American Adventurer
Found · unverifiedCounty ConservationFree

Herbert Gutknecht Park

Drive-up · public land · IA · 42.33372, -92.63258
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 free county roadside park in Grundy County, on Highway 175 between Morrison and Reinbeck. Grundy County Conservation's own listing says plainly: "There is no charge for overnight camping." Five designated camping areas with a hand-pumped water well, picnic tables, grills, a shelter, and a pit toilet -- no electricity and no showers. Grundy County takes no reservations at any of its camping areas, so it is first-come, first-served. Worth knowing: this is the free outlier in an otherwise paid county system -- Grundy's other campgrounds (Wolf Creek, Grundy County Lake) run $10-$20 a night -- so do not assume the free rule travels to them. The county publishes no stay limit for this park. We could only confirm the no-charge wording on one official page; call Grundy County Conservation at 319-345-2688 to confirm before you rely on it. Unverified by us on the ground.

USGS topo — contours & terrain
USGS topographic map of Herbert Gutknecht Park
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Aerial image of Herbert Gutknecht 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 934 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

Services & drive-time data covers the public-lands states we've mapped so far — not this camp's region yet. Open in Google Maps ↗

The site

Access
Drive-up
Land
public land
Elevation
934 ft
State
IA
Coordinates
42.33372, -92.63258
Cost
Free

Nearby & resupply (OpenStreetMap)

  • Water featureBlack Hawk Creek (stream) · nearby
  • Nearest townReinbeck · ~1.8 mi
  • Drinking waternone within 10 mi
  • FuelFuel · ~7.3 mi
  • Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
  • Dump stationDump station · ~27.9 mi
  • GroceriesStore · ~10.4 mi
  • PharmacyWalmart Pharmacy · ~14.5 mi
  • Hospital / clinicGrundy County Memorial Hospital · ~6.9 mi
  • HardwareBuilders Select Building Materials & Cabinetry · ~15.9 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
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
Grundy County Conservation Board park page on the CCB network's own portal https://www.mycountyparks.com/county/Grundy/Park/Herbert-Gutknecht-Park -- verbatim: "There is no charge for overnight camping." Page also gives 5 camping areas, hand pumped water, picnic tables, shelter, pit toilet, and locates it "between Morrison and Reinbeck at the junction of State Highway 175 and County Road T-55". CONFIDENCE HELD AT 'med' FOR TWO REASONS: (1) single official channel -- grundycountyiowa.gov refused connection (ECONNRESET) on repeated attempts, so the quote could not be corroborated on the county's own domain; (2) OSM way 351214017 names it "Gutknecht ROADSIDE Park" vs the county's "Herbert Gutknecht Park" -- same location beyond reasonable doubt (OSM way 15901155 ref='IA 175' passes ~500 m south, matching the county's junction description) but the names differ. Coordinate is a point-in-polygon-verified centroid of OSM way 351214017 (local-origin shoelace per the SD cancellation lesson; PIP test returned inside; 9-vertex polygon, bbox 42.3327-42.3346 N, -92.6347--92.6312 W). NOT an Overpass 'out center' bounding-box centre. Verified 2026-07-20.
Field check
Not verified on the ground. Nobody from here has camped it. It stays at Likely 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 →