Best Tent Camping near Karnak, IL

Tent Camping Reviews near Karnak, IL

581 Reviews of 16 Karnak Campgrounds

• S

  Sadie R.

  Guide

  Oct. 7, 2020

  Giant City State Park Campground

  No privacy at tent camp, hike amazing!

  So first of all- I think it’s fair to state before I leave a review that my husband and I prefer primitive and private camping. The fewer people we see while we’re out, the better. We live in a city so when we camp, we want the opposite. If you enjoy RV camping or don’t mind not so Private spots, this is a decent spot to spend the night. If you like primitive/private camping- il fill you in below!

  We do tent camping and Saw there were walk-in sites and hike in sites at this campground. Usually walk-in sites are pretty private and dispersed well - atleast where we’ve been before. The 14 “primitive” camping sites were right next to eachothwr with little to no privacy at all. Good tree cover for shade but otherwise you’re basically setting up your tent and area in an open field. That was a little disappointing to us because it wasn’t what we thought we would find. The RV spots also seem super close together but again- we like things spread out so maybe it would be an OK place for some.

  The vault toilets near the tent sites were...as clean as vault toilets get! And we did not use tje shower facilities so can’t speak on that.

  If we had been just the 2 of us, we would’ve hiked in to do our camping along one of the hiking paths but we were meeting two other friends and were unsure if they would want to hike miles to a spot so we opted for the tent spots just after the RV campground. If you want more privacy for an evening of camping, you’ll need to come with your gear packed up decently enough to hike it out atleast a mile onto the trails. There is camping allowed along the trails as long as you are 100 ft from the trail so that was an option, but in certain spots along the trail it’s challenging to find a clearing (hammocks would be great along the trail). There is also an official primitive camping site halfway through the 12 mile loop of the Red Ceder Trail. We day hiked almost the whole loop but made a Weird little detour so we didn’t get to check these spots out.

  We were hoping to find a campsite that- as get as difficulty of accessibility level- was in between a 6 mile hike and the tent spots in the field but there isn’t any official spot like that even tho there’s tons of space and potential for it. Rant over about the campground. Let’s talk about the hiking! The hiking was truly awesome and felt like it balanced out my disappointment with the campground. Doing the whole 12 mile loop of tje Red Cedar Trail was a challenge for us! We really enjoyed it. In some spots, the trail markers are a little confusing, but overall it’s decently marked and the map is somewhat helpful just to kindve know vaguely where you are. The 2nd day, we went back and did about half rhe loop and also checked out the more popular section of the trails back there that include Giant City Nature Trail, Devils Stand Table, and a few others. Very cool rock formations. Pretty busy in the weekend over there but the test of the trails away from that area with those big landmarks was completely deserted and there are some super cool rock formations not on the map at all.

  Over all, this was a fun 4 days. We would return and plan on hiking out into the trails to camp for our evenings. If you like privacy around your campfire at night, I can’t recommend the campground.

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• 

  Annie C.

  Legend

  Oct. 1, 2016

  Pharoah - Garden of the Gods Rec Area Campground

  Garden of the Gods

  Primative camping at its best. This is heavily used in the summer and early fall. Picnic tables and fire rings, vault toilets. Go in the off season and you will have plenty of privacy. Fairly level tent sites , some with nice trees for hammocks. Close to Little Grand Canyon, a really neat natural bridge, and Illinois wineries.

• 

  Napunani

  Legend

  Jun. 26, 2022

  Trail of Tears State Park Campground

  Back-up to the Mississippi River

  PRO 

  Senior discount saving $6 

  Able to reserve on-line 365 days prior to arriving 

  Very friendly and helpful camp host 

  Unobstructed view of the Mississippi River 

  Great dark sky viewing 

  No highway/road noise, but... 

  Asphalt parking pad surrounded by grass 

  Metal fire pit with cooking grate 

  One hook lantern pole 

  Moveable wooden picnic table in the grass 

  Toilet/shower building.35 miles from campground very nice and very clean with ample TP and hand soap 

  Firewood for sale by camp host $5 

  Mississippi River Scenic Overlook was very nice V

  Visitor Center has small museum (no admission fee) on the Trail of Tears Native American tribal migration 

  Coin-operated laundromat on South Hope Street Jackson after the roundabout 12 miles from campground 

  Tractors Restaurant Main Street Jackson very good diner type restaurant 

  CONS

  $8.50 reservation fee for online self made reservation 

  Sites that back to the river very close to each other. We stepped out our door onto the neighbors stinky slinky. Insufficient space to deploy awning. 

  Electrical utility connection is on passenger side of the campsite#6 

  Sewer connection was high above ground so drainage was up hill. Camp host warned us upon arrival we may need to use dump station to get tanks totally drained. 

  Site 6 not level side-to-side 

  Lots of trains, day and night with train horn blaring due to road crossing at campground Lots of river barge noise 

  Only one single unisex pit toilet in campground 

  No park headquarters or entrance gate office for check-in. Sign in campground informing how to conduct virtual check in. 

  No security gate closed overnight 

  No ranger patrolling campground

  No WiFi 

  2 bars Verizon LTE

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• 

  GoWhereYouAreDraw N.

  Legend

  May. 13, 2020

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Fun swimming holes and good hiking

  21 campsites with a fire ring/barrel, lantern post and picnic table. A couple of the campsites had damaged fire rings. Most sites should be able to fit medium size trailers, other sites have trees in the way. Vault toilets and a water station. Very quiet, clean and peaceful. Trail system is about 8 miles and has great views. Don’t forget to bring your swimming suit!

• 

  Joel H.

  Guide

  Sep. 25, 2020

  Nickell Branch Campground

  Great time

  Nickell is the northernmost campground in LBL. It is a self-service campground with 11 designated sites. The access road FR-102 is gravel and in pretty good shape aside from some large potholes. There is a large loop with a big open grassy area once you get to the pay station. From there, 3 short offshoots A, B & C - A is the boat ramp area and site #1; B is where the single vault toilet is located and sites #2 & #3; C loop has the remaining sites #4 - #8 which are for small to medium RVs, and sites #9 - #11 are grass tent sites. There are picnic tables and very nice fire rings at each site. Besides the toilet, boat ramp, and a new dumpster, those are the only amenities.

  The 11-mile Canal Loop Trail crosses the road just before the pay station for hiking and biking (it connects to the North-South Trail). The campground is near the Barkley Canal that connects the two lakes making for lots of boating and paddling options. The North Welcome Center has fresh water and a dump station just a few miles away.

  The cell reception is great - I got download speeds of 18-34 Mbps. Also, several OTA TV channels. These sites are all situated in the woods near the water so none are particularly good for solar. But otherwise, for the price this is pretty sweet dry camping.

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• 

  Lane M.

  Traveler

  Jun. 6, 2019

  Pharoah - Garden of the Gods Rec Area Campground

  Great little spot!

  This camping spot is just down the road from Southern IL’s Garden Of the Gods. There were 12 camping areas. Plenty of room and trees for tents and hammocks. Also, there is a good amount of shade so if you tent in the right spot you don’t wake up roasting from the sun. The campsites have a lot of room so your neighbors don’t seem like they are on top of your site. The spots include a picnic table, hanging poles for trash or lantern, and a fire pit with movable built-in grill. The area is very wooded so unless the ground is wet you can find lots of firewood. There is a drinking water pump at the entrance of the campsite but it’s pretty chlorinated. There is no shower or running water and the toilets are pit style; but there are toilets. I don’t know if other sites had this but ours had 2 trails leading right out of the woods. Great for close to home hiking.

  P.S. Beware of tailless raccoon at site 12 that likes to steal Doritos.

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• 

  Cameron

  Guide

  Oct. 1, 2020

  Bean Ridge Pond Campground

  Free, primitive campground, loud partiers

  Got here on a Saturday night in late September and both of the campsites were available. Campsites consist of a clearing with a fire pit and a picnic table. No litter. No toilets. Very slow and spotty AT&T service: I was able to text but not access the Internet. The area is very pretty. Soft ground for staking a tent. Bugs were alright, no need for bug spray. There’s water access at the pond, but it’s obviously stagnant and very brackish. Big downside was a convoy of Jeeps full of partiers rolled down to the pond at 12:30am and hung out down there blasting music for an hour, which is a real sleep ruiner. This might be a local party spot, so be aware and maybe pack earplugs if you’re coming on a weekend. Upside is that it’s in a National Forest, so if both sites are taken, you can always dispersed camp

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• 

  M E.

  Guide

  Oct. 17, 2021

  Pine Ridge

  Beautiful Area with large sites!

  This campground area is beautiful! We stayed here 3 nights. We arrived on a Thursday and there were plenty of open spots. Friday they open some of the other loops up for more people to stay and it did fill up for the weekend. 

  You can get some cell service but only in choice areas (at the front by the water spigot and some of the roads leading down to the lake. We were not able to get any cell service (Verizon, AT&T, or T Mobile) in the electric loop. 

  This area is a primitive area and is not really set up for RVs. Don't get me wrong... RVs can definitely fit in most of the camping spots but only 1 loop has electricity, there is no sanitary dump station, and the water spigot does not have a way to hook up a hose to fill your tank. If you dump your tanks and fill with fresh water before coming you should be good. 

  It does have vault toilets... no showers. The toilets were very clean for vault toilets. 

  The lake area is beautiful with a swimming area, fishing pier, and pavilion to eat or sit under for shade. It looks like they really keep the area cleaned up!

  Another little note that we learned is that the park rangers can help you move sites... or even campgrounds if your site is not working for you so you don't loose out on money like we did. This only applies to other Shawnee campgrounds of course but there are quite a few to choose from!

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• 

  Abby M.

  Legend

  Apr. 7, 2021

  Pharoah - Garden of the Gods Rec Area Campground

  Nice little campground

  I arrived on Friday around 2:30pm hoping to get a spot but unfortunately, all spots were already taken (about 10-12). The vault toilet looked decently clean and all sites had a nice fire ring, picnic table and hanging hooks. Some sites were closer together than others but would work for a night or two to enjoy the beauty around! Little picnic area just around the corner and about .5 from several awesome hikes!