This camp site does not have very secluded spots. I would have enjoyed a more quiet plot of land amongst some pine trees.
We did not get out to see much of the park. Would like to come back and experience the actual beauty of the park not just the family campground.
We did our first (family of 5) camping trip at Thomas Woods. We were at site 4 which is electric hookup and it was a huge area! The kids had so much space to run around and explore. They loved the well pump. We explored the campground both tent and rv. Both areas were well spaced out with enough privacy. There was another 3 groups there but didn’t noticed everyone was quiet. We also went on walks within the conservation, the trails were very easy and was a nice walk. We will definitely be going back to Thomas Woods
Large trees provide ample shade. A nice park for a short stay. Water is available at certain locations not at individual lots. This is the park with the Chief Blackhawk statue.
This campground is in a populated area but the nature preserve is big. We rarely saw traffic once here. A train goes by a couple times but it was always during the day.
It’s pricey if you are from out of the county. We were hoping to camp at the primitive sites but they are walk-in only. Our teardrop wasn’t allowed. We settled at site 37 and enjoyed our stay. There are vault toilets but the large number of big RVs meant they were not used often leaving them almost like our private restrooms. Each site has water and electric. Trees are around the outside with few on the inside sites. All the sites have paved pads.
The highlight of our experience is the hiking. There are miles of trails. On one hike we were on paved, sifted gravel, grass and single trek trails. There are a lot of loops giving you options. When we left we still hadn’t hiked all of them.
If the price was more reasonable we would certainly be back. If you need the water/electric then this is a great choice.
Hickory Hills is a quiet but activity filled campground 30 minutes from Madison. There are many permanent campers but they are all friendly and welcoming. The lake has a nice beach. The pool is not too large but works on a hot day. Most people have golf carts as there is no place to park by the pool or the club house. The bathrooms are clean and well maintained. Every weekend there are activities planned from wine tasting to Halloween trick or treating. The sites are large and you can choose from shady or sunny sites. Great place to spend a few days or the whole summer.
Great place to take the fam, big sites not to close to other campers. Lots of trees to hang a hammock and relax, great beach, good hiking. Going back for a weekend to check out the walk ins.
As someone who normally camps in state parks with only electricity hookups, this site was a welcome treat.
Rig: 2020 Micro Minnie 1700BH + Ford F-250
Campers: 2 parents, 3 boys ranging from 7 years old to 2 years old
Campsite Pros: Water + 50amp hookups. Wide, open spaces for kids to ride bikes and explore wildflowers. Duck viewing. Quiet. Almost 100 improved sites. Full bars on Verizon. Amazing sunsets. Sites seem to be mostly level.
Cons: Walkup only - no reservations taken. $35 a night is a bit steep. AT&T signal is spotty at times. Water hookup is far behind camping pad - bring extensions!
Everyone was very friendly and really enjoyed our time while there. There was events going on even during rain. The Margarita bar was where bingo, bags tournament and band were at. Can’t say enough about owner Ron and everyone that worked there. Extremely helpful from time you pull in until time to leave. Highly recommend Timber Lake Resort
We are seasonal sat crazyhorse campground , this is our first year and we have had the best summer ! ! The people are great from Jim the owner to Barb and Wayne. We have made some great new friends. There are always activities going on , bands , Dj’s, bags contest. The sugar river is so much fun kayaking and tubing which is all part of you stay at crazy horse. Tons of fun for kids and adults , I highly recommend .
Wonderful campground within 10 minutes of major freeway access. New owners Allison and Chris are very friendly, helpful and exhibit the pride of Ownership in every aspect of the campground. Cleanest restroom/showers I can ever recall at a campground. Very family and pet friendly with activities, lake and bar. Really enjoyed our overnight stay on a cross-country trip - highly recommend!
Always have a great time here. Easy to get around and very calm environment. Close drive to starved rock state park
We had the campsite right across from the pool and the tiki bar. The site was easy to get into with help from the friendly staff. We were surprised to have a bar right outside our campsite, but with an RV running the fan all night the noise didn't bother us at all. This campground is great if you want to watch football Saturday morning with a bloody Mary in hand, and like kids activities like bingo. There was also a very good CCR cover band playing, so my kid felt like she was at a real rock concert. Pool was kept open late in September because it was warm. Overall we really enjoyed our time there. It's a great place for socializing. If you're looking for peace and quiet and natural beauty, this is not the place. We would go back for Sure- level campsite, friendly staff that let us stay late when we had a flat tire and waiting for tow, and overall experience. Easy full hook ups made it a very fun experience with lots of full timers there.
We went here for a friend's birthday. It felt like we were packed in like sardines. Barely enough space to use the fire pit. Not much for shade and the only separating you from your neighbors are driveways/roads. The best parts was the full hookups, the pool, and the live music.
I do not think we will return to this campground.
The park is pretty nice. The pedestrian beach is to rocky for my liking, but the dog beach is nice and sandy yet small. There is also a bit of a hike to get there. So if you take a cooler you may want a wagon.
The sites we were in were a little narrow to back in a 30ft camper. The pictures of the site did not show this. The staff was friendly and the restrooms were clean.
We had a great time camping over the summer! Plenty for the kids and adults.
Tent sites are in hickory hills area. Easy walk to showers/toilets over across from site 100. Tent sites are much more shaded and private than electric sites. We were traveling with another family so had two sites. If you have two parties I'd recommend sites 27 and 31 which have a little private path and potentially 53 and 5 which also appeared to have a path between them. Our sites 47 and 53 were big and shaded but not very flat for sleeping. Boat launch very close if you bring your own kayaks or canoes. There are also some for rent at the other end of the park. Park and ice at concessions.
A good place to camp . Price is very reasonable and the people are great . Easy to get in and out . Lots are nice and well kept . Close to everything you need. Not a lot to do at this location
This is a nice campground that winds around through some light woods. Campsites have electric hookups. There are certainly lots of picnic tables. We saw more than one per site. With only a few people camping here, there was plenty of space between campers. There is no separating vegetation though.
A bike path in Pecatonica which is just down the road. Camp here and day trip on the bike path or use this as a stop for your long distance bike tour.
This is a great campground to get away near a nice small town.
Beautiful park to camp. Very spacious and lots of trees for shade. A perfect spot to come and have some relaxing time away from the city. Park has trails that lead to the river. My site number was 69. I definitely will return to this park again.
Lots to do, fishing, hiking, exploring. Good size campsites with nice shade trees. Close to all areas. Wildlife. Bait shop and camp store. Was there on 4th of July excellent fireworks display.
Half of camping sites closed due to flooding. Big sites, not a lot of bugs or critters, electric available, pool but was closed at our visit. Neighbors were not friendly at all, permanent campers just didn’t socialize. Workers never told us about activities our kids could do, we had no clue they were available. Showers were nice though. Water on site, not from other campsites. Beach was amazing!!
What do you do when you want to camp but don’t have much time off from work? Camp near your work! That’s just what we did at Lake Kegonsa in Stoughton WI. Here we will review this wonderful state park just outside the capital city of Madison but far enough away to feel like you’ve actually gone somewhere remote.
The campgrounds are split up between regular and group camping. The group camping site was down the road from regular camping and consisted of a big parking lot, toilet facilities, recreation areas, and a large open area for 2 groups to camp. It was far enough away that if a group was partying late into the night it wouldn’t disturb the regular campers.
Both campgrounds shared a “shower house” complete with 3 shower units and about a half dozen toilets and 3 sinks(at least on the“female” side). There were also handicap private rooms with toilet and shower bundled together. Facilities were clean enough and toilet paper seemed to always be stocked. My husband had reported that he only needed to press the shower button twice for hot water to start flowing. I however had to press it about 7 times. I think it really depends on when the shower was last used. Takes a while for the hot water to reach your stall. Showers stayed on for about 20 seconds before you needed to push the button again. The shower heads could all use a little TLC but they were functional. Wearing shower shoes is recommended. There were NO soap dispensers so make sure you bring your own toiletries.
Adjacent to the shower house was a nice wooded picnic area with playground equipment for the kids. There was also a trail path the lead down the lake. You could also find the firewood station here but we never were able to catch the people selling the firewood at the station. They always seemed to be driving through the campground to make their sales. This seems like a nice service since you don’t have to haul the wood in your own vehicle but when we wanted wood there was nobody to be found. We ended up going about a half mile down the road to purchase wood from a house that had it bundled up in a self serve stand. Wood here was only$5 a bundle and was full of hardwood and a much better deal than the campground wood. Bonus: They invite you to recycle the orange plastic bags by returning them to the stand on your way out.
We reserved one of the many “double sites” the campground offers as we were camping with our daughter and needed to setup two tents and have enough room for 3 vehicles. The double sites include two picnic tables as well. We easily had enough room for two tents, 1 screen room, 1 shower room, a large truck, SUV and a car. We were in sites#13 and couldn’t be happier with our choice. I had done a drive through before reserving the site on the state camping website so I knew which ones would work for us. Site #18 would have worked as well. There are 96 sites to choose from in all and even on the weekend there were still a few open spots. Lots of spots can handle RVs and there were drive through sites so you don’t have to back in if that’s beyond your skill set. A third of the sites offered electricity and there was a dump station near by. Water spigots and pit toilets were spread out to make them convenient from almost any site. I've included some pictures of other campsites so you can get a feel for what to expect.
One of my requirements when camping is some level of privacy between sites and the majority of sites in this campground provide that. Its heavily wooded, sites are nicely spaced and we weren’t bothered by the camp hosts at all. We stayed 3 nights but did not have 1 visit from the hosts even to clean out the fire pit. By the end our pit was full of ashes! Our fire grate was a little beat up and did not have a smooth surface like I saw at some of the other sites but it did the job. I was able to put a pot of water on to boil when needed and it was relatively stable.
The campground is somewhat close to the interstate and rural highway roads so there is some traffic noise but relatively quiet by night time. What was NOT quiet on Thursday night was the freight train that came through around midnight and then again at 2 am. The first train only blew its horn a few short times. The second train acted like someone was laying on the tracks and was a little excessive for 3 am! Luckily we did not hear trains Friday night(or we slept through them) and we only heard 1 on Saturday night. The park is adjacent to more than one crossing so if this will disturb you I recommend finding another place to camp.
The park includes a beach and boat launch to help you enjoy Lake Kegonsa. It was also pet friendly with pet trails and a pet beach of their own. There were signs posted to keep pets on a leash when not in the water but people were not following that rule. Nor were they following the rules on the“people beach” which posted no pets but yet there they were. The beach area was very small but it was enough for the kids to enjoy or to get your paddle board or kayak out on the lake. Keep your eyes out for the “bonus swings” found throughout the park. My daughter and I enjoyed swinging on one near the beach and my husband and I enjoyed one near the shower houses.
There were also multiple trails scattered throughout the park. Everything from a quick half mile trek to loops that allow you to put on a couple of miles. Even though it had been raining prior to our visit the trails were not mud pits. Trails were well groomed and enjoyable. And we escaped without a million mosquito bites but were mildly bothered by gnats. We did spray our campsite with a backyard fogger and this may have helped because other reviews tell tales of being eaten alive. We did not see much wildlife so if that is what you’re after its best to pick a more remote location.
Overall I enjoyed the park and would visit again if I had to be in the area. The only standout negative was the trains. Any site you pick should be a winner and contribute to a great camping experience.
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time, and on this trip I tested the Wenzel Blue Jay 25 Degree sleeping bags.
My husband and I are outdoor enthusiasts and have slowly collected our gear over the years. Some quality items have lasted the test of time and other items have fallen apart rather quickly. One of the items we are still lucky to have are our sleeping bags that we purchased for our first camping trip over 20+ years ago. Unfortunately, those bags were made for the extreme cold Wisconsin is famous for. They work well in early spring and fall and have held up to many years of use….. but we find we can’t possibly use them for summer camping. We have taken to unzipping one bag and using it as a mattress cover and simply using sheets or light blankets on top.
So when we received our invite from Wenzel to review some of their equipment it was an easy choice to go with their Blue Jay 25 Degree sleeping bags. This weight seems perfect to handle a cold summer night and just what we need to round out our sleeping bag weather choices.
Wenzel shipped the bags fast and they were packaged individually and arrived intact. I love the fact that they came with their own stuff sacks. It was easy to unroll and reroll the bags and fit them back in the sack. That is something our colder bags don’t have. We have to roll them and tie with an attached string and store them in giant trash bags. I like this design much better. These bags are also more lightweight so they take up much less room than our old bags. This has become very important as we recently gave up our mini van and now have a midsized SUV. Space is now a premium and these fit the bill.
The fabrics are quality and everything seems well stitched together. I don’t feel like its going to unravel and let the filling bunch up unevenly. The flannel lining is soft and handled moisture well. The embroidered logo on the bag was a nice touch. The zippers on any equipment are usually where things go wrong first but these seem well made and easy to open and close. And the bag unzips fully if we wanted to use it as a blanket making it very versatile. The weight of the fill was perfect for this early summer camping trip. Not too hot yet kept us warm enough when temps dipped into the upper 40s. I’d say it was the perfect summer weight for a sleeping bag in our area.
The price point was very competitive and makes these bags a great value for the quality product you get. I look forward to having these bags on all our summer trips from now on. I also look forward to shopping Wenzel again when considering a camping gear purchase. To easily find this bag just follow this link: https://wenzelco.com/blue-jay-25/
I love everything about this park except the beach, so it didn’t get a 5 star. We stayed at site 98- just barely big enough to fit our travel trailer in and right next to the showers and bathrooms. Not a great location, but fine. Took a walk around and found plenty of other large, private shaded electric sites. If we came here again I would go for a site away from the bathroom. The tent sites looks fantastic- large and private. Plenty of hiking trails here, a decent playground, and tons of large fields to picnic in. Park has a Facebook page where they post activities. Friday night we saw a presentation on the cranes of Wisconsin, and Saturday morning we did a parkwide scavenger hunt. All fun for the family. We would definitely camp here again. The beach is across the very busy road, and has about 10 ft of sand before the road. Fine for a dip, but not relaxing. Very crowded. Other beaches are nearby but not free. Town of Lake Geneva is very cute in an upscale tourist way. Our kid found the museum a lot of fun.
Campground Review: Another nice visit to my favorite park! I love that this campground is small and secluded, yet close enough to cities that would have anything you needed. There is lots to do- two lakes, many hiking trails, and a great beach. We took our boat out for the first time on Whitewater Lake and enjoyed it. We live in Delavan, and the lake there gets filled with people so you can’t enjoy yourself without some yahoo zooming by. Whitewater lake is a big difference- it’s spread out enough that you can enjoy quiet time for fishing and relaxing yet there is still plenty of space for tubing or hotdogging on your jet ski without disturbing others. Rice Lake seems even calmer, but we didn’t get out on it this time. The beach is my favorite part- maybe because we come so often just for a day trip? It’s nicely spread out on a hill so it’s easy to see your kids in the water no matter where you are sitting. The shady areas get claimed first, so you may want to bring an umbrella or canopy if you come later in the day. The pit toilets and changing rooms are clean and maintained. There are also garbage and recycling cans, and it seems like every visit I make someone comes around and empties them so they don’t attract a lot of bugs or overflow with trash. As far as the campground goes, there are three separate sections. The east loop, the west loop, and the Hickory Woods group camp. Some of the sites on the east and west loop can be hit or miss- there’s a lot of size difference. The sites are all pretty private with lots of trees and brush between sites. There are a lot of long driveways for backing RV’s into. We were at site 610, on the east loop. This was one of the few electric sites available at the campground. The bathrooms were right behind this site, which was convenient, but it might get a little annoying to have so much foot traffic right next to your site when the campground is busier. We just wound up hanging a tapestry to give us a little more privacy. Speaking of bathrooms, the only ones available in the whole park are pit toilets and there are no shower facilities available- you have to make do with a dip in the lake or a wash up at camp. For us, it wasn’t a dealbreaker since we were only staying a few days and we live close if we needed an emergency shower, but if you were staying for a longer period it might be more of an issue. The Kettle Moraine South Horse Camp is 15 minutes away and they have showers available. I’ve never been there, so I can’t say how nice they are. The only other drawback is that the park office is not open very often. Other than those two things this park is perfect!
Product Review: As a ranger for the Dyrt I get products to test from time to time. I tested the Morsel Spork. https://morselspork.com I got both the regular and the XL. Both are high quality- lightweight but sturdy. The longer one was excellent for stirring things in a pot over the fire and held up to the heat without softening or melting. It would also be great for using in food pouches- no more leaving bits in the bottom or getting your hand covered in food clinging to the side! Both were comfortable to eat with, even for my 4 year old. I especially liked how the spatula part has both a flat and a curved side so you can use the side that’s most appropriate for what you are scraping. The curved side is great for getting everything out from under the lip of a can. The cutting edge on the fork part works well for softer things yet is not harsh on your mouth. I was able to cut tomatoes and saw through some carrots with it. Clean up is a breeze. Food wipes right off and I used the spatula to scrape out all the pots and plates before washing so I needed less water for dishes. Another useful feature is the hole in the handle. I used a small carabiner clipper through the holes to keep them together when I throw them in my kitchen sack. There’s a lot of sporks out there, but the Morsel is the way to go!
Campground Review: Another nice visit to my favorite park! I love that this campground is small and secluded, yet close enough to cities that would have anything you needed. There is lots to do- two lakes, many hiking trails, and a great beach. We took our boat out for the first time on Whitewater Lake and enjoyed it. We live in Delavan, and the lake there gets filled with people so you can’t enjoy yourself without some yahoo zooming by. Whitewater lake is a big difference- it’s spread out enough that you can enjoy quiet time for fishing and relaxing yet there is still plenty of space for tubing or hotdogging on your jet ski without disturbing others. Rice Lake seems even calmer, but we didn’t get out on it this time. The beach is my favorite part- maybe because we come so often just for a day trip? It’s nicely spread out on a hill so it’s easy to see your kids in the water no matter where you are sitting. The shady areas get claimed first, so you may want to bring an umbrella or canopy if you come later in the day. The pit toilets and changing rooms are clean and maintained. There are also garbage and recycling cans, and it seems like every visit I make someone comes around and empties them so they don’t attract a lot of bugs or overflow with trash. As far as the campground goes, there are three separate sections. The east loop, the west loop, and the Hickory Woods group camp. Some of the sites on the east and west loop can be hit or miss- there’s a lot of size difference. The sites are all pretty private with lots of trees and brush between sites. There are a lot of long driveways for backing RV’s into. We were at site 610, on the east loop. This was one of the few electric sites available at the campground. The bathrooms were right behind this site, which was convenient, but it might get a little annoying to have so much foot traffic right next to your site when the campground is busier. We just wound up hanging a tapestry to give us a little more privacy. Speaking of bathrooms, the only ones available in the whole park are pit toilets and there are no shower facilities available- you have to make do with a dip in the lake or a wash up at camp. For us, it wasn’t a dealbreaker since we were only staying a few days and we live close if we needed an emergency shower, but if you were staying for a longer period it might be more of an issue. The Kettle Moraine South Horse Camp is 15 minutes away and they have showers available. I’ve never been there, so I can’t say how nice they are. The only other drawback is that the park office is not open very often. Other than those two things this park is perfect!
Product Review: As a ranger for the Dyrt I get products to test from time to time. I tested the Morsel Spork. https://morselspork.com I got both the regular and the XL. Both are high quality- lightweight but sturdy. The longer one was excellent for stirring things in a pot over the fire and held up to the heat without softening or melting. It would also be great for using in food pouches- no more leaving bits in the bottom or getting your hand covered in food clinging to the side! Both were comfortable to eat with, even for my 4 year old. I especially liked how the spatula part has both a flat and a curved side so you can use the side that’s most appropriate for what you are scraping. The curved side is great for getting everything out from under the lip of a can. The cutting edge on the fork part works well for softer things yet is not harsh on your mouth. I was able to cut tomatoes and saw through some carrots with it. Clean up is a breeze. Food wipes right off and I used the spatula to scrape out all the pots and plates before washing so I needed less water for dishes. Another useful feature is the hole in the handle. I used a small carabiner clipper through the holes to keep them together when I throw them in my kitchen sack. There’s a lot of sporks out there, but the Morsel is the way to go!
We booked a couple of days ahead of our stay, and ended up with one of the last 2 sites in the primitive tent area. The site was on the end of an inlet, and the water was full of algae– not a great view, but the lot was a decent size. Not as big as some state campgrounds that we’ve been to, but big enough for our single tent and it had a small fire ring with grate and a picnic table. (NOTE: There appears to be a shortage of picnic tables in this area, and we ended up snatching one from the neighboring site as the residents hadn’t arrived yet. It was an east/west facing lot, and had a couple of trees of the east side, so no afternoon shade. Tough luck on a weekend with temps hanging around 90 degrees! Luckily, I had taken a large tarp and managed to rig some shade with the help of the trees. The toilets in the primitive area are pit– there are 2 sets so no one has to walk far. The toilets closest to our lot were better than I had expected from a pit– no smell in the women’s, although I was told that the men’s was pretty foul. There were, as usual, plenty of flies and spiders, but the TP was always stocked. There were flush toilets and showers near the RV camp areas. I first, used the showers in the Plum Grove section– there were 3 showers with very old with rusty, crusty shower curtains. The way that they were laid out, the changing area for the first two showers were a walkway for the other showers. However, I later used the shower close to the Staghorn area, and it was a bit newer and nicer. No walkthrough problems, and there was a door between the changing area and the main section. Overall, the entire campground was nice and well kept. The general store was small, but carried quite a bit for its size. There was also another store at Pierce Lake where they rented kayaks and paddle boats, sold fishing gear, ice cream, etc. At this same location there’s a small concession area– the hot dogs were pretty good.“Quiet time” isn’t exactly enforced(unfortunately). We were lucky enough camp on a weekend when a group(maybe 10 tents) of wannabe musicians were camping. They played bongos and guitars and sang until 11:30 p.m. Add that to the families with kids and scooters that started tooling around the tents at 7:00 a.m.(yes, technically the end of quiet time, but really?), and it could have been quieter.
NOTE: I forgot to mention that the sites along the water's edge were covered in goose poo. We spent around 20 minutes clearing the site. Nature, whatcha gonna do?
Great forests and trails! Nice for camping in that the campsites are not too close together but there are still bathrooms
The camp ground itself was decent. It was very small but was enough for a two night stay. I was disappointed in the lack of activities there were there. They have two lakes for fishing and a bike trail. Not much for hiking.
Large number of campsites plus a group campground. Mix of electric and non electric. Big mature trees provide shade on many sites. Very gravelly so have to inspect best spot for tent. Vault toilets through campground loops. Shower house at main entrance and at beach. Small sandy beach with picnic area nearby. Nice benches a d fishing docks near main boat launch.