Pine Campground — Sand Ridge State Forest

Stopped here overnight in late August. Only a few other campers on a Sunday so nice and quiet. Typical midwest tent camping on dirt, lots of mosquitoes, pit toilets.

Close bathroom but hard to tell where each campsite starts and ends. Car camping, fireplace with grill pad included. First time we camped there was only one person here, second time there is 4 other campsites taken- one of which is being unreasonably loud.

Stayed at spot A1 (near the entrance). Gorgeous little campground. I stayed here Dec. 9, 2021. Registration is just down the road and up the hill (take the main road west and a left at the fork). Facilities were clean, there was only one other camper there the night I stayed so it was super quiet, I will definitely stay here again on my next trip across Illinois. The only small bummer was the electrical box was locked when I got there, so I ended up dry camping. I was too tired to bother finding someone to unlock it. Slept great though.

We spent Christmas 2020 here! We camped in spot B4. One of the park staff stopped by. He was super nice, and offered some great info for future visits. Toilets were open, and he did mention we could still use the water spigot! Really liked our stay :)

Campground is very quiet, and we were the only campers the first night. Most sites are level some have a mild incline in the drive but would still be able to level out a camper with some blocks. No water or electric hook ups so bring your generator. There are water pumps to fill up your water tanks, but you will need a funnel to get the water in your hose since there is no threaded tip on the pump.The water here is very good and drinkable right out of the pump with no mineral flavor or discoloration. Trails here are excellent for hiking and fat biking. Trails are mainly sand. This is our second time here, first time on a bikepacking trip, and we will be back again.

This is a great campground mostly for tents though a few RVs were there too. Large sites in a pine forest with a thick bed of pine needles. Pit toilets and water are available. The orange trail (5 mile loop) starts at the campground making it easy to access the trail to check out the sandy forest and prickly pear cactus. I stayed on a Saturday night and there were less than a third of the sites in use though, frustratingly, most were reserved limiting our options though the people didn’t show up. Hiking in sand is challenging and you’ll get a work out! The campground was quiet and peaceful. About a 10 minute drive to a small town for supplies. Many, many miles of hiking so you can hike as much of as little as you like. Good trees for hammocks as well.

It’s a nice get away from the city. I haven’t stayed at any of the backpacking sites, but the main campground. It is located under a bunch of tall pines, and feels fairly open. You’re close to others, and there isn’t a lot of privacy, but it is pretty. There are a lot of trails, but keep in mind a number of them will have you walking in sandy paths (hence the name). You can even spot some cacti out there, which is a site when you’re in the Midwest. There is also a verse camp, which I have walked through. It has a large pavilion, and all the sites have 0 shade. It’s about 3 hours from Chicago, so I like to hit it up for a quick get-away to avoid paying Wisconsin prices. I have never seen it packed.

Awesome pine forest, not much traffic and great for primitive camping/bushcrafting...very few sources of water

Great little spot for some primitive camping and/or backpacking trip training.

Great trails within this park and tons of unique terrain for IL!