Hidden River Campgrounds

"This place is off the beaten path, quiet and a gorgeous place on the Cedar River BUT. Me and a friend stayed here from July to October 2023 bc she was working at Mercy Iowa City as a traveling nurse. It didn’t take long for the owner to turn this beautiful place into a nightmare. I am handicapped and the first site he put us on had a drop off of about a foot right at the bottom of the camper steps. The site didn’t have grass but Astro Turf instead and when it was wet the turf on the drop off was slick as ice. When it was mentioned he said I was stupid for stepping on it I could go another way, the other way was putting my back against the camper and sidestepping until I got clear of “the bank”. Finally after my girlfriend almost fell once and did slip down another time he agreed to move us. He insisted he could use his skid steer that had a ball to fit our hitch. The camper is a 5th wheel with an Anderson hitch that converts it to a gooseneck. He assured us he knew what he was doing and had moved a lot of camper’s before this one. That was a less than truthful statement. The hitch has a composite “funnel” that guides the ball into the hitch if you’re not backed perfectly under it. After hooking it to his skid steer he lowered the front of the camper so low and it put so much pressure on the hitch it broke the composite funnel and buckled the underside of the camper where the hitch connects to the camper itself. Instead of being concerned about breaking the funnel or the integrity of the hitch that’s possibly now unsafe he said it’s just cosmetic damage and used Gorilla Super Glue to put the funnel back together. Lucky Anderson hitches comes with a lifetime guarantee so we did get a replacement for free but had to pay $350 for someone to come look at the camper to make sure it was safe to pull where Dean had buckled it. What’s worse than that is when he was asked to pay the $350 he refused. The ONLY REASON we stayed that long is bc my friend had a 13 week contract with the hospital and this was the only campground that offered long term sites within 50 miles. The place doesn’t have sewer hookups but Dean has a side by side pulling a trailer with a tank he comes around and empties your black tank for you supposedly once a week but expects you to leave your gray tank open to run on the ground. I told him it was illegal and he said, “it’s only shower water and dish water that’s a stupid law.” Now his once a week emptying tanks don’t mean ever 7 days it means once a week when it’s convenient, one week it might be on Monday and the next on Friday. If your tank fills up and he has to come when he hadn’t planned on it you’ll hear every cuss word known to man and some I think he’s made up. I can’t stand to hear GD and he spews it over and over just bc you’re asking him to do what he said he would do from the beginning and what he’s getting paid to do and that’s ALL he does. Our gray tank was full once and we asked him to empty it and he just opened the valve and run it on the ground right under the camper and you can’t imagine the flies it brought in, it was like a Alford Hitchcock movie, unreal. Then there was the busted water line at the spigot. He accused us of busting the water line which was ancient black pipe my dad used in the 60’s on his house. We tried telling him the water he saw running down the road was seeping up from underground, after another 50 GD’s and still believing we messed up the water line he left saying it would take a thousand dollars to fix the leak. Apparently all he is good for is emptying black tanks he can’t use a shovel. To make a already long story shorter it was seeping up from under ground and we didn’t cause the leak. It would be wonderful if the story ended here but not even close. I think y’all have the idea about what a beautiful place this could be had it not been turned into a hell hole. He is a filthy mouthed man that I hated to even see ride by. Again so you’ll understand,this was the only place anywhere near Iowa City that offered long term stays.RUN FROM HIDDEN RIVER!"

"Great place to relax with your family in the woods next to a river. How it should be. The seasonal campers schedule different events and even have live music several times a year."

"Just stopped for the night. Got a nice river front site with water & power. No sewer hookups. They do have a dump station. Shady. Follow owners directions, into a.subdivision, little sign on left to take the little road, down the big hill, dirt road to the river. Fast friendly service."

"Secluded spot on the river with easy access to Hwy 80. There’s some highway noise from the bridge down the river a bit and the buildings, including the restrooms are very rustic, but it’s clean and cheap. Owner says when the kids take over next year, things will be upgraded. We’d go back!"

"Love this place, You wouldn't even know it was there. Love that it's right on the Cedar River. There's another camp called Hunts Cedar and they charge you just to look!. I would definitely come back. It's rustic, old shower house has good. Pressure and nice hot water, but definitely needs an update."