Looking for the best McClure pet-friendly camping? Finding a place to camp with your dog in Illinois has never been easier. Search nearby campgrounds that allow pets or find top-rated spots from other campers.
Located in the Middle of Southern Illinois just Off I-24 it is a great place to stay while you explore all the the Shawnee Forest. From Giant City to Garden of the Gods. The Tunnel Hill bike trail is a half mile away and Cache River is just down the road. We have 60 Full Hook up sites. Large pull through sites up to 120 feet long. We have Shower Houses and Laundry Facilities. Our Campground is Open Year Round.
$40 / night
Turkey Ridge is for campers who want a serene outdoor experience. It is a Class C walk-in campground that includes camp pads, picnic tables, cooking grills and showers. Drinking water and toilets are located near the parking lots.
$18 / night
Deer Ridge campground is a well-shaded Class A facility offering gravel pads with electricity, picnic tables and cooking grills. Drinking water, showers, flush toilets and a sanitary dump station complete the setting for campers who prefer to include a few comforts of home with their outdoor adventure.
Turkey Bayou Campground
Located in Oakwood Bottoms, Turkey Bayou Campground is a great location outdoor activities including waterfowl hunting, deer hunting, trapping, fishing, nature watching and bird watching. The campground is next to a 20-acre lake on the Big Muddy River with close proximity to the Big Muddy boat launch and the Oakwood Bottoms Greentree Reservoir. There is no charge for camping at Turkey Bayou, but there is a 14-day maximum stay. The campground does not have water or toilets. The site frequently floods during heavy rain periods.
Our partner, Friends of Turkey Bayou helps maintain Turkey Bayou Campground.
A favorite with waterfowl hunters, Oakwood Bottoms offers so much more from excellent bird watching to fishing opportunities and primitive camping at Turkey Bayou Campground. Picnic with your family or youth group at Oakwood Bottoms picnic site and take a short walk into the bottoms on the wooden boardwalk trail that loops back to the picnic area. The site also has a large picnic shelter next to a large pond, where you can enjoy watching ducks and other birds visit the pond in search of food.
Bell Smith Springs is one of the most beautiful recreation areas the Shawnee National Forest has to offer. It contains a series of clear, rocky streams and scenic canyons bordered by high sandstone cliffs and an abundance of vegetation unique to Illinois. The trail system consists of eight miles of interconnected trails featuring strange and wonderful rock formations, such as Devil's Backbone, Boulder Falls and a natural rock bridge. Hiking this system of trails is a favorite activity because of the rock features, scenic overlooks, hidden springs and lush flora and fauna.
$15 / night
Our park features paved roads, large concrete pads and patios, picnic tables, large shade trees. We have ice, soda, snacks, firewood with a few selected camping supplies and much more.
Pine Hills campground has level campsites with open grassy areas between campsites. Popular with hunters in the spring and fall, the campground is also ideal for those who like to view nature, go birding, hike or take a scenic drive. Pine Hills Road leads to the top of the bluffs and features panoramic views of the LaRue Swamp and Mississippi River floodplain. Located adjacent to one of the largest natural areas in the state Pine Hills is ideal for nature lovers. In addition the Snake Road, located at the bottom of the bluffs is closed biannually to vehicular traffic, to protect the thousands of the reptiles and amphibians as they migrate between their summer and winter habitats. Pine Hills Campground Map
$10 / night
Great little spot right off the interstate. Lots of nice scenery and decent fishing.
Very quiet and secluded. Campsites are roomy and some firewood is supplied.
Large park with not many large RV sites. Lots of tent and dispersed camping. Disappointing store. Equestrian area. Beach and boat launch.
Nobody here. Bring a fishing pole. No services except a porta potty.
Stopped here for the night driving through the area. Nice campground, clean, safe, and right off the interstate.
There are only two camp site at this location and they are very close to each other. The camp sites are also very narrow. We camped in the lower site and had a difficult time getting everything out of the road.
On the positive side, the site was clean, there was nobody there over the weekend and there was a humming bird. The pond had lots of frogs and and a few fish.
We stayed 4 days and had a great time. The camp was clean and well maintained. The staff are very friendly and helpful and was more than happy to offer places to visit in the area, places to eat and provide assistance as needed. The trails are paved so we had a nice area to walk (twice around the lake from our site was 3 miles). :) We plan to visit again!
Beautiful spot with easy access and not far off the highway
Great little stop, everything is clean and a fresh shower was refreshing.
This campground was essentially an RV park. Only big rigs, some sites well spaced physically but no privacy in between so feels like everyone staring at each other. Some of the waterfront sites okay privacy-wise, but not most. Hookups work well, but bathrooms in terrible condition - especially showers.
The whole place also smells like dead fish. We saw a raccoon go right through our campsite so be careful what you leave out, also tons of geese and saw two baby copperheads.
The lake is at least really pretty and there’s a small beach area.
This is a spectacular place if you are looking for private and semi-private dispersed campgrounds that you can drive up to. Great hiking around the area.
The road to get into the primitive camp area is long, and just a little bumpy but we had no problem in a 4x4, also saw volvos and subarus do just fine. Sprinter vans would be fine. Was pretty dry when we visited, could see the road getting a little sketch after big rain. Definitely not gonna be fun for even small RV's. Tough turnarounds for large trailers or 5th wheels.
Location is everything and this is well in the middle of a great area in Shawnee National Forest. Garden of the gods, Bell Smith springs, Ferne State park, and on and on. You can spend a week here and not see everything.
There are primitive and electric (with water) sites. There are no sites with sewer hookup. There is a dump station at the entrance.
Sites are generally level and well kept. Very large rigs (35+) will be challenging, but I've seen them - more towards the front. There are some lake front spots that can be had. Sites are first come and there are no reservations taken. During the week, no problem. Weekends would be iffy.
Large lake with swimming, fishing, kayaking. Also has a bike trail around it - maybe 2 miles.
Shower houses are kept clean, but as of this posting, they need some maintenance work.
All in all, this is a must stop if you want to enjoy what the area has to offer.
Getting there: Easy access off Illinois 13 East of Carbondale
Check in and staff: Campground is now under the egis of recreation.gov& reservations through them are a must. This is new& when planning the trip the website said“first come first serve” so we arrived on a Friday evening(4pm) with no reservation. The sign said RV sites all taken. The host was wonderful! He has been here 9 years and steered us to a nice site for the one night we will be here. The online experience with recreation.gov was not pleasant, impossible in fact. So I had to call. This took quite awhile. Once I got a real live person it was great, and we got our site with no problems.
Amenities: Bathrooms: clean, paper towels& air dryers.
Site: A-35. In the middle of the A loop and therefore not on the water. Still, very nice. After all, beggars can’t be choosers! Sites are somewhat spacious, but not terribly private.
Way to crowded tiny sites
Surprised to find nice porta potty at our site that was remote from others. Potable water and camper registration (but had a boil water warning but that was not normal). 30 min into Cape Girardeau and 15 min to Anna. Nice picnic table and raised fire ring/ grill.
This is a convenient and pleasant campground, just off exit 3 on I24 in Paducah. The staff was friendly and walked us to our site and showed us the hookups. He gave us a lovely spot in the shade by the little lake. Have not used the showers yet so can't comment on that. We stayed on a Sunday night. The park was about half full. Seems to be a nice quiet family place.
They are across the street from a Mexican restaurant. There is a liquor store next door. Other businesses nearby.
Noise from the nearby traffic may bother some, but we didn't mind it and it was not loud enough to hear inside our RV.
It is a good place for us to stop on our way from MN to visit friends in FL. Also convenient for visiting the National Quilting Museum. We will stop here again.
Beautiful little spots as you come in. Quiet and easy to get too.
Stayed here on the way to and from Florida (home in Minnesota). Very nice campground. Well maintained, big sites for our 40ft fifth wheel, great sunrise/sunset views, and the bathrooms are very clean and well lite. The gentleman/host that greeted us at the office upon arrival was polite and helpful. Will definitely stay again!
We stayed at Giant City in February on a very cold weekend. It was still a fantastic trip! The campsites, fire pits and pit toilets were well maintained. The shorter trails in the park were beautiful even in the winter. The Lodge also had excellent food and a very cozy feel. Definitely visit the Lodge!!
We stayed at the campground on the north end of Pyramid. The campsites were close together but we visited in February so we were the only campers. The fire pits were a little run down but the sites were nice and level with a table. No lantern posts. Pit toilets that were decent. The park office is a pretty long drive from the north end campground. The hiking is limited but the campground was peaceful and close to the lakes. Probably covered in bugs in the summer. Overall pretty nice stay
Great campground away from roads and noise. Goreville is small local town with grocery store and service station for supplies. South LOOP sites 1-23 are first come sites. NORTH LOOP SITES 24 - 59 Reservable at https://camp.exploremoreil.com/ Some 50 amp sites (4, 6, 18, 32, 36, 38, 47, 48) rest have 30 amp. See map in photos. WATER potable at Dump Station also 5 hydrants scattered amongst camp sites. TENT and Equestrian camps take road to the south west of lake.
Stopped to check out campground for future needs. Had some seasonal campers. Good transit camp if on I57. Close to lots of Shawnee Forest hiking locations.
Fern Lake was super easy to book and very inexpensive. The host was easy to access and was happy to show us to our site since it was dark when we arrived. We stayed on site 51 which had a fire pit (we brought our own wood) and very pretty view of the lake. The bathhouse was very close to walk to and the showers and bathrooms were fine. Like most small campgrounds, it was pretty outdated but had the basics. One bummer was that the electrical outlets were not functioning in the bathrooms so I had to leave them with a wet head assuming I could dry my hair in the van, but unfortunately the electric pedestal was not compatible with our 30amp plug. Our inverter doesn’t like the heavy power suck of a blow dryer so I was counting on plugging in. :( Being in the 30’s I was looking forward to dry hair. Oh well.
We do most of our RV travel in the early spring and late fall. Ferne Clyffe does not take reservations after November 1, so its first come first served. Payment is deposited in a kiosk near the black water dump site. This was not well explained on the signage or websites, but, at least in mid-November, there were enough experienced campers around to explain things.
Otherwise, Ferne Clyffe is gorgeous. Great for star-gazing. Lots of mature oak and sycamore trees that I'm sure provide nice shade in summer. In mid-November, there's lots of deer hunters, which means it gets quiet early in the evening. Spaces are of moderate size on the interior, and are more spread out on the perimteter.
Beautiful state park with awesome hiking trails! The campground was just ok. No water hook ups, but you can fill your tank and there is a dump station. Sadly, there is no visitors center.
The center of the campground has sites that either back up to the. Amp ground road or back up to the campsite behind you. They are pretty close together. Great for groups camping together. Not so great if you want a little bit of privacy. We had one of the few semi private sites. Will definitely return to camp and hike here again!
Came to this campsite with my boyfriend and I as well as our two dogs. We were in spot 51, we have a large 8 person tent and need water & electricity so we rent out RV spots instead of the typical tent spots. When we arrived after our 15 hour drive, someone decided to park in our site. Once they moved we were able to start putting up our tent which was on a hill so we were slanted throughout the night. A family rented out the entire rest of the cul-de-sac, which isn’t the parks fault, but they claimed the pavilion and surrounding area. I would call this more of “suburb camping” because there are hardly any trees for privacy, large open fields of grass, and you are 2 minutes from the highway, food, and gas stations. It is only a single bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower instead of any stalls. They provide WiFi that did not work for us, we had better connection with our cellular data. No garbages anywhere in the campsite, thankfully we had our own garbage bags and tossed it in the dumpster before we left. It was fine to crash for one night, but I wouldn’t want to stay here for an extended period of time.
This was one of the best I have stayed out. I met some nice people, Manager helped me get my electric set up, (user error), Facilities clean and very nice, roads and park well taken care of..
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near McClure, IL?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near McClure, IL is Trail of Tears State Park Campground with a 4.2-star rating from 19 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near McClure, IL?
TheDyrt.com has all 74 dog-friendly camping locations near McClure, IL, with real photos and reviews from campers.
