrow another adventure begins.
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