prairie rose state park

Stayed over labor d day weekend, beautiful lake, great kayaking, awesome hiking trail around the lake. No issues if you follow posted rules and be courteous. Would highly recommend!

I actually live in Harlan and my family and friends have had HORRIBLE experiences on multiple occasions. Most recent we brought out two large breed dogs to the beach and DNR told us they can't be there, which I understand there are rules, but on any other occasion there are 5/6 dogs on the beach, oh but they say there are places they can swim but humans can't....yeah because I am going to let my dog go into incharted water where hooks and broken bottle scatter the group and water, and if they needed my help in the water I can't go get them because people can swim. Any responsible animal owner can agree that that is a terrible idea and a pet fatality is certain. Now for the last 2 weekends we have gone, went and made a giant water slide the first experience as great, not a word was said to us and we had a blast, we did this same thing yesterday the DNR drove by once didn't say a word, then we continued to slide and have fun, including several other patrons of the lake, it was awesome seeing people of all ages enjoying our slip and slide, so anyways about 2 hrs after they came by once they came down and said "you can't do this, you will create a mud puddle" and spun on their heels and walked away unable to get a chance to explain or discuss anything. they saw we had been doing it for at least 3 hrs, ZERO damage was done to the grass and NO mud puddle had even started. There are plenty of experiences where my friend has even seen the DNR....DRUNK while on duty! this is completely unacceptable! We are trying to have some clean family fun and get shot down constantly! No harm was done and no damage. Bunch of fun haters and these are just a few instances among the 30+ visits we have taken. If you want to have fun just find another lake, Lake Anita is great, Lake Manawa, and Lake View. Bunch of fun haters with a constant power trip.

Off the beaten path of I-80 is a jewel of a state park. An oasis if I may be so bold. This park has abundant wildlife(I saw many deer and hawks and songbirds) and many offerings to people who locate this and whom come to relax and enjoy the Iowa landscape. Resting on over 600 acres including a 218 man-made lake is a state park worthy of visiting. It offers over 69 campsites; a Youth camp; 2 seasonal cabin rentals; two shelters to rent; boat rental and plenty of trails to hike. The scenery alone is worth the trip. Seeing the terraced farms that surround this park and the giant windmills seen off in the distance make this an awesome place to unwind and relax after a hard dyas work or anytime really. I really enjoyed the beach area and saw a family having a late day picnic at one of the shelters.