Best Tent Camping near Whittington, IL

Tent Camping Reviews near Whittington, IL

599 Reviews of 11 Whittington Campgrounds

• S

  Sadie R.

  Guide

  Oct. 7, 2020

  Giant City State Park Campground

  No privacy at tent camp, hike amazing!

  So first of all- I think it’s fair to state before I leave a review that my husband and I prefer primitive and private camping. The fewer people we see while we’re out, the better. We live in a city so when we camp, we want the opposite. If you enjoy RV camping or don’t mind not so Private spots, this is a decent spot to spend the night. If you like primitive/private camping- il fill you in below!

  We do tent camping and Saw there were walk-in sites and hike in sites at this campground. Usually walk-in sites are pretty private and dispersed well - atleast where we’ve been before. The 14 “primitive” camping sites were right next to eachothwr with little to no privacy at all. Good tree cover for shade but otherwise you’re basically setting up your tent and area in an open field. That was a little disappointing to us because it wasn’t what we thought we would find. The RV spots also seem super close together but again- we like things spread out so maybe it would be an OK place for some.

  The vault toilets near the tent sites were...as clean as vault toilets get! And we did not use tje shower facilities so can’t speak on that.

  If we had been just the 2 of us, we would’ve hiked in to do our camping along one of the hiking paths but we were meeting two other friends and were unsure if they would want to hike miles to a spot so we opted for the tent spots just after the RV campground. If you want more privacy for an evening of camping, you’ll need to come with your gear packed up decently enough to hike it out atleast a mile onto the trails. There is camping allowed along the trails as long as you are 100 ft from the trail so that was an option, but in certain spots along the trail it’s challenging to find a clearing (hammocks would be great along the trail). There is also an official primitive camping site halfway through the 12 mile loop of the Red Ceder Trail. We day hiked almost the whole loop but made a Weird little detour so we didn’t get to check these spots out.

  We were hoping to find a campsite that- as get as difficulty of accessibility level- was in between a 6 mile hike and the tent spots in the field but there isn’t any official spot like that even tho there’s tons of space and potential for it. Rant over about the campground. Let’s talk about the hiking! The hiking was truly awesome and felt like it balanced out my disappointment with the campground. Doing the whole 12 mile loop of tje Red Cedar Trail was a challenge for us! We really enjoyed it. In some spots, the trail markers are a little confusing, but overall it’s decently marked and the map is somewhat helpful just to kindve know vaguely where you are. The 2nd day, we went back and did about half rhe loop and also checked out the more popular section of the trails back there that include Giant City Nature Trail, Devils Stand Table, and a few others. Very cool rock formations. Pretty busy in the weekend over there but the test of the trails away from that area with those big landmarks was completely deserted and there are some super cool rock formations not on the map at all.

  Over all, this was a fun 4 days. We would return and plan on hiking out into the trails to camp for our evenings. If you like privacy around your campfire at night, I can’t recommend the campground.

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• 

  Annie C.

  Legend

  Oct. 1, 2016

  Pharoah - Garden of the Gods Rec Area Campground

  Garden of the Gods

  Primative camping at its best. This is heavily used in the summer and early fall. Picnic tables and fire rings, vault toilets. Go in the off season and you will have plenty of privacy. Fairly level tent sites , some with nice trees for hammocks. Close to Little Grand Canyon, a really neat natural bridge, and Illinois wineries.

• 

  Roger W.

  Legend

  Sep. 28, 2024

  Dam East - Mcnair Campground

  Location Great for Travel

  McNair ACE: Tate 4 for cleanliness and stopover location for travels on nearby highway. (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

  (72 yr olds in 27’ trailer.)

  Overall Rating: 4 Price 2024: $ 9w interagency pass Security: no Usage during visit: 1/3 Visual Privacy Between Adjacent Sites: no Site Spacing: closer Pad surface: blacktop Reservations: Required Campground Noise: No Outside Road Noise: no Through Traffic in campground: no Electric Hookup: yes Sewer Hookup: no Dump Station: yes Potable Water Available: At site Bathroom: Nice flush Showers: small private Cell Service (AT&T): 2-3 bars Setting: near lake Recent Weather: 80s Insects: no Host: yes Rig Size: large Sites: Outside sites are by far the best. 16,17,18 are favorites .

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• 

  GoWhereYouAreDraw N.

  Legend

  May. 13, 2020

  Redbud Campground at Bell Smith Springs

  Fun swimming holes and good hiking

  21 campsites with a fire ring/barrel, lantern post and picnic table. A couple of the campsites had damaged fire rings. Most sites should be able to fit medium size trailers, other sites have trees in the way. Vault toilets and a water station. Very quiet, clean and peaceful. Trail system is about 8 miles and has great views. Don’t forget to bring your swimming suit!

• 

  Roger W.

  Legend

  Sep. 28, 2024

  Dam East Recreation Area

  GREAT LOCATION for STOPOVER

  East Dam ACE, IL: Not an interesting view from here, but well maintained campground . Quiet.
  (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

  (72 yr olds in 27’ trailer.)

  Overall Rating: 4 for cleanliness and location for travels on nearby highway. Spillway is not particularly pretty. Price 2024: $9 w interagency pass Security: No gate Usage during visit: 60% during the week Visual Privacy Between Adjacent Sites: No Site Spacing: Good Pad surface: Blacktop Reservations: Required. Can be made upon arrival through rec.gov Campground Noise: Quiet Outside Road Noise: No Through Traffic in campground: No Electric Hookup: Yes Sewer Hookup: No Dump Station: At nearby ACE campground Potable Water Available: At site Bathroom: In adjacent day use area Showers: No. Nearby - check w host. Pull Throughs: Some Cell Service (AT&T): 2 bars Setting: along Kaskasia River/ spillway Recent Weather: 80s Insects: no Host: yes Rig Size: large Sites: Some sites are along the spillway.

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• 

  Lane M.

  Traveler

  Jun. 6, 2019

  Pharoah - Garden of the Gods Rec Area Campground

  Great little spot!

  This camping spot is just down the road from Southern IL’s Garden Of the Gods. There were 12 camping areas. Plenty of room and trees for tents and hammocks. Also, there is a good amount of shade so if you tent in the right spot you don’t wake up roasting from the sun. The campsites have a lot of room so your neighbors don’t seem like they are on top of your site. The spots include a picnic table, hanging poles for trash or lantern, and a fire pit with movable built-in grill. The area is very wooded so unless the ground is wet you can find lots of firewood. There is a drinking water pump at the entrance of the campsite but it’s pretty chlorinated. There is no shower or running water and the toilets are pit style; but there are toilets. I don’t know if other sites had this but ours had 2 trails leading right out of the woods. Great for close to home hiking.

  P.S. Beware of tailless raccoon at site 12 that likes to steal Doritos.

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• 

  AC

  Guide

  May. 16, 2021

  Washington County State Recreation Area

  Shady Rest campground

  Really great campground. Good mix of tents and RVs. Bath house was very well kept and clean. Showers ran cold at first but after a few mins it gets warmer! There were plenty of pit toliets through out the campground and trash cans. My tent site was clean, good flat spot for tent, picnic table and fire pit with attached grill.

  The Concession building in the park is closing. No boat rentals, selling everything he has on the shelf.

  Caught a few bass and and good amount of hiking. Large trail around the whole lake, smaller trails lead to sites around the different campgrounds.

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  M E.

  Guide

  Oct. 17, 2021

  Pine Ridge

  Beautiful Area with large sites!

  This campground area is beautiful! We stayed here 3 nights. We arrived on a Thursday and there were plenty of open spots. Friday they open some of the other loops up for more people to stay and it did fill up for the weekend. 

  You can get some cell service but only in choice areas (at the front by the water spigot and some of the roads leading down to the lake. We were not able to get any cell service (Verizon, AT&T, or T Mobile) in the electric loop. 

  This area is a primitive area and is not really set up for RVs. Don't get me wrong... RVs can definitely fit in most of the camping spots but only 1 loop has electricity, there is no sanitary dump station, and the water spigot does not have a way to hook up a hose to fill your tank. If you dump your tanks and fill with fresh water before coming you should be good. 

  It does have vault toilets... no showers. The toilets were very clean for vault toilets. 

  The lake area is beautiful with a swimming area, fishing pier, and pavilion to eat or sit under for shade. It looks like they really keep the area cleaned up!

  Another little note that we learned is that the park rangers can help you move sites... or even campgrounds if your site is not working for you so you don't loose out on money like we did. This only applies to other Shawnee campgrounds of course but there are quite a few to choose from!

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• 

  Chelsea D.

  Guide

  Apr. 23, 2020

  Pine Hills

  Beautiful new Picnic shelter, quiet campground

  This is a very basic campground with some shade. No hookups, really good for tent camping. The new picnic shelter is beautiful and there is seating around a fire pit. This forest does a great job of keeping restrooms very clean.