Cottonwood Campground (ia)

Cottonwood Campground is closed for the 2026 recreation season. The 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. Cottonwood offers 11 non-electric walk-to tent campsites. Amenities include a modern restroom and shower facility located at the main parking lot. The dump station, drinking water, trash and recycling receptacles are located just outside of the West Overlook Campground. 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 the barrier-free Veterans Trail. The Turkey Creek Disc Golf Course offers nine partially wooded and open holes, and the Devonian Fossil Gorge just below the dam offers 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, with twenty discovery points and a cell phone audio tour. Coralville Lake is located in the Iowa River Valley, just north of Iowa City, and the Cottonwood 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. Iowa City and Coralville offer the University of Iowa campus, hospital and clinics, numerous restaurants and shops as well as Coral Ridge Mall. Cedar Rapids has cultural, historic and ethnic attractions such as The National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library. West Branch boasts the Herbert Hoover National Historic Site and Presidential Library/Museum, the Amana Colonies hold seven quaint villages with outstanding restaurants, wineries, historic sites and specialty shops, and Kalona, known as the "Quilt Capital of Iowa," is home to an Old Order Amish and Mennonite community.