American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedCounty ConservationFree

Frenchtown Park

Drive-up · public land · IA · 42.84709, -91.10643
We haven't personally camped here. Everything below is pulled from public land data, USGS maps and OpenStreetMap — a real place on public land, but not field-checked by us. Confirm road conditions, current access, stay limits and fire restrictions before you go.

A small, genuinely free primitive campground on the Mississippi about three miles north of Guttenberg, run by Clayton County Conservation. Three rough sites -- this is pack-it-in, pack-it-out camping next to a boat ramp and picnic area, not a campground with hookups. The county's own page calls it "free to all hopeful campers" and "rough camping only." Expect no electricity, no showers, and no drinking water; bring your own. The county publishes NO stay limit and NO registration process for this park, which in practice means it is informally managed -- that also makes it exactly the kind of place a county can quietly start charging for, so confirm with Clayton County Conservation (563-245-1516) before you count on it. Three sites is tiny; have a backup plan on a summer weekend. Unverified by us on the ground.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Frenchtown Park
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Frenchtown Park
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Weather outlook
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 619 ft.
Fire & smokeNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.

Everything you need — measured from camp

15 MI30 MI60 MIYOUR CAMPN ↑Water · 46 miWPhillips 66 · Fuel · 34 miFBig 10 Mart · Grocery · 34 miGHartig Drug · Pharmacy · 44 miRxSlaats Auto Repair · Mechanic · 34 miMShower · 58 miShFever River Outfitters · Outfitter · 46 miOMail · 34 mi@
Straight-line miles · bearings approx · roads run longer
Nearest of each
  • MMechanic34 mi
  • @Mail34 mi
  • FFuel34 mi
  • GGrocery34 mi
  • RxPharmacy44 mi
  • WWater46 mi
  • OOutfitter46 mi
  • ShShower58 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water

The read: water is a real 46-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 34 mi out.

Not within 60 mi: Dump, Propane. Plan those before you head up.

One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors). Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
619 ft
State
IA
Coordinates
42.84709, -91.10643
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureBuck Creek (river) · nearby
  • Nearest townEckards · ~0.7 mi
  • Drinking waterDrinking water · ~4.1 mi
  • FuelKwik Trip · ~4.5 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~8.4 mi
  • GroceriesBenders Supermarket · ~4.7 mi
  • PharmacyWalgreens · ~14.3 mi
  • Hospital / clinicGuttenberg Municipal Hospital · ~4.2 mi
  • HardwareKeumpel Hardware · ~4.5 mi

Nearby restrooms — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)

Open this spot elsewhere

Google satellite →Gaia GPS →CalTopo →Back to the map →

Other camps nearby

If this one is full, gated or washed out.

How we know this

Source
Iowa county park records
Confidence
Researched — The record is detailed and internally consistent, and the coordinates land where the managing agency says this site is.
How it was placed
Clayton County Conservation Board official site https://www.claytoncountyconservation.org/frenchtown-park -- verbatim: "This intimate park has 3 primitive sites and is free to all hopeful campers" and "Rough camping only for FREE!". Corroborated independently by OSM node 7157651019 (tourism=camp_site, fee=no) at the identical point; Nominatim resolves the same node to 26254 Mississippi Road, Guttenberg, Clayton County, IA 52052. Coordinate taken from that OSM node, not geocoded from a description. Clayton CCB's other camping parks all charge $15/night (Joy Springs, Motor Mill, Frieden), so this is a genuine outlier, not a site-wide policy. Verified 2026-07-20.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Researched until someone does.

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.

Before you go

Your first dispersed night →Fire rules & restrictions →Getting unstuck →Power off-grid →All field notes →
Been here? Tell us what changed. This page is built from public records, so the fastest way it gets better is somebody who has actually pulled in. Road washed out, site gone, gate locked, or it is exactly as described — all of it useful. Send a report →