Best Campgrounds near Kankakee, IL

This campground was easy to access, clean, and had a very easy going vibe. The camp hosts were really fantastic and made it feel like family.

The sites are straightforward and vary quite a bit: some are huge with open green space and others I feel like just for a car and a tent. Our site was perfect with trees to hang a hammock on and for the kids to run around.

The shower house was good. We went during July 4th so it was busy (the toilet paper was completely out when I stopped by and it looked like some kids had a water balloon fight in there) but the team came out to clean up promptly. There are vault toilets, water, and trash cans in each loop.

The river was nice to visit and we were able to take the kids to some knee deep water to play (swimming is NOT allowed in the river). Playgrounds are unfortunately exposed so it was not suitable for the 100 degree days we had.

We did have a really awesome time at the main office/nature center, where my kiddos got to feed and hold a variety of reptiles!

Very solid, basic campground.

Last minute stop for an overnight on the way to another sight. The information online was scarce (navigation was able to get me most of the way there, but had to use a map and some common sense to find the actual camping zone).

It was dark by the time I’d arrived. There’s a local bar that was still hopping nearby. Generators are allowed, so there was a hum of one running all night but it was no bother at all.

Otherwise, entirely peaceful and quiet. Only a few campers here on a weekday night.

Affordable rates. Grateful for the night. I will almost certainly return!

OMG where do I even start? It’s Illinois. It’s all corn and soy until the actual park which is just a few trees along a very industrialized and ugly river. This was just a stopover and we weren’t expecting much for nature, but it somehow had less than I expected.

Stopped at the office which was closed (4pm on summer Saturday). A sign said to just go set up. There is an initial sign pointing you in the general direction of Whitetail, but then more intersections with no indication of which way to go so you get to drive around aimlessly until you find the right place. Hint: go in the direction of the Lock.

Once we finally found Whitetail, I was getting quite discouraged. In the non-electrical side there is a giant ugly unnecessary lawn in the middle of a loop with sites on the outside of the loop. There is one vault toilet at the very beginning of the loop that would mean probably a 5 minute walk at least to get to the toilet if you’re on the farther end of the loop. The sites are ugly. It’s just weedy vegetation that looks more like a disturbed junk yard or ditch than a nature area.

Our site could have been fully enclosed with shrubs or brush but had a large opening to the next site, so no privacy. But there was almost no place to put our small tent, especially since, at the end of a very long trip, our pads no longer stay inflated and we need somewhat flat ground under our them.

The “fire pits” are weird like fireplace insert things and so previous campers have built fires on the ground all over. The vegetated area surrounding the site was covered in litter. The “fire pit” was completely full of someone’s garbage. I wish I had taken a picture before leaving. There were shingles, a charred baking pan, other garbage, and even a 10 foot long metal furniture thing? Idk what it was but the campground is clearly not managed at all or they would have cleaned that stuff up. There was a bunch of fishing line strung from the trees as if people were using it to hang things and then just left it there?

The good thing is that there was cell service so we used it to book a hotel room and left immediately. Wasn’t able to successfully cancel my reservation. You have to call the park directly to do that and I don’t know if they are ever actually open for that.

We stayed here while visiting relatives in Marseilles, and this park was the closest. Things here were fine for our purposes. I don’t see this as a great destination. During our stay, the place needed mowing and the men’s shower and bathroom didn’t have water, but the women’s side had ALL the water running-the sinks where you push to turn on and they go off on their own didn’t go off. Both showers were running. The next morning, the women’s sinks were better, and I was able to reach in to turn off the shower. We did take a morning walk along the river and we enjoyed MANY different birdsongs.