Best Glamping near Pecatonica, IL

Let's start with the good stuff:

• The park is beautiful. Lovely trees, lots of shade, the hiking trails are nice, well marked, and they even have an accessible trail for those with disabilities!
• There is a restaurant and gift shop on site. Gift shop sells wood if you run low or forget.
• The bathrooms and shower house are relatively clean and well kept.

Now for the not so great stuff:

• Many of the campsites are sloped and some are sloped A LOT. This isn't obvious from the booking page.

• The campground is absolutely jammed with camp sites- it's ridiculous. I've never been to a campground where the sites were so on top of one another.

• We stayed in the Sunny Crest loop and the drinking water well was broken so we had to travel to other parts of the campground for water. When carrying a 10 gallon jug full of water back, that really sucked.

• The sites that are marked as "hike in" aren't secluded and away from other sites at all, as one might expect. They are jammed in with all the others but there just isn't any parking nearby.

• It had rained the day before was went and so the road to the campgrounds was blocked off (presumably because the creek was running too high), but there was NO SIGNAGE telling us how to get there another way. There was no one in the park office or in the camping registration station to ask. We finally figured out that we had to take an emergency road/auxiliary road to get to the campground, but that was after about 30 minutes of confusion.

• The breakfast buffet at the restaurant is mid but very pricey- $50 for 2 of us.

• The quiet hours and no alcohol policy are not enforced at all. While we were there, there was a very loud group playing beer pong into the wee hours of the morning.

• About half of the fire rings don't have grill grates so bring your own or bring a camp stove (See pic). Also, when you book your site, there is no way to know if your fire ring will have a grill grate or note.

Conveniently located next to absolutely nothing just due northwest of Fort Atkinson, you’ll love Pilgrim’s Campground for its successful delivery of (capital letters) P&Q! What I love most about this location is how they keep all the RV campers penned in up against the slight diagonal embankment, which actually provides some pretty phenomenal views of the surrounding areas (if not your next door neighbors) as well as excellent drainage and subsequently separated from the primitive TV campsites. These latter sites are placed just due southwest of the grounds and are pitched perfectly in a tree-lined meadow, encircled by freshly cut corn fields, where you’ll find no shortage of amazing animals coming to graze throughout the day (and night) from deer, raccoons, opossums and endless tag teams of squirrels. 

Because there isn’t so much around, be prepared to bring everything with you (save ice and wood, which is sold on-site). While the bathroom / shower facilities are just passable, what you are giving up in terms of creature comforts is more than made up for in the sheer proximity to all of nature. During the warm summer months, there’s a small in-ground pool on-site, which sits right in front of the main office. All of the standard camping surround-sound elements are here from fire rings and picnic tables to water, electrical (50 / 30 / 20 / 15 amp) and sewer hook-ups. In all, there’s about 100 sites here at Pilgrims Campground, with the lion’s share of this pet-friendly property dedicated to overnight and seasonal RV / 5th Wheelers offering both back-in and pull-through sites. 

Insider’s Tips? Here’s a few: (1) If you don’t mind some rough hiking, there’s fantastic ‘spazierengehen’ to be had just wandering around the countryside in the bountiful corn and bean fields or head over to nearby Dorothy Carnes County Park for some decent trails to explore; (2) In the event that you don’t like being awaken too early from all of the nearby roosters, then bring some ear plugs; (3) When you grow tired of having to forage through either your on-board RV mini-fridge or bear-proof Cordova roto-molded cooler, then look no further than ‘What’s the Point’ (no, seriously, that's the name of the restaurant!) for traditional Midwestern comfort food like corned beef & cabbage, fried fish, BBQ ribs and prime rib; (4) Should you come bearing watercraft and looking for a decent spot to dip your kayak or canoe at, then check out Rose Lake State Natural Area, which BTW is quite small, but very convenient, or try out much larger Red Cedar Lake or Lake Ripley; and (5) Cell coverage and WiFi is pretty horrific in these parts, so bring a booster or plan to leave civilization behind you. 

Happy Camping!

This campground is a lovely gem! Most of the camp sites are fairly secluded from one another by distance and from surrounding foliage (see pic). The exceptions would be sites 55-64 that loop around the playground. We, unfortunately, didn't know this and so had site 61. It was nice little spot with plenty of shade but I was a bit jealous of those with more secluded spots, especially since we are tent campers and all of the others on the loop were big RVs.

The pros:

- The campground hosts were lovely. Friendly but not overbearing, as some can be.

- The on site restaurant/bait shop/ boat rental was very convenient! Husband forgot to pack something and the little bait shop had what we needed. Plus, we were able to buy firewood there, too.

- Lovely scenery! The hiking trails were well maintained and there were lots of beautiful flowers, bird, and butterflies. We even saw a raccoon!

- The (and I cannot emphasize this enough) CLEANEST campground bathrooms I've ever seen! I'm not squeamish and have been camping for years so my expectations for campground bathroom cleanliness is well calibrated but these bathrooms (even the vault toilets!) were amazingly clean! There weren't even spiderwebs on the ceiling of the shower house. Just *chef's kiss*

- The water from the pump was very clean.

The cons:

-  Lack of privacy/seclusion for the 55-64 sites along the loop.

- For that same loop, since it circles the playground, if kids playing noises bother you, might want to choose a different site.

- The food at the restaurant was meh. It was fine- it was sustenance. Nothing to write home about.

- LOTS of big RVs. It wasn't an issue for us on this trip, but on other camping trips sometimes being surrounded by big RVs just isn't a great vibe.

This is the type of campground you go and check your spot out before you reserve it. Many of the tent campsites are literally on a hill. Some are very close. They really crammed them wherever they could. The amenities are excellent and the only reason I gave 3 stars, the shower/restroom was very nice and air conditioned. Potable water available. If I knew the campground was gonna be sideways I wouldn’t have reserved it, not gonna lie I was pissed when I saw it as I reserved it for 3-4 days. There’s lots of them that are on flat ground/tucked away and look excellent but it’s a gamble unless you go there beforehand to look. There’s a ford you have to cross to get to the campground but its not that bad people this isn’t Oregon Trail you won’t float away and lose an Ox and wagon wheel.

So I think my impression of this campground mostly has to do with the fact that although it’s an actual campground unlike what we usually do (dispersed camping), it was completely secluded. We were the only ones with a tent, and the rest of the people there were people who had set up semi-permanent RV homes. Although we did see some really cool set-ups, we didn’t see a soul and we weren’t mad about it! They had showers and a pool, as well as other amenities such as toilets and fire pits.This was definitely a relaxing spot, with very little noise and relative seclusion. Also to add the fire pits were actually metal rings, so you can move them wherever you want. Would definitely return!!