WALNUT RIDGE RECREATION AREA
Johnston · Polk County · IA
Source: Recreation.gov · imported Aug 15, 2026
Decide fast
Vehicle & access
Longest vehicle a campsite accepts: 20 ft
Vehicles allowed per site: 107
Fire conditions
Agency fire orders are checked live — open the section for the current stage and what it allows.
Verified check-in
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Only an approximate position is stored, and never shown to other travelers.
The essentials
Key campground facts
Identity-level facts as published by the source record. Fields no source publishes are left out rather than shown as Unknown.
Price
Price not published
Type
Campground
Camping status
Official campsite
Land manager
US Army Corps of Engineers
Sites
3 campsite records
Reservable sites
3 of the records read
Reservation
Required
Check-in
7:00 Am
Check-out
9:00 Pm
Facility phone
515-276-4656
Facility email
Know before you go
- Reservation required before arrival.
Can you camp here?
Camping legality
Checking land status and camping rules…
Getting there
Access and vehicle suitability
Only what the managing agency or Recreation.gov published. Road surface, clearance, grade and seasonal access are never inferred, and fields no source publishes are left out.
Published dimensions
Longest vehicle a campsite accepts
20 ft
Applies to: Campsite records — what an individual site accepts
Source: Recreation.gov
Vehicles allowed per site
107
Source: Recreation.gov
Permitted equipment
CAR
Applies to: Campsite records — what an individual site accepts
Source: Recreation.gov
Roads and route
Road surface
Paved
How you reach the sites
Drive-In
Source: Recreation.gov
Accessibility
ADA access published
No
Source: Recreation.gov
Access statements published by Recreation.gov. Conditions change — verify with the managing agency before you rely on them.
Where it is
Location
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State
IA
County
Polk County
Nearest city
Johnston
Elevation
961 ft
Coordinates
41.72972, -93.72111
Site-level source data
Campsite specifications
3 of 3 Recreation.gov campsite records read. The figures below describe the 0 standard, individually bookable campsite records. 3 group site records are reported separately. Every line states how many records reported it.
Group sites
3 records
Group sites are booked as a whole area and are excluded from the per-site figures above.
Straight from the source
Published record details
Statements the source record publishes, shown as published. Anything it does not publish is left out rather than shown as Unknown.
Published use types
Day
Published campsite types
GROUP PICNIC AREA
Park phone
515-276-4656
Amenities
Only amenities the source actually states are listed. Unknown is never shown as No.
Camping
Only camping types present in the source record.
Setting & surroundings
What's around this campsite
Official park information
Published by the land manager as being at or associated with this place. These are stated facts, not measured distances.
Water
Land & terrain
Source: Recreation.gov
Verified nearby features
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Activities
Sourced only — activities are never inferred.
National Weather Service
Weather
Forecast for the WALNUT RIDGE RECREATION AREA coordinates. Values NWS does not publish stay blank rather than being estimated.
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Staying reachable
Connectivity
Carrier coverage comes from official FCC filings for this coordinate; Starlink information comes from Starlink's own pages. Nothing here is estimated from terrain, land ownership or nearby towns.
Reading stored coverage sources…
Agency fire orders
Fire conditions
Published fire restriction orders from the managing agency, matched to these exact coordinates. Fire permission is never inferred from land ownership, campground type or weather.
Checking agency fire orders for these coordinates…
Nearby services
Fuel, water, dump, supplies and more
Straight-line distance from the campground coordinates. Mapped places only — never inferred.
Looking up mapped services within 25 miles…
Solar
Off-grid power
Will you make enough power to stay comfortably off-grid here? Modelled from published solar climatology for these exact coordinates, credited in the details.
Modelling solar for these coordinates…
Is this place right for you?
Experience & practicality
Two transparent read-time scores. Unknown facts never count for or against a place, and a score is never used as filter evidence.
Experience
Published recreation and setting.
5.3/ 10
Documented depth: 8.5 of 16 evidence weight, from 4 published facts. A low number means little is published, not that the place is poor.
Why
- Hiking
- Fishing
- Mountain biking
- Wildlife watching
Practicality
Published logistics: access, cost, facilities.
9.2/ 10
92% of the 11 published facts are positive, scaled by how much is documented (100% of the 16-weight target). High data coverage · 16 still unpublished. A thin record reads low because little is published, not because the place is poor.
Why
- Camping is published as allowed
- 2WD passable
- Paved or gravel access road
- Restroom
- Drinking water
- Cell service
- Electric hookup
- Maximum vehicle length published
- Pets allowed
- Picnic table
Published as not available
- No reservation required
Fully supported: both dimensions earned a score from 15 published facts.
Methodology nmr-score-3.0.0. Park-level activities feed Experience only; campsite facts feed Practicality only. Experience measures how much recreation and setting evidence is published; Practicality is the published positive share scaled by how much of the logistics catalogue has been documented, so a handful of positives can no longer read 10/10. Unknown is never treated as a no. Neither dimension is used to filter search results, and “Best” ordering ranks fully supported records above partially supported ones.
Overview
Why this place?
- Campground managed by US Army Corps of Engineers.
- Camping status: Official campsite.
- Located in Johnston, Polk County, IA at 961 ft.
- Source lists 4 recreation activities here.
- No source publishes pricing for this location, so cost is unknown.
- A reservation is required.
Photos
What it looks like
Imagery published by the managing source for this record, plus verified traveler photos.
Official imagery
Traveler photos
No traveler photos here yet. A photo you upload is reviewed before it appears publicly.
Community · time-sensitive
Community reports
What travelers found on the ground, with the date they were there. Conditions change fast, and a report never replaces the official information above.
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Official source
Fees and reservation source material
Retrieved from the Recreation Information Database for this exact facility. Facility facts are listed once in Key campground facts; this block holds the published fee text and the source date check.
Data & trust
Source confidence
High
Confidence describes how well the ingested sources agree for this record. Verification is a separate state: Unverified.
Source
Recreation.gov
Last source update
Aug 15, 2026
Source record
#234696
- Unverified · RIDB · Aug 15, 2026
Community · traveler experience
Traveler reviews
Written by travelers who checked in here. These are personal experiences, not official campsite information, and they never change the sourced facts above.
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Travelers here
Talk with travelers heading to WALNUT RIDGE RECREATION AREA. Community conversation — not verified site information. Report conditions through the report form so they can be checked.
Nearby and related camping
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