Where In Iowa: Manchester
When I want to get away from the hectic pace of life along with the daily demands of my job, my husband Joe and I head to the trout streams in northeast Iowa. At least once a year if not more, Bailey’s Ford (campground) just outside of Manchester, Iowa provides a tranquil escape where I can hit the reset button.
Bailey’s Ford trout stream
Manchester is a 2-hour 45-minute drive from Des Moines easily accessed by driving up Interstate 35 and then heading east on Highway 20. The town of Manchester as well as Bailey’s Ford can be found directly off Highway 20.
The population of Manchester is approximately 5,200 making it the perfect Iowa small town. It is also the county seat of Delaware county. If I had to live in an Iowa small town, Manchester would be at the top of my list.
Bailey’s Ford trout stream
Lodging – Bailey’s Ford Campground
There are several options for overnight accommodations while staying in Manchester. The primary location for enjoying its scenic beauty especially if you plan to fish would be to stay in the campground at Bailey’s Ford. They provide ample tent campsites, each of which are marked with its own hedge boundary so that others are not staking their tent right on top of you. Full-grown, mature trees surrounding the campground provide a canopy of protection from the sun as well as weather.
An example of the spacious tent campsites with hedge boundary, fire ring, and picnic table
I’ve camped in several other campgrounds and Bailey’s Ford campsites are by far the biggest individual campsites I’ve stayed in. Each campsite is clearly marked with a letter/number sign but as I mentioned, a sizeable hedge on either side also provides a clear outline what territory is yours while also providing some privacy.
RV’s have an abundance of electrical sites as well with a water and dump station on site. The south side of the campground when you first enter is the original part of the campground and may have less “hedge” privacy for RV’s.
The RV and camper electric sites on the north end of the campground are spacious and private
However, the north side of the campground is newer and if you’re staying in an RV, those electrical sites have been built out more thoughtfully with even more privacy hedges. They seem quite nice!
Whether you are tent camping or have an RV, each site has a fire pit/ring as well as a picnic table.
The crystal-clear water of the trout stream makes it easy to spot the fish
An on-site water hose/station is available for drinking water. A nearby shower house provides 6 showers (3 for the men, 3 for the women) as well as flushing toilets that are accessed by an electronic key code which the park ranger will provide for you when you pay for your site. Additional restroom facilities can be found throughout the campground that are essentially non-flushing toilets. You must go to the shower house for access to running water/sink.
Regardless if you tent camp or bring your RV, all spots are first come, first serve. While I have seen the campground very busy on holiday weekends, I have never seen it completely maxed out of capacity. They’ve done a great job at adding additional sites for both tents as well as RV’s. The first night you arrive, the park ranger will go around and collect camping fees for those who have not paid and mark the tag on your campsite indicating how long you plan to stay.
My husband Joe is about to catch a trout in this deep pool of water
At this time, you can also pay for bundles of firewood. The park ranger will sell 2 bundles of firewood per site, per day at $5 per bundle. If you enjoy an especially large campfire, you can get more firewood in town at the Cork N Bottle Liquor Store which allows you to select your own firewood pieces for a very reasonable price.
Camping rates are very affordable:
- The basic tent campsite is $10 per night
- Electric sites are $15 per night
- Electric/water sites are $17 per night
Hiking trails can be found throughout Bailey’s Ford Campground
Occasionally, we have camped in one of the primitive tent campsites but used the electrical box nearby. On these occasional trips, it’s been quite hot and a fan at night was necessary. In that case, the park ranger was very understanding and allowed us access by charging us the full electric price of $15. It was worth it.
The campground map as it corresponds to camp site rates can be found here:
Bailey’s Ford Rates and Campground Map
Located next to the shower house is an informative Nature and Visitor Center with brochures about Delaware County as well as unique taxidermy of all the surrounding wildlife/creatures of the area.
The Nature and Visitor Center at Bailey’s Ford displays area wildlife
Families will enjoy the two large playgrounds that provide hours of climbing enjoyment for kids. A small winding road thru the campground is perfect for kids to ride their bikes. There are various hiking trails found around the campground that beg to be explored. A large shelter house is available for rent to accommodate family gatherings or large groups. Enjoy a good game of horseshoes in the two horseshoe pits found near the shelter house. And finally, there is also a baseball/softball field for an impromptu game!
One of two playgrounds that can be found at Bailey’s Ford
The Chapel by the Stream provides a quiet place to reflect with log benches, a cross and even a pulpit.
The Chapel by the Stream
Did I mention that wild raspberries grow abundantly throughout the campground? I’m not going to divulge my favorite picking spot, but they are not hard to locate when they are in season!
Wild raspberries grow throughout the campground
Even on a hot day, it seems there is always a nice breeze blowing thru the campground. The shade trees and rushing stream water are almost hypnotic. I love it here!
Fishing at sunset
Camping Food
Some campsites have cooking grates that allow you to cook directly over the fire if you do not bring your own grill. Campfire food is some of my favorite! We normally bring our own portable Weber grill to speed up the meal preparation. My two favorite meals are marinated shrimp and foil potatoes for dinner and breakfast burritos. In fact, I’m so spoiled eating our campfire breakfast burritos that I don’t order them in restaurants anymore because they just can’t compare.
Here are two of my favorite meals that we bring every time we camp in greater detail:
Grilled Shrimp and Potatoes:
Buy a bag of frozen shrimp at the store and your favorite marinade. Before you leave for camping, combine the frozen shrimp and marinade in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Store on ice. You will need a cast-iron skillet for cooking over the grate or on the Weber grill. You will cook these last.
When it’s time for supper, cut up 1 ½ large baking potatoes into slices. I usually just bring the potatoes with me whole because they tend to turn brown/black once the air hits their insides. Besides turning black, slicing up the potatoes before the camping trip doesn’t save me much time anyway. Bring a box of Reynolds Heavy Duty Foil. Tear off a sheet of foil and spray with Pam Cooking Spray to prevent sticking. Place your sliced potatoes on the foil. I also like to cut up an onion and add as well. Cut up 1 stick of butter into chunks. Place the butter chunks on top of the potatoes and onion slices. Salt and pepper well. Use several pieces of foil to wrap the potatoes well into a packet so there is no chance of the butter leaking out.
You will grill the potatoes first. Depending on how big your potato foil pouch is and how thick you cut your potato slices will depend on how long you cook them. If you cut thinner slices, I will cook the potato foil pouch 10 minutes on one side, before flipping to the other side and cook another 10 minutes (20 minutes total). Bring one of those insulated food bags that you find at the store designed to keep food hot or cold. When your potatoes are done, you can easily place the foil packet in here and it will stay hot!
The shrimp are fairly easy and we cook those last. Put a cast-iron skillet on your grill or over the cooking grate. Pour the shrimp bag and marinade in and get it bubbling. Shrimp do not take very long to cook especially if you buy the pre-cooked kind so be careful not to overcook or they will get tough. When your shrimp is ready, pull out the grilled foil potatoes from the insulated warmer bag and you have a gourmet camping supper! This is our favorite dinner.
Grilled potatoes in foil and marinated shrimp – Our favorite camping supper!
Breakfast Burritos:
These initially started off with making them at the campsite. We have now sped up the process! Save yourself time by cooking them at home the night before you leave for camping. Brown the sausage at home on the stove in a skillet and then add the scrambled eggs. You can add the scrambled eggs directly into the same skillet once the grease is drained off the sausage. The egg and sausage mixture will be in one skillet altogether and easy to spoon onto the tortillas.
Take a large tortilla and microwave it for 15 seconds to get it soft and pliable. The tortillas are easier to fold this way. Spoon your egg and sausage mixture onto the tortilla. Top with lots of shredded cheese, add a squirt of sour cream and spoon salsa on top of the mixture. Fold the tortilla tucking in the ends to make your burrito. Spray Pam on a piece of foil. I prefer Reynolds Heavy Duty Foil (the thicker kind) so there is less chance of burning your burritos over the high heat. Wrap up each burrito individually in a greased piece of foil. This will prevent the tortilla from sticking when you unwrap your burrito. Place the foil wrapped burritos in a gallon size Ziploc. Be sure to keep these on top inside the cooler especially if you have melting ice so that water doesn’t get inside the bag (double bagging is also a good idea for this reason). When it comes time for breakfast, all you have to do is heat up the grill and warm the burritos (cook on each side to thoroughly warm the burrito) Again, it all depends on how hot you have your coals or grill. I usually cook 7 minutes per side. You may have to unwrap one throughout the process to test. You can always wrap it back up if more heat is needed.
Breakfast burritos are a camping staple on every trip
Of course, if you didn’t have time to pre-pack gourmet camping meals, you can easily run into Manchester and shop at their local Fareway grocery store which has a nice selection of steaks, burgers and meats to choose from.
If you are not spending the night at Bailey’s Ford, there are plenty of picnic areas where you can pull up and enjoy a scenic picnic lunch overlooking the stream. It’s a great location for a meal and the view regardless if you are camping.
There are plenty of scenic places to picnic even if you’re not camping
Lodging — Cabins
If camping is not your thing, whether that be in a tent or an RV, the Lake’s End Cabins are nearby. The cabins are literally a 2-minute drive from the trout stream and make it very convenient if you’re there to fish! However, I will warn you, the Lake’s End Cabins are continually getting booked up on weekends. They have become that popular!
Availability on the weekend is harder to come by due to the fact they only have 4 cabins. A scheduling calendar can be found here: https://www.lakesendcabins.com/
Lake’s End Cabins for those who want to “camp” with the comforts of home
The cabins have all the modern conveniences and Joe and I have stayed here a few times when it made sense as the weather might be especially hot or if we didn’t feel we had time to make all the preparations for tent camping.
Each cabin comes with an outdoor charcoal grill and a fire ring so you can still enjoy nights around the campfire!
Spacious cabins all come with a living room, kitchen, and dining room area
Lodging — Misc
If the cabins aren’t available or you would like to be in town closer to restaurants, America’s Best Value Inn & Suites provides suitable accommodations with daily continental breakfast. Conveniently located next door is a Pizza Ranch so you don’t even have to drive to supper if you don’t want to. We’ve also stayed here a few times when camping wasn’t an option and our favorite cabin was booked.
Fishing
Bailey’s Ford provides the best option for catching trout in the Manchester area. You are asked to observe the fishing limit of 5 trout per day, per person or a combined daily possession of 10 total.
I will admit, trout fishing is challenging if you are new to catching this kind of fish. It’s not like other fishing such as bass, crappie or bluegill. You don’t put a worm on the end of a hook with a bobber and wait for the fish to take it. Trout are exceptionally smart fish!
It took me 2-3 years to get really good at catching trout – they are smart fish!
The trick with trout is to bait your line and let it float down into them. Casting on top of them isn’t the best method. And these fish get bored easily! You may fish for 15 minutes with worm and then, they’ve seen it, they know what it is, and they are done with it.
The ability to switch to other bait is key. If a worm doesn’t work, try Mike’s Salmon Eggs. These are my favorite bait to use with trout. This company should be paying me endorsement fees for as much product that I buy. I’m pretty loyal to using Mike’s!
Joe has also had success using a crawdad spinner and Panther Martin spinners as well. I normally stay away from lures only because it takes me too much time to tie and re-tie when I want to switch from hooks to lures.
I have seen many people fish with cheddar cheese before but it’s not something I’ve really gotten into personally.
Because the trout stream is shaded and cool, it will have mosquitos so be sure to bring your bug spray.
My largest trout caught in 2016 was 18 inches. I caught two of this size in the same weekend!
Like a kid on Christmas morning, I’m racing down the stone steps leading to the stream to catch my first fish of the day! The winding stream has plenty of great hiding places for trout, whether they be swimming in deep pools of water or tucked along the banks under the rocks. It’s funny how wading out in the stream for a few hours can make me feel better.
When it comes to cleaning trout, trout have a very thin, delicate meat. Unless it’s an exceptionally large trout with thicker filets, Joe thinks they can be challenging to filet as the meat can fall apart when using the filet knife. For this reason, Joe likes to bake, grill or smoke our trout whole (once he has gutted them). Grilled trout or smoked trout provide a unique and flavorful appetizer at parties when served with crackers. You can conveniently grill or smoke the trout, freeze it, and bring back out at holiday parties later on.
I like to get out into the stream where I can access the fishing holes better
You must buy a fishing license with trout fee. Did you forget your fishing license? Perhaps you need some bait. Glantz Landing Sports is located at the T-intersection as you enter the east end of town and can help you out. The Walmart on the west edge of town can also provide a license and any last-minute items you may have forgot.
The DNR stocks Bailey’s Ford once a week during spring and summer months. After Labor Day, it drops off to monthly. The stocking days can be found at: http://www.iowadnr.gov/Fishing/Trout-Fishing
(Go down to “Catchable Trout Streams” to find the stocking calendar)
Other helpful park links:
A cool morning as the mist rose from the stream felt magical
Manchester – Things to Do
Prime time for fishing is 7-10am and 5:30pm til dark. That means the hours in between where fishing is slow if non-existent and you should find other things to do.
Manchester Whitewater Park
Six man-made whitewater rapids make up this stretch thru the center part of town. When you see the Burger King, turn in the parking lot to access the river. There is no cost to tube down the river unless you of course, need to rent a tube.
Tubes can be rented from Grumpy Bill’s Bar next to the river or from The Watershed.
Manchester Whitewater Park with six 18-inch drops provides hours of fun!
On a hot summer day, you can spend hours tubing the rapids. A pedestrian friendly sidewalk allows easy access to the river to repeat the trip as often as you’d like.
https://www.manchester-ia.org/whitewater-park/
Widner Drug and Gift
Gone are the days of the old-fashioned drug store, gift boutique and malt shop. Over the years, while other drug stores have gone out of business, Widner’s maintains its service to this small community for more than 70 years.
Ok, I admit, it’s a little odd to get this excited over a gift shop. Have that hard-to-buy person in your life? Maybe someone who already has everything? I have bought many unique Christmas gifts here for that special someone. Their greeting card selection is also phenomenal. I spent $95 in greeting cards alone on my last visit there in September. Since we sometimes only visit Manchester once a year, I stock up while I can!
Connected to the pharmacy and gift shop is an old-fashioned ice cream parlor that serves ice cream treats as well as burgers, tenderloins, sandwich baskets, and most items you would expect in a hamburger malt shop! A trip to Manchester is not complete without a trip to Widner’s!
Castle Theater – Even with best laid plans, sometimes it does rain in Manchester. When that happens, the local movie theater which only has 1 screen still provides the latest movies for your enjoyment.
Grumpy Bill’s
The ultimate Iowa Hawkeye Bar! If you happen to be in town during college football season, catch one of the Hawkeye games at Grumpy Bill’s! Cheap drinks and good eats. Bill doesn’t have a staffed kitchen but on game days, he may be firing up the grill. Regardless of what he may or may not be grilling, all of his bar patrons bring an appetizer/munchie to share on game days. The back table is full of a potluck assortment of goodies! I always make sure to bring my tortilla roll-ups and Joe takes a plate of smoked trout and crackers, so we can contribute toward the community smorgasbord!
It’s a full house for the opening Hawkeye game!
Now, Grumpy Bill gets his name because well, he can be quite grumpy. But what a unique individual he is. Make no mistake about it, Grumpy Bill has his viewpoints and he makes no apologies for his beliefs. He is a die-hard Hawkeye fan, a staunch Republican, and a loyal patriot of his country. Having served in the Vietnam War, he firmly believes in standing for the national anthem and honoring the flag. Be sure to check out the stunning Vietnam War mural on the outer building wall. Within this mural are the names of the 868 Iowa soldiers who died in Vietnam from all military branches. Five them were Congressional Medals of Honor.
The Vietnam War memorial mural outside of Grumpy Bill’s is quite impressive honoring our veterans
In a world where we are now stepping on eggshells for everything we say and how we say it – don’t get me wrong….there’s nothing wrong with practicing a little self-awareness. But I can’t help but find Grumpy Bill’s attitude a little refreshing. He is who he is, passionately believing in his values, with no apologies.
Grumpy Bill is one of a kind! We gave him a personally signed copy of Chuck Long’s book during our last visit.
I just love this small-town sports bar and he has a loyal group of patrons that enjoy the weekend games here. The shared food and comradery during the game makes it feel like a family at Grumpy Bill’s!
Canoeing
The Maquoketa River runs directly thru town. The portion of the river in the central part of town contains the whitewater rapids park. But if you continue down the river, you can float all the way to the Bailey’s Ford Campground. In fact, we tubed down the river to Bailey’s Ford one year when we had a few hours to kill. The Watershed will rent out canoes or tubes and even offer to pick you up at Bailey’s Ford and bring you back to town. I strongly suggest if you tube, to take a paddle/oar. There are a few dead spots in the river with no current and you will do a lot of paddling with your arms to get yourself thru those spots. A paddle would be much easier.
The Maquoketa River runs right by Bailey’s Ford making a canoe/tube trip perfect during your visit
Manchester Fish Hatchery
The Manchester Fish Hatchery, located 4 miles southeast of Manchester, has functioned as Iowa’s trout stocking station where trout are spawned, incubated and hatched each year to produce over 600,000 fish for stocking in Iowa waters. Visitors will find a fish food station on site with cups for feeding the trout. Yes, they actually have a trout stream here at the hatchery that you can fish in, but only artificial lures are allowed (no bait) which makes it extremely challenging. The drive to the hatchery has its own historic landmark. On your way to the hatchery, you will pass by historic Spring Branch Cemetery with gravestones dating back to the 1800’s.
Special Events
Delaware County Fair – Held every July. This is not just any county fair. For a small town, they put on quite the entertainment of live concert acts throughout the week!
In Summary
We’ve become such a heads-down society consumed with our electronic devices constantly checking email and connecting to social media. There is just something pure and simplistic about spending time surrounded by natural beauty and quiet to restore balance in our technology saturated lives. You can find this renewed balance at Bailey’s Ford.
Regardless if you are there to fish, picnic, tube or camp, Manchester has activities for everyone to enjoy!
