Best Cabin Camping near Scales Mound, IL

This campground is tucked into a little area next to a Walmart, Culvers, and Mini golf course. It sits between east Dubuque and Galena. When we stayed they had a dirt bike rally. They have a lot of property you can't see from the road, and honestly we had driven by this place many times but just never stayed. 

The staff in the store was great and very helpful. They have a ton of sites (125) that range from tent all the way to full hookup. If you get along the outsides you have a lot more privacy and better chance they will be level. If you aren't worried about sharing a conversation with your neighbor then you can pick anything. We were up the street from a "girls" weekend where they had turned the bed of a pickup into their own pool since the properties pool was closed due to the pandemic. 

Lots to do here with the ability to play mini golf on a very nice course, walk through the trees and property, and get ice-cream from culvers. I imagine this place is a great place for group sites. 

They also had some cabins to stay in but we chose not to stay there. Instead we found a partially shaded area at site 109.

Overall my family LOVED this campground. There is a decent sized pool that is clean and well-maintained with a smaller kiddie pool with a slide. There is also a man-made lake with a beach for swimming and bigger kids to enjoy the large inflatable slides and swim platforms. The campground is right on the river, and provides rentals for canoes, kayaks, and tubes. They will shuttle you as far up the river as you'd like to go, and you float or paddle back while enjoying all the sand bars along the way.

As an RV campground, the sites were level and grassy with at least one tree per lot. In the sites closer to the pool and lagoon (swim lake), they offer little privacy but are great for multi-family groups. We got a site with some woods in the back, so it was more quiet and private. The electrical and water hook ups were conveniently located, and the site was easy to get into. There were a lot of big Class A motorhomes, so the sites are plenty big. The tent sites are further away from the action, but have easy access to another bathroom and shower. They're also close to the river, and back up to a large corn field. There's a row of pine trees for easy hammock set up, and open grassy areas to let your group sprawl. The bathrooms were clean and nice, but they do have a $1 min for a shower. There is a change machine in the laundry facility.

The Resort also has an extensive camp shop and a huge restaurant with outdoor riverside seating. With live music and a full bar, this made for a really relaxing atmosphere if you're not up to campfire cooking. 

We enjoyed this campground and it's friendly staff and campers. Even through there are a lot of people there so you're not isolated in the woods, it wasn't loud or obnoxious with partiers. It's Wisconsin, so everybody was drinking beers and having fun but it wasn't loud and rowdy. The best part is the location on the Wisconsin River- you can get your fill of quiet solitude on the water, or float in a tube with a case of beer if you like. We enjoyed ourselves and can't wait to go back! It’s a great spot to use as home base for river trips, and don’t forget the Spring Green Desert conservancy nearby. Who knew there were cactuses in Wisconsin? Total hike is about 3.2 miles round trip, with a gorgeous view of the valley.

Stayed here on a wet and snowy weekend for the Boy Scouts Grant Pilgrimage. Campground was right next to Walmart, which was convenient, and a short walk down to the high school to get the shuttle into Galena itself. Port-a-potties were well maintained and the bathrooms up by the office were very nice (and warm on a chilly day!) Sites weren’t huge, but worked well for our group.

Some sites were tight and the lack of fire rings was disappointing.

My family and I have been coming to this campground for over 6 years running now. We started with a tent and in the past 4 years we have moved up to a 40’ travel trailer we bought. This is by far my kids favorite place to go camping and we will continue coming here every year for as long as we can. If you and your family haven’t been here I highly recommend you go. The staff and amenities are the best by far. I promise you will have a great experience like we have.

Catering to RV life style with lots of amenities such as restaurant, beach bar, water feature with floating water obstacle course, pool and more. Occasionally live music is on the beach. For us, the freight trains crushed the experience. Trains ran all night long, park is near a crossing so trains sound the horn each time they pass. We had an infant with us so we were up all night however we spoke with people who stay there often and they said you get acclimated. I gave this site 3 stars because the staff and amenities are great but can not give 5 starts due to the location in proximity to the trains. It really is a bummer.

Campground Review

Although it is a beautiful location, our site, 124 it was situated next to the lake. And across the lake was Timberlake playhouse where they had live music several times throughout the day. To the other side of us was the live music at the resort, which was impressive considering. If you like that kind of thing. It was way too loud for me to enjoy this particular campground. Most of the sites had concrete pads and overall it was well-maintained. To me there is just nothing wilderness like about this place. The fishing was less than par. My son enjoyed the pool and some of the activities, it was Lego weekend.

Product Review

What I really appreciated was the opportunity to use a couple items we received from Matador. The one thing I really enjoyed using was the Matador transit tote bag. That little thing was easy to pack in my bag and when I needed to use it I packed a Ton of stuff in it. It was incredibly durable and able to hold all of the stuff I needed for my puppy one day. And then I would give it a thumbs up for being puppy proof as well. She could not tear through that thing if she wanted to. I’m excited to use other Matador gear, but I can tell you that this tote will go with me everywhere, on every trip camping or not. It’s lightweight, durable, and a great looking tote. Overall it packs a lot of stuff into it. I can attest that 4 beach towels, suntan lotion, and a frisbee all fit comfortably in there.

Mostly a seasonal campground, only has 4 sites that are for weekenders. Very nice folks running the place. The neighbors where also very welcoming. Sites were closer then I would like would be the only negative. Nature reserve accessible from campground. We took several walks and bike rides around it. There is also a pool and a club house on property, however we did not visit them. There is ATT service, but not strong. There is also WiFi, but also not strong. We will be back.

Love it. Very clean. Trees for shade and concrete pads with pull thru. Live music and activities for all ages. Will be back.

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 needed a place after visiting the House on the Rock and couldn't find anything with hookups nearby. We stumbled upon Tom's Campground hoping to find a site. We pulled in and Tom met us at our camper as soon as we got to the top of the hill and before we even got out. He was very friendly and informative. Showers were good enough but we aren't picky, 7 minutes for $0.25. The area was beautiful.

This is a really nice and clean campground! The sites are very spacious and the food is good!! Really good Friday night fish fries! We will definitely be back!!

We like the upper campground the best the lower campground the lower loop had a lot of small campsites

Big sites. Nice campground!

The campground was higher up on the hill, it took a 5 minutes to hike down to the lake with lots of steep steps. Nice beach area. I spent two nights here with an RV. I had electric hookup.

Chose this campground for the low light pollution in order to watch a meteor shower. Very nice recreation area with a nice beach. Two cons worth noting, but not enough to dock a rating; 1) it cost $7 per day extra for the vehicle I used to tow my camper to the campsite, wtf! 2) popular with young families, so it got loud on the weekend.