We arrived at 1045am even tho check in was 3pm (which I thought was kind of late) and no 1 was at our site bit they still wanted to charge $15 for early check in. So we took the dog and hiked Matthesion state park, which was beautiful and only a mile or so passed the starved rock state park entrance. Then we ate lunch at Jamie's, which was expensive but there was a band and the atmosphere was great! Like the previous review says, the campsites are on the river so it's beautiful but everyone is right next to one another so you better like your neighbors. Could be a blessing or a curse. We brought our own kayaks and collected our own wood but you can rent and buy those things there. Also there is no parking for it but there's a nice sandy beach along the road before the dam we pulled over to swim in!