Best Glamping near Geneseo, IL

first timers/ young kids- yes. Primitive campers- no. My husband had never been camping. I grew up with very primitive camping- no electricity, only pit toilets, sometimes fresh water, and no showers (milk jug showers!) Little by little, I’m warming him up to camping. This is a great place for new campers, families of young kids, or just looking for an easier trip. There’s a shower house with flush toilets, warm showers, and surprisingly CLEAN! The site was medium size. Enough room to spread out. Ground was flat so finding a tent site was no problem. Electric hookup worked. Picnic table was good. Check your site before booking! One section of sites is like an open field? No trees and full view of others. But these surround a playground- also very nice. Glamping with young kids? These sites would be a perfect. AT&T and Verizon cell service worked fine

This campground is the Geneseo Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, which coming across one fine Autumn day, I was completely unaware of this organization, which apparently is America’s oldest and most successful conservation organizations. This particular chapter in Geneseo was chartered back in 1952 and shortly thereafter founded Ike’s Park located right here along the Hennepin Canal, which features among other things: picnic facilities, fishing, boating and kayaking, a boat ramp, handicapped accessible fishing pier as well as a community lodge that you can book in advance, in addition to a primitive style campground offering up some 20 or so sites on a first-come, first served basis.

To put it bluntly, this place is incredibly simple and basic, which is its beauty in a nutshell. This undiscovered little gem will make you feel as though you’ve just hit the primitive camping lottery jackpot as very few folks outside of Geneseo even know of this place. So if you’re coming from slightly further afield, you’ll appreciate getting in on something special. Upon arrival from Route 82, which if you are coming from the nearest major highway of I80, you’d be heading northbound, you need to simply hang a right onto a very modest gravel road that has an immediate declining slope upon entry. Once you turn into Izaak Walton Park, you’ll feel embraced by something truly special with mature maples and oaks surrounding you before coming across a sign marking this territory as Ike’s Place with the community lodge on the right. If you continue on, just about 30 yards further you’ll come across the self-check-in kiosk where you just need to fill out the required information and drop your$10 (member) or$20 (non-members) in an envelope and you can set up wherever you’d like.

As you are literally right next to the Hennepin Canal, you’ll want to set up as near the canal as you can get, although, you could sit back a bit further south if you’d like under the canopy of a mature treeline. Beyond the beautiful, scenic riverview, there’s just a couple of community shelters, basic restroom facilities with vault toilets, a fishing pier and a large area that faces a larger swath of the Hennepin Canal that for a short bit resembles a lake, although when you are on the water, you’ll learn it’s just the bend in the river. Here at Izaak Walton Park alongside the property immediately to the south, Geneseo Prairie Park, there’s lots of decent hilly hiking trails to keep you occupied. And of course, if you’re an angler, you’ll appreciate the quick and easy access to casting a line where you’ll be able to catch panfish, small- and large-mouth bass as well as catfish.

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) While you are north of Geneseo, you shouldn’t have too much problem with cell coverage out in these parts – we got 4 bars with Verizon and 3 bars with AT&T; (2) Not all of the sites are level, so you definitely want to check out a number of the sites before deciding upon which to choose from – where you’ll also want to keep in mind that not all of the sites have electricity, so either plant yourself near an outlet or bring a long electrical cord; (3) While there is a dump station on-site, when we were there, it was locked, so while we were able to place most of our trash in the garbage receptacles, be prepared to haul yours out with you before leaving; and (4) You’ll want to take note that you are sitting alongside the Hennepin Canal, which if you haven’t been to before, provides about 100 miles worth of some pretty amazing slow-moving current that is excellent for kayaks and canoes, so if you’ve got one, bring it, but if not, the good folks at Geneseo Campground just due north of this location across the river will rent you one.

Happy Camping!

Great place to camp! Right on the Hennepin Canal. RV, tent, Cabins, and Yurt camping. The couple that run this campsite are so sweet! Pedal bikes for kids (and grown ups), a spray ground, and more! Two local breweries in town and tons of shopping and food options.

Hhidden along the Rock River in Prophetstown Illinois is the state park campground. Plenty of sites for both tents and campers, playgrounds, shower rooms that are very clean compared to others we have been to. Walking distance from stores, and easy access to the water.

Wow!  This place is massive!  That was my first impression when visiting this family-owned and operated campground located just outside of Amboy, here in northern Illinois, where the sheer veracity of this place (some 130 acres in total) is simply enormous. While when I think of anything too oversized (big trucks, big houses, big buffet lines), I tend to cringe, because, you know, oversized anything comes with pretty big drawbacks, right?  But somehow, the concept of oversized here isn’t terribly bad – there’s space, and very good distance between you and the folks that would be your neighbors. These grounds are pretty well taken care of and very well organized. 

As for the campground, there’s a number of snaking gravel roadways that will have you navigate the entire property, which by my count, takes up about 4-5 football fields – sometimes hilly, sometimes flat – of cleared north central Illinois farmland. Surrounding the campground is a fairly good wall of brush, ancient Oak and Walnut trees, and of course, the ever-present, and now in late Autumn, completely barren corn fields. 

Amenities?  Yeah, this place has more amenities than Disneyland! The basic hook-ups for RVs can be found here (30 / 50 amp electrical, water and sewage) along with 2 heated swimming pools (although they shut off the heat towards the end of the season in late October), 2 playgrounds, ball pits, carpet ball tables (don’t ask), great fishing on nearby Lake St. George where you’ll catch blue gill, bass and even some catfish as well as Green River – which is truly the gem of this place – where you can fish, canoe, kayak, inner-tube and otherwise float down this small stream), free arts & crafts for the kiddos, kayak rentals, free WiFi in select spots (trust me, the signal is not terribly great), a cost-free bike exchange program, community library, courts of all kinds (volleyball, tennis and basketball), shuffleboard, horseshoe pits, mini-golf course (I know, I can’t believe it either!), rec room with foosball, billiards (or pool as it’s called around here), air hockey, video games, card tables, etc. There’s even a baseball diamond here! You’ll discover a laundry room, folding area, general store with snack bar, proper dump station as well as even a propane filling station. Geez, this is one long list of amenities! 

This place is family owned and operated by Dennis and Nanette Gillan – who are two of the nicest people I’ve ever met – and offers pricing by the night, week, month or by the season. Truth be told, you can drop anchor here for the whole year if you’d like, although it’s fairly desolate and deserted during the winter months. Best part? Even if you don’t have a tent or RV of your own, this place has you covered by offering affordable leasing options for both RV’s and some pretty sweet cabins. 

Here’s something noteworthy – while I didn’t get to enjoy with my family when we were visiting during the Fall, apparently, during the summer, each week has a theme attached to it (e.g. Barnyard Palooza), and subsequent activities organized around it, so if you’ve got kids that you are thinking about putting in a camp during the summer, this might be a really good option for you. Did I fail to mention that there’s even a free arts & crafts class for the kiddos every weekend? This place is truly VERY family-friendly. 

Insider’s tip? Here’s a few: (1) If you get tired of eating beans and dogs fireside, fret not, just a short drive from Green River Oaks to nearby Amboy, where I recommend the fried chicken over at Long Branch Saloon (although their family-style pasta offering is pretty good too); (2) If it’s your thirst that needs quenching, then just head on over for a tall boy at Depot Tap or Last Alarm for daily drink specials and some seriously bad Karaoke; (3) If you come bearing any sort of watercraft, while the Green River is nice, for more challenging waters to navigate, head due north to Dixon for some pretty gnarly currents on the Rock River; and (4) For a truly amazing outdoor immersion, head a bit further north to Lorado Taft, where you’ll have plenty of trails to explore, all from a scenic overlook where there’s a towering statue of the great Indian chief, Black Hawk.  

Happy Camping!

Great camping and close to the bike trail. At the time it is $22 for a camp site and $45 for a cabin. Very nice camp store and WiFi

Nice campground, well maintained. Owners and staff were very friendly. Some sites could use some gravel.

Spacious gravel sites in the trees. Clean restrooms and friendly helpful staff.

This fairly new State Park would of merited "5 stars", but the pit (aka vault) toilet smell was just tooooooo much and we weren't even close! 

PROS 

Park beautifully maintained and mowed throughout S

Site 109 shady 

Site 109 gravel parking pad level 

Moveable wooden picnic table 

Metal campfire ring with cooking grate 

Roadways easy to maneuver without obstacles 

Quite except for train whistle close by 

Partial privacy from neighbors 

Toilet/shower facility in next campground (Savanna) very clean and sufficiently stocked

 Very nice 12 ft wide asphalt bike trails 

Night sky friendly as no street lights in campground 

Firewood for sale at entrance gate 

Frequent park ranger campground drive throughs 

Double lane dump station 

Double lane portable water fill stations 

CONS 

The aroma of the pit toilet between Spruce and Savanna Campgrounds could be smelled throughout both campgrounds. Disgusting!!! No hand wash station at pit toilet 

Modern toilet/shower facility only in Savanna Campground 

No security gate closure overnight 

All trash dumpsters near campground entrance gatehouse 

5pm checkin 

No interpretive programs Monday thru Thursday

It's been a long time since I've visited this area. I remember the park here being peaceful and calm. There were always so many trees and green grass. I loved the smell in the air.

Stayed here 6/12-6/14. There are campsite super close to fishing access. Water access basically through the whole park. Sites aren’t private unless your close to the rivers or on “T” sites on the outskirts. Was kind of loud and rowdy but I didn’t kind it as much.

Prophetstown is a park that has a great deal of history about the Battle of Tippecanoe which happened on November 7th, 1811.  It was a conflict between a coalition of 14 tribes and 1,200 troops.  The indians lost and moved on to Wildcat Creek.  The park has replicas of both the indian village and the white settlement of white settlements. There are excellent bike paths and wonderful explanation of the geology of the park.  The campsites are electricity and full hookup.

good campground. Close to river and fishing. quiet.

This campground has an assortment of primitive and electrical sites. They also have cabins and canoe/kayak rental, a visitor shop with food/drink and a mini museum of the local wildlife. Great place for the family.

The campgrounds are very nice. They have clean bathrooms, a nicely stocked store, and a couple playgrounds. Thay also have an Eco Center with turtles, snakes, and an aquarium that our family really enjoyed. The grounds are on backwaters of the Mississippi so there are boat ramps, docks, and areas to fish. The camp store also offers canoe, kayak, and other boat rentals. Our site was pretty flat, although it was a little tricky backing into it. They put the site number posts at the end of the pad near the road and our site had a tree on the other side, so we had to use the grass across the road to maneuver in and out. I'm not sure what the rules are, but there were a lot of dogs not tied up. Most people kept a close eye on them, but we had a couple wander through and do their business in our site. I also didn't notice anyone cleaning up after their dogs, so walk with caution.

Gorgeous surrounding, something for everyone. No strict rules. Environmental center for kids and adults alike and a cafe. Lots of bugs, high humidity and it can flood . Electric hookups no water hookups but a pump at many sites.

Nice educational center with canoe and kayak rentals, with lots of Mississippi backwater to explore. Showers are open until October 14 this year.

Primitive tent site, fire ring/grill, cheap stay. has small camp store and newer nature center, canoe/kayak rentals, shower house, wood for fee. Can be very buggy depending on season, right along backwaters, good fishing, wildlife viewing. Has a pontoon for tours.

Turn at quarry off Great River Road/Highway 67. Plenty of sites, boat landing, kayak/canoe rentals, naturalist programs, nature center with native  animals including large fish aquarium,  cabins, park store and kitchen, shower house, pontoon  river cruises. Watch river levels for flooding, bugs can be bad since location is bottomland riverine forest.