Looking for the best Petersburg pet-friendly camping? Finding a place to camp in Illinois with your dog is easier than ever. Each pet-friendly campsite offers quick access to one or more of Petersburg's most popular destinations.
A primitive camping area at Jim Edgar Panther Creek has seven three-sided shelters to camp near or in for a fee of $6 per night. Hikers and mountain bike riders must travel approximately a quarter-mile from the nearest parking lot to access the shelters.
$6 / night
$20 / night
If you do arrive without a reservation and the campground host is unavailable, please do not park in a “reserved campsite.” If you may be interested in becoming a campground host, feel free to contact us at 217-632-4000. We look forward to seeing you this season!
$10 - $30 / night
$8 / night
Traveler
Stopped here overnight in late August. Only a few other campers on a Sunday so nice and quiet. Typical midwest tent camping on dirt, lots of mosquitoes, pit toilets.
Traveler
I've stayed here a couple times now. Each time there has only been one other person. It's quiet and peaceful, however there's not much to do. As far as I know there's no running water. There are portable toilets that are kept clean. There's also a 4 consecutive day per month limit.
Guide
These walk in sites check all the boxes. At the western part of the RV loop, is a peninsula of primitive tent camping spots to choose from. About half the sites were filled by the second day we were there. We settled on 62, which is spacious and provides access to the path from the front and behind where you can walk into site 64 as well. A parking area with a single spot for each camp site is well marked and by two vault toilets. Park staff and host were great. A decent fishing spot is just in front of site 64. $8 for IL residents is hard to beat, if you don't need an RV spot with electric. A water source is also by the parking spots. The weekend we were there the weather had cooled some and a great breeze was coming off the lake. Springfield being so close is a bonus.
The only negative is like any spot and how previous people leave the camp looking before you are there. Some garbage in the fire pit and random spots are par for the course in any state park. Pick up the trash and dump it in the dumpster by the parking lot. Leave the site better than you found it is our motto.
Guide
Love to swim in the pool, play in the bags tournaments, enjoy the fundraiser in July for St. Jude Children’s Hospital, mini golf, basketball and theme weekends. My favorite is the chili cook off and Halloween weekends are a blast!!
Guide
Great place for kids. Decent little parks. Huge slide in the holler. Spots are kind of cramped and close together, one of our favorite places though!
Guide
Pleasant campground with 2 loops. Clean bathrooms with showers. Choice of full hookup or just electric on outer perimeters of each loop. Small fishing lake. 2 campground host sites with wood and ice for sale.
Traveler
We have been here 3 Xs over the pas years as a stop over while traveling. They only have vault toilets, but clean. This time no water due to water break.issue. just a nice place on a beautiful lake. Nice for bird watching.
RangerCame here in winter and it’s really beautiful. Lots of amenities and big spots, will come again
Ranger
Nice little park, port a potties, water and pavilion with grills and trash receptacles. Great views of the lake. Closes at 10:30
Guidehttps://camp.exploremoreil.com/ 84 electric RV sites all reservable except 21 First Come sites. 18 sites are full hookup. Several 50 amp sites but majority are 30 amp. Modern Shower house and 7 Vault toilet buildings. Newer Campground so Shade Trees are smaller still. Have camped here 4 times past 3 years. Like the quite agricultural Illinois environment but suggest shopping for your needs prior to leaving larger cities as most of the few small towns are limited to a Bar and Dollar store.
Traveler
On the state fairgrounds just off gate 10 or 11. Very large number of spaces…older bathrooms/ showers but very clean. All spaces seem to have electricity and water.
GuideWe always leave late on the first day of a trip and get stressed. This was an easy 3/4 day trip from our house and a great place to relax. Great thick grass carpet spots if you want.Great level paved pads if you want.Friendly checking , friendly security driving around all night. Lots of showers, mine was good and hot. Some traffic noise All kinds of open spots if it isn’t fair week. Don’t just show up fair week.
Traveler
Small. Quiet. Pretty. Two small lakes with fountains. You can hear the fountains at night, it's nice. Excellent price for tent camping.
Traveler
If your looking just to get way and relax or go explore Jacksonville or Springfield you can get there in 40 minutes.
The wifi isn’t strong enough to reach back to where we were but that was okay, I guess we didn’t need to watch tv anyways.
You can still here some cars because of the highway but it wasn’t like really crazy. The part is a decent size if you don’t want to hear traffic go further in the back.
Terry the owner she is super nice and friendly you would want to come back just for that alone.
The wifi isn’t so strong but i guess we didn’t need to watch TV. If you don’t want to hear the traffic I suggest getting a spot in the back. The part is a decent size we really didn’t hear it until the morning so by that time it getting up and getting ready to go and explore. You can hit Springfield in bout 40 mins or downtown Jacksonville in 15.
Traveler
The camp host was super friendly, the sites were large and the primitive sites at the back were incredibly beautiful! The prices were very low.
GuideThere's really no way to describe this campground except for: Accommodating. Beautiful. Clean. Convenient. Peaceful. Relaxing. We have spent many weekends here and have never had a bad experience. Tony and Danielle and the rest of the entire campground host staff and crew do absolutely everything to make sure you have a great stay!!! We appreciate them and this wonderful campground. Our favorite sites are 13, 18, 23. Please visit and enjoy!
Scout
Close to the interstate, good gravel spots with full hookups. Nice bathrooms and showers
Traveler
This was our first visit here, we haven't typically stayed so close to home. It was Memorial Day weekend, and the campground was completely full. The sites are pretty small. But even being small and on top of each other, the campground was quiet and still at night. The bathhouse was only mildly gross but it wasn't unexpected. I didn't use the pit toilet houses. Overall, we were happy there and enjoyed ourselves. It was a fun trip.
ScoutThe showers were clean. Campsites are close together, but not to busy while I was there. Reasonable. Staff friendly. Security regularly drove around.
TravelerI stayed at the tent sites. They are first come, first served, and a short walk from the parking spots. There are times of RV sites also, although the host said most all are reservable and only a handful are firstcome, first served. There are restrooms and a shower house that are clean.
GuideThe bathrooms here were heated and sparkling clean. Our Starlink had zero obstructions worked lightening fast. We LOVED having a dog park to exercise our dogs daily!
Great location, close to all the Springfield attractions and Slauterhaus Brewing in Auburn, IL (this is the best brewery nearby, better than Buzz Bomb or Obed & Issacs in town!).
Traveler
Campground is quiet and in a nice wooded area but still only 5-10 minutes from nearby shopping and attractions in Springfield.
GuideBased on other reviews, we drive to the campground with intentions of staying the night. l talked with the owner over the phone to see about booking a site as we were getting in late. $50 per night and she would give 10% discount for Dyrt members. She said there were lots of sites open late in the season.
Upon driving in, we saw sites on a large paved pad near the road with hook ups. Drive past the check in to see if there were sites that were off the road due to the road noise. Even though it was a bit off of the interstate, the noise from the highway was awful. The prairie land is flat which lends itself to easily traveling road noise. The road coming in was gravel, with some potholes. It has potential, but felt like a drive in theatre upon entering. We ultimately drove 30 more minutes to Jim Edgar Panther Creek WA for $20/night.
Traveler
Lots of activities for kids and families. Sites are close together and feel cramped. Staff is very friendly.
GuideWe certainly didn’t expect the Prairie Lake Campground to be full in late October! Both loops were full, but there was just enough space for us to squeeze in for 2 nights! (A few spaces seemed to be filled with deer hunters who were up and out quite early.) Site has electricity with water centrally located in the center of the loop. We needed a 100 ft fresh water hose to fill up. Luckily a friendly neighbor had one for us to borrow! Nice warm bath house had push button showers with locks on the stalls with a dry space to dress inside the stall. Lake has boat dock with about 6 slips. The point on the lake was a beautiful setting for a fall wedding on Saturday! Lots of families with kids riding bikes around the loop and some playing wiffle ball in the open field. Each spot had a picnic table and fire ring. Our spot, #78 sat under a tree with great shade. Bagged ice is available at 1st host site for $4 and a bundle of firewood for $6
TravelerNo frills, parking lot or grassy style campsites. $20 per night for a a pull behind RV on an electric/water site. $30 for a full hookup. Large clean bathrooms, dated but useable.
GuideBeautiful place! We called ahead to see if they had sites available for the next two nights. Arrived just before the office closed at 5:45pm. The campground area past the office is electronically gated and registrants receive a scannable card for entry. Once we had scanned and entered through the gate they escorted us to our pull-through full-hookups site. The campsites are nice and wide, gravel like the roads, with wide grassy areas between and beautiful mature shade trees everywhere. Our site had a picnic table and a small fire ring. Full hookups worked fine.
The campground is next to a large corn field that has recently been cut; I suspect during the growing/harvest season there may be dust and noise from equipment, and perhaps overspray from any chemicals that are dusted on it. This time of year it was nice and quiet. The noise from the highway bordering both cornfield and campground, however, was loud and constant.
Bathrooms were clean and aerated by large fans which were loud but effective.
We would definitely stay here again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular dog-friendly campsite near Petersburg, IL?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular dog-friendly campground near Petersburg, IL is Primitive Campground — Jim Edgar Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area with a 4.4-star rating from 21 reviews.
What is the best site to find dog-friendly camping near Petersburg, IL?
TheDyrt.com has all 39 dog-friendly camping locations near Petersburg, IL, with real photos and reviews from campers.
