Best RV Parks & Resorts near Dunlap, IL

Maybe it was the hand-written note taped to the office door that explained how the front office manager / owner was laid up with a bad back, so checking in was on the ‘honor system’ or the fact that we were just looking for a nice, flat and quiet place to lay up for the night that wouldn’t take us too far off course, but for whatever the reason, while we weren’t looking to hole up at Kamp Komfort RV Park & Campground, we ended up there and it was a sublime experience. 

To be blunt, Kamp Komfort is literally RIGHT NEXT to the major highway 74 running through these parts connecting Peoria to Bloomington (just 8 miles away) in central Illinois and while I know these parts incredibly well, discovering this campground along with the nearby town of Carlock, was completely a pleasant surprise. So if there is no avoiding the non-stop swooshing of traffic from the nearby interstate (and there isn’t, unless you count high-grade ear plugs into the mix), then just accept that you are in a sweet spot that offers up a very well-manicured green pasture where the numerous (by my count, nearly 50) diagonal gravel-laden RV parking spots that come with all of the expected RV hook-ups (30 / 50 amp electric, water and sewage), in addition to the other amenities that exist here, including an in-ground pool (open between Memorial and Labor Day). What you will enjoy most, apart from the ‘down-to-earth’ feeling to this place, is the very well-meaning and down-right hospitable folks you will encounter, from the people that run the place to the neighbors you will meet, there is an unmistakably strong Midwestern sense of hospitality that can be found here. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a handful: (1) There’s not much in these parts, although at only 8 miles away, if you wanted anything and don’t mind going for a short drive to nearby Bloomington, then that shouldn’t be a problem, but if you are looking for something close and nearby, and are eyeing the township of Carlock, then you’ll only find a BP gas station, the Carlock Family Restaurant that features some good ‘ol country cookin’ and that’s about it – this really is a single stop sign (no stop sign) town to revel in!; (3) If you are on the hunt for some real outdoor tent camping or really great hiking or care to dip your kayak into some really nice fresh water, then head on over to nearby Comlara Park, featuring Evergreen Lake, which has some really nice areas to explore, in particular Deer Island, which you can anchor on or near and explore this little picturesque outcrop; and (4) Should you want to ponder a great evening out and are ‘jones’ing for some really amazing restaurants to imbibe the best of what Illinois has to offer, then you’ll have to head back to Normal–Bloomington for one of the following: Portillo’s, for an outstanding Italian beef & sausage sandwich (don’t ask, just order!), Giordano’s, for some of the best deep-dish Chicago pizza you will ever encounter ... or, and here it is ... the most iconic and local Italian (by Midwestern standards. mind you) joint you will encounter in these parts, called Avantis, which features, of course, pasta, but the handmade subs are what make this place legend. 

Happy Camping!

Campground is very well kept with very clean showers and restrooms. Golf carts are allowed here which is a plus. There are some river front sites that are electric only, the full hook ups are away from the river. Some of the sites can be a bit cramped but everyone was nice so it didn’t bother me. There are a lot of seasonal campers there as well. I payed $28 a night for a full hook up.

Generally, the closer to an interstate highway, from a camping perspective at least, the worse you get, right? I mean, how can you possibly relax and forget the busy world that you are trying to escape with all of the noise and swooshing by of traffic, especially on a major interstate highway?  Seemingly though, here at family-owned and operated Starved Rock Family Campground, they’ve got absolutely no problems divorcing you from the other-worldly distractions and non-stop buzzing of 4-lane traffic once you enter this perimeter, where nature seems to be just waiting to swallow you up. Hats off to Mark & Ashley Voss who are simply lovely down-home good folks intent on welcoming everyone to their lovely roadside campground. 

Located here in the heart of north central Illinois, where you can very easily get lost in the golden hue of sweet corn or the dizzying amounts of drilled bean fields, there’s a special quiet that exists for those searching for it.  Where the noise of commerce grinds to a halt by the deafening sound of cicadas who eagerly sing you an orchestra of mesmerizing choruses that when combined with the incessant chirping of crickets, makes for one heck of a sunset serenade, especially under the ancient Oaks and weeping Willows that his area is known for. 

As for this campground, in particular, what I appreciated most is the very clear line they have conjured up between those toting RVs or 5th wheels versus those of my tribe who would prefer to sleep underneath the starry Midwestern skies with little else than a tent encampment and unobstructed views of a dark moonlit sky that shines starry illustrations of Orion, the big and little dipper, Centaurus and southern cross. 

Upon entry, you’ll discover about a half dozen sites for deluxe RV hook-ups – and by deluxe, here that means concrete pad + water/ sewer/ electric hook-ups – before meeting the main office and camp store, where you’ll check in.  Just after the office, you’ll spot a decent in-ground community pool where residents and staff alike hang out when the sun hangs high and the humidity has a way of slowing everything down here. From the main office, if you veered to the right, you’d have your choice of 3 or so perpendicular lanes that have been organized for the RVers in mind (rows A, B, C and D) with another 3 rows that run parallel to the office (rows E, F, G and H), all of which offer a mix of premium and standard RV sites that are a combination of pull-through and back-in with a combo of water, sewer and electric hook-ups. Between rows D& E, you’ve got a proper dump station and over near row G and H, you’ve got two distinct restroom facilities. On the outskirts on the western edge you’ll find the most pristine part of this campground, which I was delighted to learn that this is where the primitive campsites are located. Over in these parts, your view won’t even be tainted by having to witness RVs and all of their hook-ups.  In this enclave, you’ll be bunking next to all sorts of animals and insects that will chirp you to sleep at night (and wake you early in the dawn!), which running alongside this stretch are some pretty beautiful rows of corn. There’s also a pavilion over on this side along with a kid’s playground and, perhaps most importantly, there’s both a restroom and shower facility that is in pretty good condition – just remind yourself that you’ve signed up for primitive camping afterall. Additionally, you’ll discover a number of short walking paths, that are perfect for walking the kids or dogs, but if you want more of a hike, you’ll have to go further afield. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) Whether you’re toting a tent or driving an RV, Starved Rock Family Campground is more of a stop-over than it is a destination, unless that is, everything near Starved Rock (which is still a good 20 minute drive away) is all filled up and you are simply looking to anchor yourself somewhere for the night); (2) If you are towing a kayak or canoe like I am most of the time, I would strongly encourage you to head on over towards the actual Starved Rock where you can take your watercraft for a dip in the Illinois River for some really great currents; (3) When you get tired of trying to conjure up that next meal either from the depths of your on-board mini-fridge or Cordova cooler, and perhaps want to venture back into civilization to try some local fare, than I would highly recommend you head just a bit due south of here to try out Cajun Connection – while it’s not fancy, they do know how to fry up a good alligator tail and serve up some decent (for Cajun in Illinois that is) Jamabalaya; and (4) If you’ve ever wanted to try the best fried chicken in the world, you should be made aware that just about 10 minutes west of here, you’ll find Rip’s Chicken in Ladd, which is simply outstanding (but remember to bring cash, because this place is stuck in the 1970’s and doesn’t take credit or debit, but they sure have some nice Hamm’s on draft!).

Happy Camping!

The perfect blend of peaceful private camping and amenities! Full hook up, pool, laundry, beautiful bathrooms. The owners were wonderful and so accommodating. Mature trees on almost all spots. Quiet respectful campers. An all around great experience!

If you want to visit Peoria, this is an ideal place to stay. The campground is part of a marina on the Illinois River and not too far from downtown. We wanted to stay here so we could visit the Caterpillar Visitor Center which is totally worth the visit.

We visited the park in November and since it was the shoulder season the park was not very crowded. The park is open year-round and you will find more seasonal people during the off season. They close most of the park in the winter time which only leaves 22 paved sites available. Otherwise, they offer a mix of paved, full hook-up sites or electric only sites.  Sites that are close to the river have a great view of the skyline at night and if you don’t mind having just electric and being on sand these are great sites. There is a small beach area where you can access the water and a community fire pit which seemed to draw a lot of people in the evening.  

The park has shower/bath house that was clean as were the laundry facilities. Wifi was non-existent but our Verizon 4G phone and hotspot worked well. We were able to get a decent number of antenna television channels. The roads are paved and easy for us to navigate in our 45’ RV. Our site was paved with a picnic table and fire pit and all the hook-ups worked well.

We enjoyed the short nature trail that leaves directly from the area. The trail starts off as a boardwalk over an interesting marsh area and then transitions to a primitive trail eventually leading you to the lake shoreline. This was a great walk for our black lab who loves trails and water. Of the four times we walked the trail we only encountered people once. After a heavy rain, the low lying areas of the trail were pretty muddy so wear appropriate shoes. 

The nice aspects of this park were the location to downtown Peoria, the pretty view of the skyline and the access to water if you want to kayak, fish, or swim. The price of $27/night for full hook-up was a great rate. The downside of this campground is that sites are close and there is a bit of road noise. There are a lot of seasonal people who were up and going to work in the morning which may bother late sleepers but meant for a quiet campground during the day.

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.

Right off highway 80 we stopped in for the night on our way out West and wound up staying 2. Very clean park with lots of shade. Spaces are a bit close together but the grounds make up for it. There's a huge amount of green space surrounding the campsites and even a fishing  pond on site. Our dogs loved the GIGANTIC dog area. Lots of grass to run off their energy.  Full hook ups at a reasonable nightly rate.

The owners were very kind and made us feel welcome. Highly recommend.

We had the entire campground to ourselves on a cold weekend stay. There isn’t much area to explore- just the campground and the river shoreline within it. However we witnessed the most spectacular sunset over the river. It was well worth the night’s adventures. 

We stayed in the non-electric loop. A bunch of sites with divisions obscured by crunchy, fallen leaves. We had a picnic table and fire pit. A pit toilet and water pump are located at the building used to clean up your fishing/hunting catches. The electric sites are on the opposite side and have a couple sites that look more long term campers. The host is over there but we never saw them. Once it was dark half a dozen bright lights came on in the parking area between the two camping loops. It was close to us so our teardrop camper was well lit up inside. I covered the window to block some of the light but I would suggest camping further down away from the building and those lights. 

A main road runs right behind the campsites. They have a wood fence on the electric side but not on our side. It obscures some of the headlights. Sound died off pretty early even with a few locals pulling in to meet up with friends in the parking lot. We walked to the river and found a short trail. We stood out by the boat ramps for a nice view across the river. 

A sign shows a hiking route that you can drive to. We planned to hike it in the morning but unexpected events changed our minds. At 5 AM diesel pickup trucks pulling boats began to pull into the parking area. It was cold and dark so we stayed inside. Eventually we heard the boats heading out along with gun shots- some were nearby. We started packing up and in the process saw that they were hunting birds from the boats along the river. We chose to skip the hiking trail with the onset of hunting season. 

A 30 minute drive got us to the Hennepin Canal Trail and we hiked along it for a few miles before returning to our car and heading home. We did make one more stop at the Flour House Bakery in Princeton and highly recommend it. 

The spectacular sunset made this worth a weekend getaway but it doesn’t seem like a nice spot for an extended stay unless you plan to make more use of the river access.

This campground had spacious sites with several different sections suited towards camper trailers and tents. I stayed in the outback in my tent and had no neighbors so that was great! With a general store, laundry, and very clean bathrooms and showers there isn’t much you would need to leave for. Only reason I didn’t give it a 5 star is because I was told check out time was 2pm when it was actually earlier than that and I missed it by maybe 30 mins. An older employee came by and was a prick about it threatening to charge me another $32 for barely missing the time even though there was no rush to leave with no one coming in behind me.

Peaceful campground, well maintained, beautiful views of the Upper Peoria Lake/Illinois River. We enjoyed a nice pull-through full hookup site that required minimal leveling. Water has a lot of iron so does smell/taste weird.

Full hookups each site. On Illinois river. Has cabins for rent, showers. Check it out on google.

While we are sure never to fully know, I am quite positive that if the great Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl, who masterminded the concept behind Kon-Tiki, would have shuttered in sheer horror at the name of this otherwise quite lame roadside RV despot being confused with his inaugural expedition to navigate the currents of the mighty Pacific Ocean from its western coast of South America’s birth to its ultimate destination to the Polynesian island of Tahiti. Whatever the reason behind the name of this roadside eye sore, let’s be clear that this experience won’t end with a beautiful sunset or savory cocktail with one of those colorful toothpick handled umbrellas. 

Located in north central Illinois, and literally just a stone’s throw (or car honk away) from the very busy 4-lane highway of Interstate 80, you will discover the fairly dilapidated state of Tiki RV Park, where letters are clearly missing from the sign upon entry, followed by the paint chipping away at the decrepit two-story white front office building along with the earthquake-like cracks that exist in the single stretch of pavement that you will need to navigate before arriving to the war-torn, pot-hole riddled single lane that forms the small loop circumnavigating this otherwise gutted, quite abrasive-looking RV wasteland. And sure, while you can park your RV or 5th wheel here, where there are just the very basic of amenities including all of the traditional hookups (30 / 50 amp electric and water), the real question is, why would you? 

While I could wax on about all of the amazing experiences you will be able to access while being in these parts - like boating on the Illinois River of hiking in Mattheissen SP, grabbing the world's best fried chicken at nearby Rip's in Ladd or rappelling at Starved Rock State Park - I won’t as I sincerely hope that you read this review and choose to stay somewhere – anywhere else – where the place is actually not falling apart, where you won’t hear the white noise of speeding traffic and where you can step out of your mobile camping carriage and actually breath in fresh air, embrace nature and experience what a glorious patch of earth this special part of the Midwest has to offer. 

Insider’s tips?  Just one … mosey on from this very sad location and find somewhere else to drop anchor for the night. 

Happy Camping!

We visited the first weekend in November so we still had some leave to peep. The weather was unusually warm and beautiful so we were able to hike both days of our visit but it was packed with people who had the same idea. Also, as we left the park to go to our campsite (around 2 PM) the camp was getting a rush of afternoon hikers. The place is busy!!!

The campsite itself is off the State Park premises,which isn’t bad since it’s not swarmed park attendees not spending the night. It has an electrical hookup on each campground for RVs. There is also a bathroom with running showers and toilets, pretty nice. And there is a camp store (which is currently closed for the season). The campsites themselves vary in size and fire station. Our campsite was a little small but if you want fully forested campsites I suggest you keep your choices between #s 30 and 100.

We had a blast, the state park itself was fantastic, plenty to see. Starved Rock and the other peaks were fantastic and Wildcat Canyon was a sight to behold. Illinois Canyon is huge and worth the visit. I understand that with the spring runoff there are many waterfalls to behold. We plan on coming back then. Great place to camp!!!

Perched on Upper Peoria Lake where the Illinois River conjoins, this family-friendly and pet-inviting lush camping outpost is completely surrounded by Spring Bay Fen Nature Reserve, absolutely guaranteeing a sublime encounter with nature on top of offering direct waterfront sites that will frame one of the most beautiful sunsets as you look west to Peoria during Happy Hour. In all, there’s about 80 sites – all of which are incredibly spacious, unlike a lot of other RV parks – to choose from at Millpoint, where a slow meandering gravel lane will have you navigating around the campground where you’ll take good note of the excellent shade that is provided everywhere.

From an amenity standpoint, Millpoint Park packs a punch with a combination of back-in and pull-thru sites offering up standard water, sewage and electric hook-ups, relatively new picnic tables and in-ground fire rings as well as a designated dumpster upon exiting the grounds. There’s a fantastic boat launch that will have you fishing, kayaking and experiencing this body of fresh water shortly after you anchor into your spot for the night.  In fact, you don’t even need to get into a boat, by accessing one of 2 small little lakes where you can simply cast a line in from the dock or around the perimeter. The meticulously clean restroom / bath house facility is located near the front adjacent to the main office, where next to this are 3 cabins that can be rented, just in case you forgot your tent or RV. Additionally, there’s decent hiking paths to explore both north and south of the property, with the latter offering up a small beachhead at Funks Run. The place also sells firewood, but if you need anything else, you’ll need to head south towards town where there’s no shortage of shops and restaurants.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) If you are a tent camper, there’s 3-4 designated areas for primitive camping, but if you’d like something less primitive and with access to water and electricity, then book yourself into one of the 5 designated tent sites: #233-#237, of which I recommend #236 and #237 as they have a small waterfront area flanking the southern perimeter; (2) The water here has a lot of iron in it, so don’t attempt to drink it, but according to the locals, it’s fine to shower in, so I would encourage you to bring a decent amount of bottled water with you; (3) If you haven’t camped out here in central Illinois during the summer, you will want to bring good DEET spray to keep the ticks away as well as hard-core smoke or scent-fused candles that are peppermint, eucalyptus or lavender-scented to keep the gnats at bay; and (4) The owner, Don, is quite possibly one of the most accommodating and friendly campground owners I have ever met– so don’t be shy if you need anything at all during your stay, including a discount to his pizza restaurant.

Happy Camping!