Prairie Flower Recreation Area

This was our first trip to the Des Moines area. Prairie Flower campground was a great base to visit several bike trails, tour the capital and the Saturday morning farmers market in Des Moines. Plenty of access to shopping, etc. The campground and several others on Saylorville Lake were upgraded in 2023 including 6 new dump stations at Prairie Flower. It was full on the weekends but quiet during the week. We were at site C96 which had a large level concrete pad, with a nice mix of sun and shade and a small view of the lake. The beach was a short walk as was the shower house which was very clean. We would definitely return if in the area!

Prairie Flower is our favorite Saylorville Lake campground

The biting bugs were awful. I don't think they would be so bad if that stuff growing not being mowed would be mowed as it should be

It would be quite nice if they had some people come and give talks about animals, plants and so forth at the park

The hosts at this campsite are too aggressive, on your tail everything we stop to fill with water wanting to know what site we're in. Why does it matter if we have a reservation?

nice lake

Terrible camp hosts

Camp hosts were rude and uncooperative I had to change dates and the end date of reservation got changed somehow.
Told me I had to leave right now knowing full well I had to call someone to pull it out of there. Obviously wasn’t gonna happen with my Prius. And to top it off no one pulled into that spot that night. I had a friend staying in the next spot over. makes me think they were lying. Won’t go back there that is for sure and I paid 8 days between 2 spots

Nice campground would recommend staying here. My only complaint was my neighbors were loud after 10 and gave me non settling vibes, but you can’t control who buys the site next to you.

Restrooms and showers were very clean. The concrete pads at the sites made setup quick. Lots of biketrails and the beach was a short 5 minute walk away.

Paid should be checked between visitors. Nothing like showing up to a concrete pad either cover in kids chalk or an unknown powder. I don’t want that in my camper or on my dogs. Is a white substance toxic?
I go camping to watch the stars and enjoy the sounds of nature. Not seeing Christmas lights all over the place and music playing outside your camper all day so loud you might as be at a festival.
I would really like to sit around the campfire looking at the stars and listening to the coyotes. If I want loud music, bright lights I would stay home. Don’t seem liked the bathrooms are as clean as 2 yrs ago and the hosts aren’t as friendly.