Clarks Ferry
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 8 of the next 8 nights read 16:19 UTC
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 4443 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 4 notices
In the agency’s own words
Clarks Ferry is a outdoor lovers delight, with fantastic bird watching and lots of shore fishing opportunities with our new accessible fishing dock! The park has plenty of trees to lounge under while taking in the spectacular views of the mighty Mississippi River. Keep reading
Recreation
Take the kids to one of the two playgrounds, play a game of horseshoes, volleyball, or go boating. The Mississippi River draws crowds of anglers for channel catfish, bluegill, walleye, crappie and northern pike.
Facilities
Picnic tables, campfire rings, and 50-amp electric hookups are provided at every campsite. A boat ramp, dump station, and picnic shelter are also onsite.
Natural Features
The park is surrounded by large mature trees along the Iowa side of the Upper Mississippi River. The Upper Mississippi is the section of the river that starts in the headwaters of Lake Itasca, Minnesota and flows 1,250 miles to Cairo, Illinois, where it joins with the Ohio River.
Nearby Attractions
Clarks Ferry is near the Shady Creek Recreation Area and the Wildcat Den State Park.
What the agency tells you
Visitors are expected to be aware of and follow Campground Rules
This campground is a Self-Service Campground. Self-Service Campgrounds allow campers to modify their own reservations on their arrival date, at no charge using the Recreation.gov website or Mobile App. So, if you want to add a night, leave early, or move to a different site, you can do it all from your smartphone!
Check-out time is 12:00 pm. Check-in time is 2:00 pm.
Everything else this campground posts · 1
Campsites are by Reservation Only. 1. Campers With a Reservation: - MUST confirm the site reserved, locate site, and start camping. - A Park Ranger or Volunteer will come to your campsite to check you in. Have your ID and ATB pass, if applicable, ready to present. 2. Campers Without a Reservation: - MUST check for campsite availability and make reservation first by: - Using your smartphone camera to scan the QR Code at campsite - or call 1-877-444-6777 - or visit www.recreation.gov
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 44
- Hookups
- 42 electric
- Longest rig
- 70 ft
- Paved pads
- All
- Accessible sites
- 1
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River, Creek
- Birding
- Boating
- Fishing
- Night sky · 16th darkest of 32 in IA
- Bortle 4
26 of 86 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:19 UTC
recreation.gov lists 43 of the 44 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 13
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $26 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:19 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Sep 10, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
45 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 43 mapped sitesAll 45 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 42 of the 45 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| CLARKS FERRY | 01 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 50 ft | 318 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 02 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 48 ft | 314 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 03 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 50 ft | 270 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 04 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 38 ft | 241 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 05 | standard electric | 31 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 65 ft | 205 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 06 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 38 ft | 215 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 07 | standard electric | 63 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 42 ft | 206 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 08 | standard electric | 41 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 47 ft | 157 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 09 | standard electric | 62 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 36 ft | 188 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 10 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 39 ft | 85 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 11 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 36 ft | 167 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 12 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 39 ft | 72 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 13 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 52 ft | 170 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 14 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 52 ft | 84 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 15 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 58 ft | 84 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 16 | standard electric | 38 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 59 ft | 238 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 17 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 59 ft | 295 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 18 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 45 ft | 363 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 19 | standard electric | 47 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 45 ft | 407 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 20 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 41 ft | 456 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 21 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 41 ft | 449 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 22 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 64 ft | 459 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 23 | standard electric | 44 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 65 ft | 469 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 24 | type not stated | 48 ft | 20/30/50 amp | 448 ftMississippi River | |||
| CLARKS FERRY | 25 | standard electric | 58 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 48 ft | 318 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 26 | standard electric | 40 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 65 ft | 374 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 27 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 63 ft | 318 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 28 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 34 ft | 391 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 29 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 55 ft | 312 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 30 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 34 ft | 366 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 31 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 52 ft | 308 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 32 | standard electric | 48 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 52 ft | 359 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 33 | standard electric | 36 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 191 ft | 47 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 34 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 43 ft | 355 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 35 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 39 ft | 323 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 36 | standard electric | 50 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 39 ft | 289 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 37 | standard electric | 49 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 48 ft | 259 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 38 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 43 ft | 266 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 39 | standard electric | 56 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 67 ft | 193 ft | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 40 | standard electric | 43 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 41 ft | 275 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 42 | standard electric | 63 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 41 ft | 235 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | 43 | type not stated | 49 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 235 ftMississippi River | |||
| CLARKS FERRY | 44 | standard electric | 61 ft | 50/20/30 amp | yes | 44 ft | 176 ftMississippi River | $26 |
| CLARKS FERRY | 45 | standard electric | 57 ft | 50/20/30 amp | 47 ft | 199 ftMississippi River | $26 | |
| CLARKS FERRY | Shelter 1 | day use | 20 amp | yes | 332 ft | 323 ftMississippi River | $25 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 45 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Shady Creek3.8 mi
Blanchard Island Recreation Area15 mi
Fishermans Corner23 mi
Tailwater East Campground41 mi
Tailwater West Campground41 mi
Cottonwood Campground (IA)42 miFrom Davenport, Iowa, drive west on Hwy 22 about 15 miles and turn at Clark's Ferry Sign (in Montpelier)
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Montpelier, IA
Typical weather
Typical October night 43°F, day 64°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 13°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Clarks Ferry is in Iowa’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →