Cedar Bottoms WMA
Iowa DNR Wildlife Management Area — about 1,643 acres across 3 separate parcels, Muscatine County. Primitive camping is allowed statewide on Iowa DNR wildlife areas by rule — no permit, no camping fee — for up to 14 consecutive days, UNLESS that area posts restrictions on site (Iowa Admin. Code r. 571-51.11). The DNR can close any individual area to camping just by putting up a sign, and there is no statewide list of which ones have, so read the signs at the entrance and treat a posted restriction as final. Iowa DNR's own camping article also says to stay 100+ yards from parking lots, boat ramps and jetties; that sentence was dropped from the rule in the June 2025 rewrite, but it is still good practice and may be posted locally. These are working wildlife areas, not campgrounds: expect a gravel parking area and nothing else — no water, no toilet, no table, no fire ring. Pack water in and everything out. Much of this unit is marsh, river bottom or seasonally flooded ground — dry, level tent ground can be genuinely scarce and access roads can be under water in spring. Fall is a hard time to use these: Iowa's shotgun deer seasons and waterfowl season put a lot of hunters on WMAs, and blaze orange plus a different destination is the smarter call. The pin is a representative point inside the official DNR boundary, NOT a campsite or a parking lot — scout the actual access off the DNR atlas before you commit to it after dark.
Everything you need — measured from camp
- @Mail16 mi
- FFuel24 mi
- GGrocery24 mi
- +Urgent care29 mi
- RxPharmacy30 mi
- WWater31 mi
- MMechanic32 mi
- HHardware32 mi
- AAir-up40 mi
- DDump42 mi
- ShShower42 mi
- LLaundry53 mi
- PPropane54 mi
The read: water is a real 31-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 24 mi out.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Open in Google Maps ↗
The site
Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureCedar River (river) · nearby
- Nearest townDayfield · ~2.3 mi
- Drinking waterDrinking water · ~8.3 mi
- FuelFuel · ~5.9 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump stationDump station · ~30.0 mi
- GroceriesFareway · ~6.4 mi
- PharmacyHy-Vee Pharmacy · ~8.2 mi
- Hospital / clinicTrinity Muscatine Hospital · ~7.8 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~21.5 mi
Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 29 · ~12.8 mi NE
- Highway rest areaNHS Rest Stop or Truck Facility 37 · ~12.8 mi NE
- RestroomB-68 Comfort Station · ~15.2 mi NW · NPS
- RestroomB-50 Visitor Center/52358 Post Office · ~15.2 mi NW · NPS
Open this spot elsewhere
Other camps nearby
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Wiese Slough WMA~4.8 mi
- Millrace Flats WMA~19.6 mi
- Wapello Bottoms WMA~22.9 mi
How we know this
What we don’t know
A land record can put you within a few metres of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up