Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Vandalia, IL

Review of Drive In Tent Camping Site 2. Showed up on a Thursday night and had our pick of all the drive in and walk in sites. We decided on site 2 in the drive in area. Previous reviews and a book by John Schirle on Tent Camping in Illinois helped us with this decision as well. Decent maintained sites with some older picnic tables and fire rings, but let's be honest this stuff sits outside 24/7. Site 2 seemed to sit back the farthest with site 1 a close second. Both wooded sites that made for great shade and helped some when it was raining. Any two families looking for two sites could certainly set up and share the experience. Nice little cove behind them to try fishing. Just watch the hike down the path or ravine. Dog friendly, fresh water supply (hint put the handle all the way up and wait a few seconds), ability to store stuff in the car close by, outhouse toilets visible at the walk in parking lot, and helpful host for easy check in who even sells fire wood made for a great few days ($5 a bundle). Rated B/S site at a cost of $10 a night.

Giving this 4 stars for the awesomeness of the sites themselves. We were in 121. All of the sites we saw in our “loop” were super wide, all gravel and quite level. So well kept.....fire pit with grate, large picnic table....really, the site couldn’t have been better. Beautiful views of the lake! Just all-in-all a well maintained park. So, why not 5 stars? I really wanted good shore fishing and not only was it a long walk, but really not very good/easy to get to, or comfortable standing once you get there. Beautiful dog parks....one for large dogs and one for small, but again, a long walk from the campground. Not feasible for our older dog. One other thing, absolutely no lighting at night along the campground roadways. After dark, we watched a truck go into the ditch looking for the turn out (granted, the occupants sounded like they were well into partying), but the pitch darkness at night made it feel a little unsafe, especially walking the dog after dark. Still, the sites themselves are awesome.

We stayed at Boo Wood Campground for about five days and enjoyed much of their amenities.

The campground featured a dog park which provided room for our dogs to run around. There was also multiple playgrounds and even a small amphitheater. There was a large boat ramp with ample parking. We put in our kayaks on the boat ramp and enjoyed a nice paddle on a portion of the Shelbyville Lake.

We paid less than$25 a night for full hooks up and we had an almost lake view.

Our biggest issue with this campsite was the extensive bugs, once the sun goes down the bugs get horribly bad. We let our dogs out past 8 p.m. and our camper was covered with swarms of psychodidae(sewer) flies. Once we quickly got in our camper, we spent the next hour killing the swarms of sewer flies that entered our camper. We learned our lesson and once the sun went down, we did not leave our camper.

I called a day in advance and was able to schedule a reservation, the lady on the phone was very nice. Upon arrival I was greeted nicely and checked in quickly. While beginning setup, I noticed an issue with the power at my particular spot and decided to let the staff know of the issue. They offered to move us to another spot and were very nice. The WiFi works great as I was able to stream anything I wanted on Hulu. There is a nice playground and dog park as well as a pond at the location. Great place to stop traveling through or for a weekend.

For my Tent only camp site. I loved it. It’s spacious it’s for the most part shaded. It is right next to the lake. I get some views. In the pictures I posted you’ll see what I’m talking about. As far as the campground I did take a drive around it’s pretty big n has a lot of shaded sites. I think it’s over 140 sites. There is a boat ramp on the grounds also the playground there’s a dog park there is also a little amphitheater. I believe I was told the Rangers do events for the kids.  I do like the fact that you can go into a bathroom and it also has the shower so you have that privacy. I also noticed and was told that there are volunteers that are in the campground I guess all season. It seems like they’re spread out like there’s someone in every section. Which made me feel good.  Having someone with the inside access to get help or to have a problem solved sooner than later. Here are just a couple reasons why I did not give a five star. To you out there it may not be a negative for you so you could see this as a five star. For a beautiful campsite to be surrounded by a lake. You can’t really see or Have access to swim in. There is a beach for the lake but it’s outside the campground and down the road. It’s a negative for me. I mean keep the trees maybe get rid of any low hanging branches and the bushes that block most of the view. I really wish they had some air in the bathrooms. Half of my trip was in the high 90s and the sun was just beaming on the building. So it was not pleasurable to use the bathroom or take a shower then. The tent only site that I was at. You had to park your car in a parking lot across the street but from my site it was down a little further.. I like having my car close by so I can access anything that is left in my car throughout my stay.  wi-Fi would’ve been a plus. So I got good phone service. Att