Looking for the best options for camping with dogs near Champaign? Camping is an adventurous and unique way to escape the city—and you can bring along your furry friend. Search nearby pet-friendly campsites or find top-rated spots from other campers.
For campers, Kickapoo SRA has a variety of options for tent, trailer, and group camping, with 184 sites at the facility. Electrical hookups are available on sites 1-101, with both 30 and 50 amp service on selected sites. Centralized water spigots exist throughout the campground, but may be turned off due to freezing temperatures. Two shower buildings are available as well as a sanitary dump station at Kickapoo for camper use. One shower building will stay open to allow year-round camper access. Campers occupying electrical sites are required to pay for electricity even if the service is not used. Walk-in sites are available to campers throughout the year and can be obtained from the campground host at the check station.
The maximum length of stay is 14 days in a 30-day period and all campground guests must check in with the campground host before entering the campground.
Campers must have camping equipment with them the day they register to camp as well as occupy the site that day. All campers must obtain a camping permit from the campground host or through reservations before entering the campgrounds. Reservations for the main campground are available from May 1st to Oct 31st at ExploreMoreIL™ and any camping outside of this timeframe will be at a first come first serve basis.
$10 - $20 / night
$40 - $20 / night
There are 17 Class AA campsites, 277 Class A campsites, 9 Class B/S campsites and 5 Class C campsites at Clinton Lake, with most adaptable to either tents, trailers or motor homes. The campground is open year-round with the exception of the full week prior to first firearm deer season. No entry is allowed in the Mascoutin area during that time, for a special firearm deer hunt. Showers and potable water are available from mid-April to November (weather depending). Each site is equipped with a grill and picnic table. Reservations can be made online at the Reserve America website. Camping loops H, I, J and K are alcohol-free. Camp Quest Group Camp, located off Route 54 at Birkbeck, is an area for adults or youth groups and has room for 75. It provides a secluded wooded setting and has a large shelter with electricity, three RV pads with electrical hookups, toilets, tables, grills and water. No shower facilities are present at the group camp area. Portions of the Class AA, A and B/S and the group camp are handicapped accessible.
$10 - $30 / night
Prairie Pines Campground is a great place to get away without going far away. The campground is a great place for family fun and relaxation. Prairie Pines Campground features 95 lots, each with hookups for water, sewage and electric. The campground is open year round with handicap accessible restroom, shower, and laundry facilities. The sites are spacious, mostly pull thru, and can accommodate big rigs. The pet limit is 2 dogs. Limited wifi is available. There's a pavilion for group gatherings.
Take a break from it all without breaking your wallet by camping at Friends Creek Conservation Area. Pitch a tent and spend a night under the stars or hook up your camper to one of the electric sites. Friends Creek Campground is a quiet place to relax, explore nature, and spend time with family and friends. Open May 1 – November 1.
Campground includes electric and non-electric sites, showers, flush toilets, and a dump station.
Daily fees for electric sites are $17 for Macon County residents and $20 for non-residents. Non-electric sites are $10 for Macon County residents and $12 for non-residents. A large group campsite is also available for $25/night for up to 25 people, and $1/night for each additional person up to 60. There is a $5 non-refundable reservation fee for all campsites.
Complete campground information and rules.
Reserve your campsite by calling 217-423-7708 (Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm). There is a $5 non-refundable reservation fee.
Weekend reservations must be made by that Thursday at 3pm.
Minimum 2-night stay for holiday weekends (Memorial Day, Labor Day, and Forth of July).$10 - $25 / night
Traveler
How about doing a fact che k before giving bad info? It states in the very first section telling about the park that ALL CAMPERS MUST OBTAIN A PERMIT FROM THE CAMP HOST OR RESERVATIONS, but on the pro section you tell us that we don't need a permit. You know hmmmm I just got a warning g ticket from AC DNR for camping without A PERMIT FACT CHECK YO SHIT, DO YOUR JOB
Scout
Lovely little campground with its own little lake. Well maintained. Clean laundry. Friendly and helpful owner. Visible presence throughout campground checking that all is well.
Traveler
One of our favorite camping trips so far!
We stayed in the J loop, which was more family friendly and very close to the beach. There was a walking path from our site to the shore which was perfect for our young family to go back and forth on.
Sites were somewhat open but there were tons of trees and grass behind each spot so it didn’t feel so exposed. We loved the option for fishing and swimming in a nearby watering hole.
We heard the toilets and shower house were brought a portable toilet since we have small kids who might not make it to the outhouse so we never used the campground toilet/facilities.
Definitely our vibe of being more secluded and on the water.
Scout
People are very nice and the campgrounds are clean. Plenty of site room and clean and updated shower and washing machines. Rates have gone up to $40 per night
TravelerMy mistake for not researching this place further but it was listed on the dyrt’s free camping sites, but this is a paid/reservation based site. Unfortunately we arrived passed check in (which starts at 3pm) and couldn’t stay here for the night
Legend
If you’re passing thru and need a place to stay this is it. Very little to no grass and no trees were the biggest downside. But everything else from there was an upside. Pickle ball courts, playground, trash, full hook ups, clean, right next to the freeway and convenience store for quick getting in the road the next day.
LegendOur Garmin RV GPS’ conflicted with our new Ford RV navigation, wanting to take us a more direct route and Garmin through town to this city park. Either route would have worked but suggest you locate the campground(CG) on the map and verify the route with Google Maps or Waze. Check-in was at the camp host site near where you enter the campground near the shower house building in the center of the CG. After a quick check-in we were escorted to site 13 with FHUs. This site is technically a back-in but our host brought us around by the swing set to make it an easy pull-through. The utilities worked well and we got 3 bars on Verizon. There are a lot of mature trees. They have a nice shower house complete with laundry. This CG was well kept and a great choice for an overnight stay as we headed to our home base near St. Louis, MO.
Traveler
Friends Creek is a small campground with nice spacious sites and super clean bathhouses and pit toilets. The fire pits are well kept and the camp host was very kind! He came around with suckers for the kids and just to check in. We hiked a bit on the trails and played in the creek. Highly recommend.
ScoutWe had a fantastic time here. We came during Fourth of July and never felt like it was overly crowded. Sites were spacious but wasn’t much privacy, which didn’t bother us because it allowed for our kids to play with the other kids easily. Our site was adjacent to numerous paths that easily led to the beach, playground, the rocky path for fishing, and a secluded swimming hole. We couldn’t have asked for a better location for our family and our interests. We did not use the toilets or showers, although it looked like they were in working order as others were using then. We had a cloudless night and the stars were spectacular.
GuideCamp sites in the middle are on the smaller end but side sites have plenty of room. Drive is paved and pretty level. They have tubes kayaks and cannons
Guide
This is a really lovely spot! There’s 2 bars of Verizon service, a shower house with warm water and flush toilets, as well as pit toilets. There are a few hiking trails that leave from the campground as well. My only problem was that it was extremely busy when I visited and some of my neighbors were quite loud (although they quieted down by quiet hours).
TravelerI wrote out a 4 paragraph review and somehow it was just completley erased. Will update later.
Guide
Nice campground with out of this world views!
Guide
This is a lovely campground with large dispersed camp sites. There is an on-site restaurant that has stayed busy, and we are here the second weekend of April. Cafe also sells firewood when in stock and rents out boats and kayaks. John, the host is very sweet! Electric only with a dump station. Bathrooms are clean and well maintained, I like that size of the showers. Fishing is good. A beautiful weekend for our first time here.
ScoutSaw that you could make your reservation when you got there. Turns out there’s a tablet at the front gate that will let you get through the first 10 minutes of standing in the weather to make one, then when you get to the payment screen they have security turned on so it blocks the page and you cannot make the reservation. Then, you have to go onto your phone, to a site nowhere mentioned by loves until you get to the site, and are blocking traffic while trying to figure all this out because yes, there is a coded gate to get in and out. So you block traffic because now there’s RV’s and Semis backed up behind you while trying to figure this all out. So you finally get the reservation made, ($64.99 btw, not even close to the $34-$39 estimate). Then you go to check in on the same tablet from before, put in your confirmation code, and the screen pops up for 0.25 seconds before popping up and saying that this page has been blocked by an administrator. At this point I’m just pissed that I’m blocking traffic, loves tablet isn’t working, I can’t get through the gate, and when I called the number posted on the booth, it goes through their entire automated system before going to a guy that says I can walk over to him in loves if I need help. Finally and email check in confirmation popped up with the gate code. You get backed in on a nice concrete slab with nice grass. You connect to the WIFI you paid for to find out it’s got like a rolling drop, where every 5-7 seconds it disconnects you for 5-7 seconds. Power/water/sewer hookups were all very nice. Good water pressure. My last complaint has to do with the “maintenance” guy. My girlfriend was walking one of our pups as I was packing up. As our pup was pooping, my girlfriend started unwinding a poop bag out of our bag holder, the maintenance guy drives up and rolls his window down, and tells her to come over to his truck. So she walks up to his window and he sees she already has a baggy, so says, “oh, I was going to ask if you needed a baggy. But I see you’ve got it. Then points over to a camp site that is not ours and asks or the two pre-bagged poops sitting on the slab are ours. She says “no, we have green bags”. It was at that point that he tells her to go pick them up anyways. Being non-confrontational, she does, and then he gets super sarcastic asking her where it is she’s going to put all of them once she picks up our dogs poop as well to which she replies, “um, the garbage?” Before he drives away.
If I pass through here again, I will just stay in a truckers spot and pull my generator out so we have HVAC. For double the price of most campsites, I DO NOT recommend.
For those of you that want to give it a go anyways, the site to make the reservation on is camplife.com.
TravelerSuper convenient, great facility. Sites are concrete and level. If you’re getting off the highway for an overnight stay these Loves are perfect. This one is well located for our travels and we’ll be back. Did this stay completely online.
Scout
Stopped here for lunch and stayed about an hour. Easy to find, multiple shelters with grills. Some light paths and a playground.
Traveler
Small. Quiet. Pretty. Two small lakes with fountains. You can hear the fountains at night, it's nice. Excellent price for tent camping.
LegendThis review is from the point of view of an overnight or short-stay campground(CG) versus a destination CG. The CG was easy to get to as it was right off the interstate and adjacent to the Loves main facility. We did the online check-in, but a nice gentleman met us for a formal check-in at their gate and office/shower/laundry facility. We then proceeded to pull through site 43 with full hookups. We paid$42 for the night with a military discount, plus$2.70 in transient tax and a$3.00 booking fee. The CG is fairly new, as our RV GPS didn’t show this Loves address. The campsites are decently spaced, and all the utilities worked fine. As this is a new CG, there are no trees, so no problem with satellite, plus there are plenty of OTA channels. We got 3 bars on Verizon. The water pressure is also good at around 50 psi. There are little barbecue pavilions and a community fire pit. We were pleasantly surprised at the adequately sized fenced dog area with separate large and small dog areas. There is a concrete sidewalk that leads you out of the CG over to the Loves facility. As this RV Park is right off the interstate, you get highway noise.
Guide
This was a quick overnight in a tent on a road trip for me. Site 75 was what was available when I booked last minute. It's level with grass to pitch a tent but definitely in a loop of the park better suited to travel trailers/RVs etc. Not much privacy between sites but backs up to woods. The bathrooms were clean with good hot showers. Would return again if I could snag a tent loop site.
GuideWe used this as a quick unplanned one night stop. It’s right off the highway and easy to get in and out of. Full hookups, level sites and everything you need.
TravelerI can only speak about the non-electric sites. It was a weeknight so I only saw 2 other occupied campsites in the whole area (did not see the campers though). Being that it was empty it wasn’t bad. If it was full I think it wouldn’t be quite so nice. It’s very open.
ScoutBrand new, clean, well laid out. Easy in, easy out. No need to enter the truck stop. Showers in separate building. It's at the junction of two Interstate highways, and the trucks idling all night make it a bit noisy, but a great place to get off the road after a day's drive.
GuideIt’s crowded near the road but spreads out well at the back of the site. Lots of people here today
GuideBeautiful campground located right off I-74! The sites are mostly wooded and relatively level. Clean, spacious shower houses. Only complaint I have are the weeds being quite tall between sites.
Traveler
This was our first visit here, we haven't typically stayed so close to home. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the campground was completely full. The sites are pretty small. But even being small and on top of each other, the campground was quiet and still at night. The bathhouse was only mildly gross but it wasn't unexpected. I didn't use the pit toilet houses. Overall, we were happy there and enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun trip.
LegendLet me begin by saying that I scored this Love's RV Stop as high as I did not because it is my ideal camping spot - it isn't - and I don't think anyone looks for a spot to camp out on next to a super busy highway next to a commercial big rig gas station, but if you are doing some heavy duty highway traveling with your RV or 5th wheel and simply need a place to hold up for the night, then this place really is pretty amazing. With that in mind, hopefully you'll pay this place a visit, stop, get fueled up, rest for the night and enjoy the convenience and easy on- and off-access that this place provides. With this in mind …
This spot is brand spanking new, incredibly flat and offers up all the flat poured concrete where you want it and freshly poured gravel where you drive and all the other parts are surrounded by freshly sodded grass that has already grown in to near maturity everywhere else. Conveniently located on the highway axis where I39 / US51 meets I55, here in central Illinois in the city of Bloomington, Love’s RV Stop is an incredibly convenient and easy access spot to drop your RV anchor for the night. Extra points to Love’s RV Stop for providing gated key-pad entry and 24 hour CCTV security delivering a real feeling of safety throughout your roadside RV or 5th Wheel stay.
The convenient app-managed reservation system is seamless and provides for an incredibly simple, remote check-in and payment process. You’ll find back-in or pull-through as well as ADA accessible sites with full hook-ups with water, sewer and choice of either 30 or 50 amp electrical at every site. At the main kiosk where you’ll check-in, there’s a brand new spartan clean single person shower facility as well as individual men and women’s restrooms in addition to a coin-operated laundry facility. Additionally, the property has 2 covered pavilions with picnic tables and gas-powered BBQ grills, community firepit that can easily seat a dozen people, 2 pickleball courts, kid’s playground and a dog park with real grass for the pups to do their business on. Now granted, you'll be enjoying all of these amenities right next to all of the swooshing highway traffic, but surprisingly, we all got over this very quickly!
Because Love’s RV Stop is connected and managed by the neighboring Love’s Truck Stop, you’ll have nearby access to their full convenience store, as well as ATMs, Bojangles Restaurant (mediocre BBQ at best), as well as additional shower facilities along with, but of course, all the gas you can pump by the gallon. But if it’s something simple like firewood, ice, sundries or snacks, you can get these items back at the Kiosk and there are 2 soda vending machines as well as an ice machine behind this small building as well.
Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) As you are literally on the corner of one of the busiest highway intersections in the entire Land ‘O Lincoln, there is no escaping where you are at, no matter how high they build the fence or how many bushes and trees they place between you and the 8-lanes of rushing passerby traffic and there’s not a single site here to escape the noise, so bring your earbuds if it bothers you or crank up some Van Halen;(2) If you are looking for something more than the stale coffee or the Bojangle’s food they are serving up at the truck stop, there are endless chain options like Starbucks, Dunkin’, Moe’s Southwest Grill nearby as well as further afield; (3) If you want my top recommendations for restaurants that are worth the drive, try out Giordano’s for Chicago deep dish pizza or Portillo’s for their Italian beef & sausage sandwich (don't ask, just order and send me your thanks later); and (4) If you are looking for something to do with the kiddos, head on over to Miller Park Zoo for the wild animals, performances and mini-golf or try out Grady’s Family Fun Park, which is an amusement park with rides and games.
While scoring criteria may vary from one person to the next, here are the 5 most important criteria that informed my rating of this overnight location: convenience (EZ on- and off-access), safety & security, quality (of facilities), peace & quiet and amenities (either on-site or nearby). Here’s how I ranked this particular overnight spot:
Convenience: 5
Safety & Security: 5
Quality: 5
Peace& Quiet: 4
Amenities: 5
Overall, I scored this location a 5.
Happy Overnighting!
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Champaign, IL?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Champaign, IL is D & W Lake RV Park with a 5-star rating from 11 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Champaign, IL?
TheDyrt.com has all 31 dog-friendly camping locations near Champaign, IL, with real photos and reviews from campers.