Best Campgrounds near Penfield, IL

This park is just other-worldly.  We loved it.  We hiked Trail 3, which has the ladders, and  parts of trail 10, 4, and 2.  Trail 10 was nothing special but was relatively flat.  It was pretty crowded but people were respectful.  

As for our campsite, it was really nice.  We had site 94, which was right next to the bathhouse.  It had almost a whole extra campsite's worth of space next to it for my kids to run around.  It also had a tree for shade and was nice and level. 

The bathrooms were okay.  They were older but seemed to be fairly well maintained.  The only complaint I had was that there wasn't enough counter space to set down items for getting ready, but that is minor.  

Overall, wonderful park.

This campground was reasonably priced, had clean facilities and quite unusual and intesting hiking nearby. There are multiple trails and some quite challenging ones. No water hookups at the site but all except the "youth sites" had 110, 30, and 50 amp power. I was able to charge my ev without issue. Sites tried from all concrete to a dusty dirt and rock tent area, and all had old wood picnic tables. While the hiking was incredible, the maps of the trails were poor and not up to date, with some trails not on map at all. On one trail part of it went through box canyons up an active, though trickling, stream bed.

We took our van and stayed at Turkey Run for a three night weekend. We were in a wooded section and it was pretty private however our site was pretty sloped. Next time I would probably pick the site on either side of 167.

As some other reviews stated, watch out for the raccoons. Those guys are not afraid of anything.

Also, the open, grassy area sites don’t offer any privacy. If that’s what you’re looking for, try to get a wooded site on the outsides that back up to woods. The majority of those have a decent number of trees separating you from the site next to you.

The bathrooms were super clean and the showers were hot with good water pressure.

We hiked Trail 3 with our dog, but we cut off early before the ladders using Trail 10. Our dog did pretty well in the section of Trail 3 before the ladders, and be prepared to get wet :)

In order to avoid crowds on the trails, we got there Thursday night so we could hike Friday morning / early afternoon. Saturday we rented a canoe from a canoe place right down the road from the campground. It was great and once we saw the crowds at the beach area of the park on Saturday afternoon, we were super glad we had been canoeing all day instead of fighting crowds at the park.

I would definitely recommend visiting Turkey Run State Park!

General: 40-site campground with three non-electric and the rest are either 30 or 50-amp electric. Several water spigots are sprinkled throughout the campground. 

Site quality: All sites are gravel and level. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring. The sites are spaced a decent amount of distance apart and with the many trees, it did not feel crowded, despite being almost full when we were there. 

Bath/Shower: Very clean with soap, paper towels, and a shelf for toiletries. Did not use the shower but it looked clean as well. 

Activities/Amenities: There are two well-marked and well-maintained trails plus a playground and basketball hoop. There is also a historic schoolhouse, and guided tours are available by calling. Before leaving the next morning, I enjoyed a walk on the two trails. There is a dump station and potable water.

The campground was almost completely full on a Friday at the end of October yet very quiet.