Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Herod, IL

This is a stop-over type of campground. The sites are very close together with no privacy. There are some pull-thru sites, which is convenient. It is right next to interstate 57, so unless you're inside your camper, you'll definitely be listening to the highway. This is a pet-friendly campground, and they have a little dog park. They have a shower/laundry facility which is also convenient, especially if you're out on a big trip. Overall, it's certainly not a bad campground, but the highway noise really bothered us.

Discrimination is discrimination not matter if it is against dog breeds or skin color!!!

This small, rustic camp is at the edge of Shawnee and only had a few campers staying multiple nights with us. Then the turkey hunting season came upon us and the sites filled.

We had site choices that ended up being along the gravel forest road that goes by camp. This put us away from other dogs but caused other issues. Every vehicle that went by generated dust which then coated everything in our camp. If you come here, we suggest taking the site that is furthest from the road (it's right next to the small forest road that heads off to the hiking trails. They had shade as well as sun and no dust. 

The sites are large but there isn't any foliage between them. Luckily the dogs were in camps further away from our dog so she was able to relax. The water pump got frequent use and the twin vault toilets were plenty for the campground. 

The hiking trails that headed out from the camp were wonderful. We even hiked down the forest road and found a hidden cemetery tucked away. The river to river trail heads out from camp too - we saw a group of backpackers leave their cars and head off for the night. Garden of the Gods area is a short drive away for more hiking options.

Choose your time wisely. Camp filled up with hunters who started generators at 3 in the morning to get ready to head out for turkey. Once we realized what was going on, we put our dog's bright shirt on. Everyone was wonderful and we had some interesting conversations. It was also morel mushroom time so some people were hunting for them.

We went the weekend before Memorial Weekend and had absolutely no problem finding a spot. They were nice with variety between tucked away and fairly open spots. There are trailheads that lead down to the springs or you can just hike around. The springs were a great way to cool off on a hot day. There was actually a ton of people down there during the day but it didn't feel too crowded or dirty, everyone was having a good time letting the dogs run, or swimming. We took a hike at night and my dog stuck her snout right in a snake's face. It hissed and rattled at us but we hurried off and it left us alone thankfully. The spigots didn't pump water while we were there, must have been dried up. Overall a good experience! I would reccomend

Fern Lake has almost two separate campgrounds. One for overnight stops and one for camping. Has bathrooms, laundry and showers. Cute little lake with coats and geese and painted turtles and room for dogs to run off leash.

This campground is a small loop with sites on both sides. You pass a public picnic area on the way in. This was packed when we went. The sites were a bit too close to each other for us. Our dog needs more vegetation to mask other camper distractions. The campground is beautiful though. The main draw for us was being able to walk to the Garden of the Gods trail. The views are refreshing. The rock formations are intriguing. The trail is only 1/4 mile or so but we spent quite some time mesmerized by the unique patterns and formations. Signs gave some education but our minds expanded more by imagining how they could have been formed. This is a popular place and we did come across plenty of dogs checking things out with their humans. The big draw for this campground has to be the closeness to the trails and views.

This is a surprisingly good discovery. The sites are large and covered in gravel. Plenty of room for multiple tents. The woods are filled with poison ivy so the big camp area is very useful. There are a few vault toilets scattered around that are ok but not the best we’ve seen. A hand pump for water is near the garbage cans. We found plenty of empty sites but people were starting to fill them in. I imagine it might get full for the weekend. 

Just around the corner(or down the trail at the start of camp) is a network of hiking trails. They scurry around cliffs, falls and ravines. We found small pools perfect for a summer dip. Half the hikers were carrying towels so it must be a common plan. 

We didn’t do much hiking because our dog kept trying to hike right into the poison ivy. This would have been better with our dog sitting this one out. 

At only$10 per night, this is a great deal.

I love this campground. It's super quiet despite the gravel road nearby. The vault restroom is kept very clean. It has easy access to the River to River trail, and I love the CCC stonework. While we were there, a small pack of 3 local dogs wandered through the campground which was a bit concerning at first, but they were all friendly, so no issues there.

Spent two night at Ferne Clyffe. Camped at spot 13. Dog friendly, pretty well spaced out campsites but some are used as paths with to get to farther back campsites. Good set up, not too close to neighbors and it’s heavily wooded in between. Nice large clearing with picnic tables and outhouses. Camped in mid August and it was in the 80s during the day and 65 at night.

This campground is a nice little find, and we stayed 6 nights.  We arrived on a Thursday evening, and it was maybe half full.  However, by Saturday morning (Easter weekend) all but 5 sites had cleared out and we had the place nearly to ourselves for the rest of the stay.  Fantastic hiking right from the entrance to the campground, so there's no need to hop in the car.  The sites are quite spaced out from each other and are probably the biggest I've seen in Illinois, but I do wish there was some brush or smaller trees between the sites for additional privacy.  The grounds and pit toilets were remarkably clean, and I saw no trash or broken glass anywhere.  The bathroom was restocked with toilet paper of better-than-normal campground quality while we were there.  I would have rated this place 5 stars, but my biggest complaint is the water pump did not work, and there was no mention of this on the forestry website.  We can plan for places without water if we know ahead of time, but we were not expecting this, so we had to hop back in the car and drive 14 miles each way to stock up.  Some of the sites are a little close to the road, but it didn't matter, as the road only serves to get traffic to Bell Smith Springs trailheads and dead-ends just down the road from the campground entrance, so very little traffic and it's all pretty slow-moving due to the shape of the road.  0 cell signal, which is just what we look for while on vacation.  I did get a little irritated by the number of people with off-leash dogs that did not stay in their sites, but that's no reflection on the campground itself.

My wife, 2 grandkids and our dogs and were at site 22 from 10/10/21- 10/1\/21 camping in a Winnebago Micro Minnie 2108 TB. This was a great campground with fantastic views of the lake.

We also hiked Garden of the Gods and Burden Falls in the Shawnee National Forest. The hikes were great. I am pretty sure we will be back. The only drawback is that we had no cell service, although a quick trip to the ridge behind the campsite (1-2 minute drive)