Best Tent Camping near Highwood, IL

We stayed in the primitive tent area near the back of the park. It is walk in.

There was a pole for a lantern, a picnic table, a fire ring and tent pad. There is one clean flush toilet and shower per each gender (the shower stall was spacious with plenty of hooks and benches). There were also vault toilets not too far away. The water spigot was pretty far away though. There were plenty of garbage cans.

There were a few small trees but very little shade. On hot days I think a pop up shade shelter would be necessary to make it bearable.

Overall it was pretty quiet.

The last night we were there a large group of people with their tents showed up. There were not enough tent pads or picnic tables for all of them. I don't know if it was the park that booked so many people or if it was the group that overbooked.

I've camped here four different occasions this 2020 covid-19 year. The staff are super nice and the campground has great social distancing rules in place for the check-in shack and bathrooms. It is a super clean campground with multiple hosts and forest preserve staff. There are a large number of RV pads overlooking the prairie and a few along a grove of trees. I was lucky once to see the equestrian area full of campers with their horses. There are 9 walk-in tent sites about 10-20 yards from parking (the two at the end p7 and p9 are connected for groups that know each other). There are multiple ada sites and two "walk-in/ie roll-in" site in the tent-only area. It's a good mix of young people, retired people, and families. I've seen weekends with mainly RVs and one weekend with a quarter of the drive-in sites being tents. The most shaded sites are p1,3,5,7 and 9. Many of the sites in the middle are wide open with little shade but nice summer breezes. Prices are a great deal if you live in Kane county but still worth the trip if you live in another county. Firewood is $7 for about .75 cu ft (what you can fit in a milk crate.) There are a few trails and I've seen lots of butterflies, gold finches, hawks, deer, flocks of giant sandhill cranes, rabbits, ground squirrels, and of course actual squirrels. Lots of people (including me) bring their leashed dogs. The other campers have been polite and friendly. I wish there was more distance between sites in the water/electrical loops for more privacy, but I'd go every weekend if I lived in Kane county because it would be worth the resident price even tho there are so many RVs. Because there is electrical it is a peaceful campground with no generator noise.

Very impressed with this state park! It was huge, almost 3 miles just to our site! The showers were clean. The spots were large and wooded with nice fire ring set ups. The staff was very helpful answering any questions and giving recommendations. We stayed on a primitive/wilderness site for $12 with no electric. They will allow anyone on these sites-we even saw huge RV'S and 5th wheels on primitive sites.

There are amazing trails through park for people to hike, bike, or ride horse on.

Spring Grove is a tiny town nearby with a little corner bar called “The Grove”. They serve amazing food with great service. Very clean! I recommend checking it out if you’re looking for some good food.

Thomas Woods campground has some great sites, particularly the tent sites. Many of them are set off a short distance from the parking area. I stayed at site 30 which was less than a tenth mile from the parking spot. There are no trash cans at the site, the dumpsite is near the entrance. Most of the roads are one way so after dropping the trash off you must drive all through the campground to get back to your site. The site itself had plenty of room and privacy. The woods are dense and block all views of the neighboring sites. Unfortunately, I think some people think if they can’t see you, you can’t hear them. Every site has a raised pad for a tent. This was very nice. I did track in some of the small gravel into the tent, though. It looks like kitty litter. Not a big deal. It was nice sleeping flat and not sliding off my sleep pad.

Near Marengo Ridge is a bike trail called H.U.M. Trail. It is only 3.5 miles long. From what I understand is they lost funding for the project. The path is paved and offers a scenic forested view. The hiking trails of Marengo Ridge are the true stars of the area. I walked for almost two hours and still didn’t see them all. Some of the trails have wide paths of grass while others are single-track dirt. 

As other reviewers have written, the mosquitoes are insane.  Bring plenty of bug spray!

My website:  https://www.lost13.com/camping/2020/7/13/marengo-ridge

My video:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lh4TzLzf\_PY&t=1s

*** reviewing as a baby/toddler camp family on the go :-) we chose the loop 11 was on because it was close to the path to the playgrounds and lakes plus bathrooms… avoid the first 2 sites from either end as the ones closest to the main loop aren’t very deep. Closer to the center of this row is best.

Pros- easy pull in sites and lots of walk-in availability. Sites are almost all flat thankfully, so no weird slopes to sleep on and easy for babies/toddlers to stay safe. Also seemed pretty respectful in the evenings with people toning down the noise.

Lots of electric sites, deep enough for 2 tents, 2 cars (although close to neighbors and no trees between sites), picnic table and fire pit.

Bathroom shower houses were decent (we usually just have toddler use her travel potty, but this one was fine).

Multiple playgrounds, access to launch sites for kayaks, little store to buy ice cream or snacks.

Cons - SO many ticks. With a baby crawling that needed to be set free, we were constantly doing checks. Luckily our screen house pop up on a tarp that was sprayed ahead for tick repellent plus a blanket on top of that did the trick, but they literally fall out of the trees into people! Plan for toddlers and babies to have a contained covered screen house and have them wear hats or a wagon shade on walks so nothing lands in their hair.

Also - the raccoons at night here are no joke. The second it’s dusky, they come scavenging for absolutely anything food has touched. So basically, eat dinner and do s’mores early, then everything must be packed into cars for the night and all surfaces wiped down.

This campground is in a populated area but the nature preserve is big. We rarely saw traffic once here. A train goes by a couple times but it was always during the day. 

It’s pricey if you are from out of the county. We were hoping to camp at the primitive sites but they are walk-in only. Our teardrop wasn’t allowed. We settled at site 37 and enjoyed our stay. There are vault toilets but the large number of big RVs meant they were not used often leaving them almost like our private restrooms. Each site has water and electric. Trees are around the outside with few on the inside sites. All the sites have paved pads. 

The highlight of our experience is the hiking. There are miles of trails. On one hike we were on paved, sifted gravel, grass and single trek trails. There are a lot of loops giving you options. When we left we still hadn’t hiked all of them. 

If the price was more reasonable we would certainly be back. If you need the water/electric then this is a great choice.