Hannah T.
Traveler
TravelerWhite Pines Forest State Park Campground
Lots of things to do!
Well kept camping sites. Easy drive up style. Picnic tables and fire pits on site. Bathrooms and dumpster close by. River that is walk and drive through!
Glamping near Stockton, IL
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SUMMARY PRESENTED BY
Palace Campground and Lena KOA offer upscale glamping accommodations near Stockton, Illinois, with options ranging from safari tents to yurts. Palace Campground features 125 sites including glamping options with comfortable beds, electricity, and private fire pits. The property spans extensive grounds with both wooded and open areas, providing a mix of privacy and community spaces. Lena KOA provides boutique camping experiences with well-appointed glamping units that include amenities like picnic tables, fire rings, and access to clean shower facilities. Both locations offer electric hookups, drinking water, and trash service for a comfortable outdoor experience. According to a camper, "The staff in the store was great and very helpful. They have a ton of sites that range from tent all the way to full hookup."
Visitors to these glamping resorts can enjoy numerous recreational activities both on-site and nearby. Palace Campground sits adjacent to a mini-golf course and is conveniently located between East Dubuque and Galena, making it an ideal base for exploring the region. Lena KOA features a pool, petting zoo, kayak rentals, a rocky beach, dog park, and even a "land pillow" for family entertainment. Hiking trails wind through the surrounding woodlands, offering opportunities for nature exploration and wildlife viewing. The proximity to the Mississippi River backwaters provides additional options for fishing and boating adventures. One visitor noted, "The sites are spaced out well and there are more secluded sites so you have the feeling of privacy or big group sites for a big party."
Best Glamping Campgrounds near Stockton (19)
1. Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area
"They clean out fire pits after every weekend. Some sites were not the most level. All Roads are newly paved. New/Updated Dump station."
"This was an unexpected good find in Illinois. The campground was nice with the standard set up - picnic tables, restrooms, water available."
from $10 - $30 / night
Check Availability2. Lena KOA
"It is about 40 minutes away, but is nice to be away from the traffic. The KOA store is well stocked and has some pretty cool souvenirs!"
"This is the second KOA I’ve stayed at and is by far the better one of the two, the staff was super friendly and there was a lot of activities for the kids to do."
3. Timber Lake Resort
"The site was easy to get into with help from the friendly staff."
from $60 / night
Check Availability4. Blanding Landing
"Hosts are friendly and I saw rangers driving through multiple times. Each site includes picnic table and fire pit. Most have electric. "
"When I arrived, the site was clean, and we had a site with an open site on one side making it feel twice as big."
from $14 - $25 / night
Check Availability5. Palace Campground
"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."
"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."
6. Blackhawk Memorial Park
"Pit toilets/shelter/playground near the entrance. Two boat launches.
Variable availability for firewood; the Cenex on the west end of Argyle reliably sells it if there isn't any at the park."
7. White Pines Forest State Park Campground
"Easy drive up style. Picnic tables and fire pits on site. Bathrooms and dumpster close by. River that is walk and drive through!"
"Very clean, and beautiful hiking trails. My only complaint would be that at the private cabins you are not allowed to cook out."
8. Crazy Horse Campground
"Friendly staff and a nicely stocked store. Has a pool, petting zoo, kayaks, rocky beach, dog park, and a land pillow!"
"We made this trip mid-May during the Covid social distancing. The camp ground was on point with their preparedness. Check in was simply pull into your site or a brief stop at registration."
9. Blue Mound State Park Campground
"Excellent for RVs but some sites are non-electric. There are no other hookups, but there is a dump station. Every site has a fire pit and a picnic table. Many sites have a slight slope."
"The biggest issue we faced was the amount of noise. All of the sites surrounding us knew each other and partied together. People that partied until 1am, yelling and being loud as hell."
from $18 - $50 / night
Check Availability10. Cox Hollow Campground — Governor Dodge State Park
"The sites on the "inside" of the loop are rather close to one another. 21 has a nice view of the lake, and you can walk back to the fence to look over the bluff 24 is quite private and very large 26,"
"I randomly picked this campground, after trying to book Devil's Lake with no luck. WE LOVED IT! Sites are very private, some in the woods, and some have sun/shade."
from $25 - $40 / night
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Drive Time
- 49 min from Rockford, IL
- 53 min from Dubuque, IA
- 1 hr 16 min from Janesville, WI
- 1 hr 26 min from Madison, WI
Recent Glamping Photos near Stockton, IL
10 Photos of 19 Stockton Campgrounds
Glamping Reviews near Stockton, IL
190 Reviews of 19 Stockton Campgrounds
Stacie H.
GuideWhite Pines Forest State Park Campground
Lovely natural scenery; campground leaves something to be desired
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:
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Many of the campsites are sloped and some are sloped A LOT. This isn't obvious from the booking page.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The breakfast buffet at the restaurant is mid but very pricey- $50 for 2 of us.
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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.
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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.
- Stacie H.Guide
Morrison-Rockwood State Park
A lovely campground with the CLEANEST bathrooms and showerhouse!
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.
Mountainman McBeachfront
ScoutWhite Pines Forest State Park Campground
Nice park, with some downsides.
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.
- NNate R.Traveler
Blue Mound State Park Campground
Good RV sites, great site isolation
The sites are very well isolated and shaded, and have a well maintained gravel and packed earth surface. Not great for staking a tent, but doable. Excellent for RVs but some sites are non-electric. There are no other hookups, but there is a dump station. Every site has a fire pit and a picnic table. Many sites have a slight slope. Trail access to both the state park trails and to the Military Ridge Trail which runs nearby.
I stayed two nights in a tent and really struggled to find an ok spot on my site to pitch it, between the slope and the occasional roots and rocks. I managed to get stakes in but only at great effort. It looked like some other sites may have been better suited.
There is a raccoon problem here. They were definitely snooping through my things on the first night. Heard coyotes during the night in the distance.
Overall I'm pretty happy with my stay due to the location in the park, and most of the issues I had would be moot with an RV.
James M.
LegendRock Creek County Marina and Campground
Neat County Backwaters CG & Marina
CG is spread out along bottomland river forest and includes camping cabins, tent and RV sites, RR/showers, playground, dump and water stations, Eco Tourism store/grill, paddling rentals, Blue Heron Cruises, nature center. Sites include fire rings, tables, gravel backing pads, electric with some right near water edge.
Rx Q.ScoutCox Hollow Campground — Governor Dodge State Park
Noisy
This was my first and probably last time camping at Cox Hollow. Let’s start with positive: easy access to the campsite I was able to park my car right by the tent. Bathrooms and showers seemed clean enough, but I would recommend wearing some sort of footwear while you shower. Now the negatives: loud and obnoxious families with screaming bratty kids, people leave food scraps so raccoons are not scared and come right up to you sniffing for food, people have zero courtesy and slam bathroom door non stop, not to mention slamming down dumpster lids literally all day and late into the evening. Oh and did I mention screaming kids? Apparently “quiet hours” are from 11pm-8am, well the noise continued almost into midnight hours and as early as 6:30am. Thumping stereos with loud music, also can’t blame dogs for barking, but we had a howler and it kept going all the time. Forget about sleeping in or enjoying the sounds of nature. I’d like try different campsite at this park, but won’t be returning to Cox Hollow.
Scott W.TravelerBlue Mound State Park Campground
Depends on your site.
My wife and I tent camped here. We had never been here before.
We stayed at site 77 as the majority of the sites were booked.
77 is sloped, as well as gravel with hard packed earth. Some patches of grass, but for the most part it’s gravel. My wife and I sleep on mattresses, so it was not an issue for us.
If you’re tent camping, I highly recommend looking for a site with a leveled tent pad. We did not inspect any of them, but from a distance the pads look like packed sand or something of that nature.
The pit toilets are very well taken care of. The shower facilities were not open during our visit.
Here is where our problems lied (and this has little to do with the park itself)
there was no end-of-night patrol of any kind. The biggest issue we faced was the amount of noise. All of the sites surrounding us knew each other and partied together. People that partied until 1am, yelling and being loud as hell. Screaming at cars that drove by. quiet hours are listed online starting at 10pm.
We left our campsite to ask the Onsite host for help or to do something about it, but they chose not to come out of their camper. We called every line we could to get someone to come and shut them up, but alas, no park employees or hotlines were available. The wife and I certainly did not want to call the cops since we were surrounded by a group of drunk loud people and that can get out of hand fast.
Park staff came to our site the very next morning and talked to us. They warned all groups around us of the noise level. While this did calm down the partying our next night, it did not stop them from yelling things towards our campsite to try and scare us. Making animal noises and non-sense scare tactics to try and intimidate us.
Trashy and disrespectful, we walk away from our experience with an extremely negative stain.
This has nothing to do with the park itself, just the unfortunate circumstance that we were surrounded by terrible people that do not respect the rules of camping.
- Griffin K.Scout
Blue Mound State Park Campground
A+ camping experience
Tl;dr: shower house is great. Nice campers, rangers and camping vibes. Go to Blue Mounds Grocery on the way in. easy access to hiking, mountain biking, and running trails - including Military Ridge Trail.
Camped here with 2 friends during a cross country road trip. We had site 5 and were tent camping. When we showed up it was raining and it was unseasonably cold, but other campers in adjacent sites looked like they were having a great time - lots of family groups. This kept our spirits high as we set up camp, made a fire, and made dinner. The site was standard with a big picnic table, tent platform, fire pit, and room for our car. The bathroom and shower house was a really great amenity and there were spots for cars to drive over there if their spots were far. A very nice camp ranger came by to say hi and let us know that campers are expected to quiet down at 9ish and not be cognizant of that. Campers were being respectful of socially distancing and wearing masks for the most part. Seems like there is a great bike/hiking trail network all around. A couple of us are runners also a friend from Madison met us and we ran on the military ridge trail in the morning. There is very easy access to that. Also, insider note, on the way in, go to blue mounds grocery for anything you need (esp firewood). The cash register gave us some great camping advice.
Guide to Stockton
Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area sits on rolling hills near Stockton, Illinois, at an elevation of approximately 900 feet. The camping region features diverse topography with a mix of wooded areas and open fields typical of the northwestern Illinois landscape. Summer temperatures average 75-85°F while spring and fall camping seasons can see significant temperature variations between day and night, often requiring layered clothing for comfortable yurt camping experiences.
What to do
Fishing opportunities: Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area has recently updated fishing areas following maintenance. "The lake was refilling, via letting nature fill the lake back up. I'm not sure why, but the lake was drained some time back, when the park was closed for over a year for the maintenance that was done," mentions Mike F. in a review of Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area.
Hiking terrain: The area offers varied elevation changes unusual for Midwest camping. At Governor Dodge State Park, about 45 miles northwest of Stockton, "If you're a hiker, there are hills here for some decent elevation change (not bad for the Midwest). There are many trails which you can combine to get a good amount of miles in," notes GoWhereYouAreDraw N.
Water recreation: Summer kayaking on the Sugar River provides a refreshing activity. A visitor at Crazy Horse Campground shares, "We stayed here for a long weekend. It was really nice campground... I liked being about to go tubing it was so much fun!"
What campers like
Varied site layouts: Campers appreciate different site configurations to match their camping style. At Palace Campground, Scott M. notes: "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... If you get along the outsides you have a lot more privacy and better chance they will be level."
Clean facilities: Well-maintained bathrooms consistently receive positive reviews. One camper at Morrison-Rockwood State Park was particularly impressed: "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!"
River access: Proximity to water features adds value to the camping experience. At Blanding Landing, Ruth M. observes: "Quiet, relaxing small campground with super clean hot showers and flush toilets in shower house. Boat ramp, dock fishing, tall trees all over. Shady sites, water pump faucets, dump station."
What you should know
Site privacy considerations: Site selection impacts your camping experience significantly. At Timber Lake Resort, Kim L. advises, "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... If you're looking for peace and quiet and natural beauty, this is not the place."
Weather preparedness: The region experiences variable weather patterns requiring preparation. At Morrison-Rockwood State Park, Amy R. recounts: "It rained a lot, unfortunately, but the host stopped by and made sure we knew how to find the shower house for shelter if the weather became dangerous."
Train noise: Some campgrounds have nearby train tracks affecting sleep quality. Mary S. from Blanding Landing warns: "Trains are noisy—we slept through them but are also used to living by a train station. Your mileage may vary on that one."
Tips for camping with families
Playground access: Certain campsites offer direct access to play areas. Ben W. at Morrison-Rockwood State Park explains: "We had site 57 which is in a loop which goes around a playground. It was great for the kids who could go play and the sites in this loop provide plenty of space and privacy."
Activity options: Yurt camping near Stockton provides numerous built-in entertainment options. At Lena KOA, just minutes from Stockton, JC shares: "This campground is absolutely wonderful. Spots are spaced apart nicely. Many activities for kids and adults. Also, a pool, showers and if you just want a weekend getaway they have cabins as well."
Nature exploration: Trails offer educational opportunities for children. Leah W. recommends White Pines Forest State Park: "We've gone camping here the last two Memorial Day weekends with our three kids currently aged 8, 6, and 3. The hikes are all very doable, there is a playground, ice cream at the lodge and a few wide open spaces for frisbee or playing catch. The hikes were confidence boosters for our kids."
Tips from RVers
Leveling challenges: Many campsites require careful positioning for RVs. Jeff G. notes about Timber Lake Resort: "The rise angle to our space was almost too much to back in without dragging the bumper. Once in, the concrete pad was level."
Hookup options: Electric service varies between campgrounds. At Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area, Bill L. mentions: "The roads need repair, many potholes. Otherwise very nice campground. Lots of birds."
Dump station logistics: Allow extra time during busy periods. Bill L. observes at Lake Le-Aqua-Na: "The line to clean out the tanks was long and blocks the way in and out. The roads need repair, many potholes."
Frequently Asked Questions
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campsite near Stockton, IL?
Which is the most popular glamping campsite near Stockton, IL?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular glamping campground near Stockton, IL is Lake Le-Aqua-Na State Recreation Area with a 3.6-star rating from 10 reviews.
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What is the best site to find glamping camping near Stockton, IL?
TheDyrt.com has all 19 glamping camping locations near Stockton, IL, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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