Best Tent Camping near Norris City, IL

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.

Stopped at this campground on the way to St. Louis. It is remote with several trails to explore. The sites were level and good for tent camping.

I actually didn't end up camping here because it looked like a rock site. I maybe saw two tents, everyone else in big RV's. If you are doing tent camping I would look elsewhere. I might've missed an area that was more tent friendly but I didn't see it. I would do primitive with a tent probably.

Not big by any means but we'll kept and cozy. Primitive with water and restrooms. Worth the stay for thise wanting a small area and tent camp.

Plenty of hiking trails with a lot of information about the area. Pretty close to convenience stores for your needs.

We found this little gem at a last minute camping adventure on the way home from out of town.  It was one of our first tent camping experiences.  Nothing fancy, but the pit toilet and water supply worked just fine for us and our kids.  We found some beautiful hiking and water holes.

There are a lot of hiking trails and we really enjoyed them all! The tent camping accommodations were less than stellar, simply because of the “outhouses “. There was a ton of wildlife though and it was really neat to listen to all the different species throughout the night. Overall the grounds are quite nice.

Not a lot of tent sites, but enough. Nice wooded primitive sites with easy access to water and toilets. Had my pups with, and no problems at all. Nice trails for different hiking skill sets. Only issue I found at all was firewood is surprisingly difficult to come by.

CG offers sites with electric and water and then sites with no hook-ups. The electric/water sites were much better than the “tent” sites. Tent sites were closer together and not very level. The “RV” sites, however, we’re pretty level and well spaced out. We’d recommend sites 20-24 for their lake views. There were two bathroom buildings both with flush toilets and showers. We only used the smaller one. They were pretty clean. CG sold firewood for $4 a bundle or 3 for $10 and 22 lbs ice bags for $5. Staff were friendly. $22/night is a great price though I wish they’d take reservations. We went during Spring Break for a long weekend and CG didn’t fill up, still a bit chilly to camp for some I guess! Roads in the Glendale Recreation area are in need of repair. Trail around the lake was a nice 3mi hike and is easily accessed directly from a number of the sites, including ours. This CG provides a great base to explore the surrounding area’s many natural wonders.

Only stayed here for 1 night. Pit toilets were dirty even for pit toilets. Decent primitive sites, not very level though. Good for tent camping or small camper. Unfortunately some other “campers” showed up late in the evening, played music, yelled and partied until around 3am. It seems to be an ongoing problem at that campground. The only plus is the amazing rock formations, good trail system and great little swimming hole. Great place to spend the day and maybe the night if you can sleep though all the commotion.

My brother and I camped here in September on a weekday. We were the only tent campers, so it was nice and peaceful. The sites are large and include a cooking grate. It was easy to find firewood with out having to go very far, becareful there is a good amount of poison ivy. The only trail I hiked was Happy Hollow. A large portion of it is an equestrian trail, so the path was very wide. The veiws on the trail were amazing.

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Had a great time. This was my first time tent camping since I was a teenager. This campground is super remote and is near a couple trails with waterfalls. Other than that you have to go pretty far to find much else interesting so if you want to explore maybe pick a different one in Shawnee. If you're just looking to relax in nature this one is great! It's pretty basic. We saw a coyote and racoon next to our campsite. The campground was mostly full of campers which was nice. There are no bodies of water nearby so next time I think I'll go to one near a lake

Wayne Fitzgerald State Park is on Rend Lake, just off I-57 in Southern Illinois. It’s a great place for camping, fishing and bikes. It’s convenient for a short stop if you are traveling through, or as a destination. Although it’s right off the interstate there is no traffic noise. The campground has 40 tent sites and over 240 modern campsites, which offer electrical hookups, water and sewer facilities. Modern sites are $20/night, with 30/50 amp service. Primitive sites are $6. There is no internet. There are a few pull through sites.. there is lots of room and the sites appear to be level. There are 3 shower buildings. Many sites can be reserved online. There is a playground, and boat ramp. The park has hunting, fishing, camping, picnicking, horseback riding, hiking and boating. there is a golf course nearby and a lodge. Rend Lake is well-known for crappie, particularly in the early spring, as well as largemouth bass, channel catfish and bluegill.

This campground has it all - spacious sites with many right on the water. Gravel lots were level and plenty big for our 38' Class A motorhome + Jeep. We stayed at site B8, which had a massive yard right and on the lake. The interior sites had full hookups (but were still just a short walk to the water), while the exterior (lake-side) sites had water and 50A electric. It is a FCFS place. We were there the first week of April and arrived by 10am and had no problems securing a spot. There is a swimming beach (though it was closed till Memorial Day - and too cold anyway!), some older but functional and clean shower houses. There was a pile of firewood waiting for us and they allow for picking up downed branches for fires. It was a quiet, lovely place with great sunsets over the water, as well as herons, geese, turtles, and deer. The hosts were extremely helpful and accommodating. We have AT&T and had full bars (we also have a booster, which may have contributed to a strong signal). Also, we were amazed by the inexpensive pricing - I believe the prices are going up a little later this season, but at the time we were there (Apr 2023) prices were $25/FHU and $20 W/E. And of course even less for tent camping.

OK we are here for 2 days. After the first night this mat have gotten a 2 if I was in a Generous mood. This side traffic noise, a little run down. Out campsite was not even a hundred yards off I57, thought all night one of those trucks would come into the campsite if they went off the road.

We did find a great Mexican restaurant just down the road with great food, cheap and good Marguerites and that was the saving grace.

There us another portion of this campground across the road you come in on. This morning thought as u was taking photos and videos I would walk over. I do have to say it is a totally different area. Quiet newer, some money spent on that side. A pond nice sites even pull through and tent sites. My thought was how much more do I have to pay to get on that side. Did I mention quiet you hardly heard I57.

I am torn if that is the place we stayed it would be toward a 4 in stars.

Internet on this side is non existent and I only have 1 or 2 bars on Verizon. On the other side I did see a few internet towers so they do boost over there wonder if the internet is better there.

Anyway choose 3 stars as it s one campground but 2 different views.