Pleasant Creek Campground

Within LaSalle County or for that matter, the whole of north central Illinois, I don’t know of any other privately run, multi-campground locations like Pleasant Creek that offers a total of 6 separate, yet interconnected set of campgrounds, each with their own name, distinct culture, elevation (yes, I just said elevation in a state that is relatively flat, more on this later), price range, # and type of accommodations, amenities as well as access to them. This review highlights the Highlands Campground, but if you want to learn about Pleasant Creek more broadly, just keep reading further down. 

While not in Scotland, this campground does sit highest of all the potential spots you could pick here at any one of the campgrounds you'll find here at Pleasant Creek. Unlike many of the other options, the Highlands are really just for RVs and 5th Wheelers, so if you are a tent camper, you will want to look at some of the other campgrounds like Outback, Creekside or Glades. If you do have an oversized or rather large RV / 5th Wheeler to contend with and are concerned about making the incline up to the Highlands, you might want to look at some of the other easier to access options. That said, after entering Pleasant Creek, you’ll pass the Office, Camp Store and Arcade on the left, where you’ll also notice a small (single hoop) basketball court on the right, passing by the primary community bathhouses, you’ll veer to the left where you’ll cross the lone bridge where you’ll proceed straight and upwards to arrive at the Highlands Campground. 

Up here on this plateau overlooking the expanse of the entirety of Pleasant Creek multi-campground campus, there are 55 premium and deluxe RV slots available numbered #201– 228 and #253– 258 on the exterior of the single loop, and #229–#244 on the interior upper loop with #246– 252 on the interior lower loop, all with the traditional hookups (30 / 50 amp electric, water and sewage). You’ll discover the lone playground that exists here at Pleasant Creek is in the center of the loop sitting atop this elevated ledge, while there is a temporary makeshift his / her bathroom but no shower facilities (you'll have to head down from whence you came to the valley where you'll find this amenity). Both the altitude up here along with the thick treeline creates a completely separate feel from the rest of Pleasant Creek, preserving a unique community vibe. 

The biggest tip I could give you about staying at any of the campgrounds here at Pleasant Creek is that no matter which campground you select, you will be located just 5 miles from two of the best state parks that Illinois has to offer: Starved Rock SP and Matthiessen SP. Whether you are seeking a primitive tent camping experience in a deeply wooded forest or the perfect highly elevated RV outpost, like you will discover up here in the Highlands Campground, with all of the amenities (and more) that you are usually afforded or you are simply looking for deluxe cabin, porch chair swinging accommodations with all the creature comforts of home, Pleasant Creek has an option for you that will have you loving the best of the outdoors here in north central Illinois. 

On the outskirts of the Illinois River Valley amongst thick, verdant forests of old Oaks, tall Pines and even weeping Willows, you’ll discover a tributary of the Vermillion River that carves through the Pleasant Creek campus, which is beset by rolling hills one moment and open grass prairie meadows the next, completely surrounded by some of the richest farmland in the country with endless rows of glistening golden sweet corn. And within just a short drive from Pleasant Creek, you’ll be able to access the best of 5+ miles of easy-to-moderate trail hiking at Matthiessen SP or the 13+ miles of easy-to-difficult trails and 18 canyons of Starved Rock SP. Want to kayak or canoe? Then you’ll have easy access to the mighty Illinois River. Horseback riding? Sure, in just about any direction, you’ll be able to rent a noble steed to take you through pristine grassy pastures. Archery? Tick! Really, there’s just about everything here for you to enjoy out here in nature in the middle of the Midwest. During the winter months, there’s even ice fishing, tobogganing and snow mobile trails to enjoy. 

No matter what unique campground setting you find yourself in here at Pleasant Creek, there’s a bounty of amenities and options to enjoy: from newly renovated his / hers community bathroom and shower facilities, catch & release pond, camp store with a wide selection of dry goods, camping supplies and sundries, kid’s playground, elevated gazebo, water spigots, recreation room with community deck featuring chairs, tables & umbrellas, basketball court, volleyball court, wading pond, designated dump site, BBQ grills, covered pavilions and scattered picnic tables. One of the most noticeable improvements to Pleasant Creek is that they have recently upgraded the winding main entrance gravel road as well as widened a number of the road pathways reaching each of the individual campgrounds. 

Insider’s tips? Here’s a few: (1) Should you find yourself in need of anything, the amazing father and son duo of Dan & Dan, are at your 'beck & call' and will work tirelessly to ensure that your experience here at any one of the campgrounds you are staying at is nothing short of amazing, so if you need anything, just ask either of them; (2) While there isn’t much to access along the Vermillion River in these parts, heading due west, you’ll find a couple of decent natural launches where you can access the wider river OR you can access a great kayak launch site either at the lower dells in Starved Rock SP or by contacting Starved Rock Kayak Company (who have their own, very amazing riverfront primitive campsite, BTW), who will let you launch from either one of their sites on either side of the Illinois River; (3) While there’s not a whole lot of restaurants in this area (which would be a great idea for Pleasant Creek to install its own eatery), if you do want to get out to try some of the local fare, you’re either going to have to hightail it to nearby Tonica, where I would recommend Ace & Eights or Garzanelli’s Super Club in Oglesby and if you don’t mind a slightly further afield drive, head on over to Captain’s Cove for some great seafood with a brilliant view of the Illinois River; (4) For the cyclists out there, you’ll be stoked to find miles and miles to bike along the I&M Canal that parallels the Illinois River; and (5) Rappelers will enjoy bouncing off the cliffs and sharp jutting limestone crevices that are present in both Matthiessen and Starved Rock SPs. 

Happy Camping!

If you want to meet new folks, stay here. Our fire ring was 10 feet from the table in the site next to us. We stayed in site 305, which was not all that level for a tent, but one of the most level in the Glades area. Our first assigned site 109, was full of dog poop. Bathrooms are old, not much space to help kids in toilet or shower area. We spent $60 on firewood for two nights burning from 5-9 pm. Only positive was that it is close to state parks.

Great little spot. 5min from Starved Rock and Matheson park. Quite and cozi with all the amenities you could ask for.well, keep coming back for our kidless weekends. Highly recommend camping during the week.

$45 for primitive camping is BONKERS. Plus you can only have one tent per site or else they charge you ANOTHER $45 - even if it’s two small tents - combined smaller than a large family tent. They will not tell you this they will just charge your card. Firewood does not burn, just smokes, bring your own.

Great little camp grond. 

Wife and I had a wonderful time to ourselves.  

We be back many more times.

Dishonest management, no one ever in office to talk to before checkout (office hours start after checkout); when we found an employee to talk to she told us slightly late checkout was fine! A week later she charged our credit card for an additional night for TWO sites. I will not even tell you what they said when I called after receiving no response to emails except one excerpt from their policy. Suffice it to say they are dishonest and if they tell you something is fine, don't believe them! Suspend the card you paid on.

A beautiful hilly area, surrounded by large trees, with a small stream. If you want to camp this is a great place. Glamping - no. Most of the sites are grass, with some gravel. Only one full hookup. Getting to the dump station from the camp sites is incredibly difficult. WiFi is pay as you go - and not very good. Cell service is limited (one/two bars) at best. Restrooms (mostly portapotty style) are few and far between. One central shower/restroom was clean and warm (October visit)

OK wifi (for a fee), low water pressure.

Site was sloped so sleeping was tough. Many others in the Glen are the same. 305 is the flattest, but it's still cramped with neighbors. Kids enjoyed the playground and the fishing pond. Camping store was neat and clean and had the essentials. In & out of the campground was easy. $49 for a primitive site was a tough one for me to pay.

I only booked this place because Starved Rock was booked. Pros: close proximity to the parks, nice scenery at some sites near the creek, very quiet during our midweek stay ( almost deserted). Also lots of activities in site. Cons: Where to begin?!

1. Poor layout. Single lane asphalt "road" in and out and within the campground itself, on a sharp incline.
2. Our site was Creekside and supposed to be ok for RV. We have a 31' class A. We barely made it up to the site - which was mud. Had to pick another site at random after we called the office and nobody answered.
3. Crappy dump station location. Again, up a hill with sharp turns, one way in and out - single lane.
4. Price! We paid $48 + tax. What a ripoff. For that I expect better access and full hookups including sewer.
5. Our neighbors warned us that if we are 1 minute late checking out they would charge us another night, even if nobody is waiting for your spot. Gee thanks!

Overall, ok for tent camping or small rigs (15 ft or less). Anything longer forget it!!!

The staff was friendly and helpful checking in. We arrived without a reservation. We were allowed to got check out the site and electric before paying. The electrical at site 302 was a good new 50 amp service. The bathroom/ shower house was clean and heated. There were plenty of open sites and no one was on either side of us. Had the grounds been full, the adjoining campers would have been closer than I like. We were able to park our electric car/ camper on the grass so we could plug it in. The gravel roads throughout were dusty. I thought $47 for the night was a little steep. The site served the purpose, but I wouldn't want to be there on a busy weekend.

We have a 30’ travel trailer. The overall layout isn’t great. To get up to the sites, it’s a one way up and down road. Hopefully no one else is coming the opposite direction. The sites are spaced very close together. You won’t have any bit of privacy. To go along with that, we had pretty horrible neighbors during our stay. They had no sense of common decency. That’s not necessarily the campgrounds fault, but with the sides being so close, it does play a factor. Someone else mentioned flies being an issue. I can second that. They were everywhere. The dump station was also up a one way in/out hill. You had to make a tight U-turn coming down from your site to get up to it. Plan on going early otherwise you’re going to get stuck on the hill waiting…even after you finished dumping. Overall the campground wasn’t that great. We stayed because the state park was full.

I cannot express enough the horrific stay we had at this campground. When I say mud, just be prepared to be slipping and sliding everywhere because there is more mud than grass. The fly situation is out of hand. If you sit down at any given time, you'll find 20+ on you. The sites are super close together so you wont feel like you are in the middle of nowhere. The service there, presumably the owner, does not treat this GUESTS as anything but a piggy bank. Be prepared to be nickeled and dimed if you choose to stay here. They wouldn't recognize customer service if it kicked them in the face. Not family friendly at all. Be prepared to not be able to sleep in as they come in their motorized cart to wake you and the kids and the dog. AGH! There are far more superior grounds elsewhere.

This is a nice, quiet little campground. The sites up on the hill are nicely spaced out and deep. We will definitely be back. The only issue we had was the narrow road up the hill, I would hat to be half way up and meet another camper coming down.

This campground had spacious sites with several different sections suited towards camper trailers and tents. I stayed in the outback in my tent and had no neighbors so that was great! With a general store, laundry, and very clean bathrooms and showers there isn’t much you would need to leave for. Only reason I didn’t give it a 5 star is because I was told check out time was 2pm when it was actually earlier than that and I missed it by maybe 30 mins. An older employee came by and was a prick about it threatening to charge me another $32 for barely missing the time even though there was no rush to leave with no one coming in behind me.

We booked for 9 people and Pleasant creek booked three Cabins 212, 213 and 312 they says these cabins were AC We paid $700. 

Few in our group were hanicape.  after reservation and credit card charged we had few questions we made at least 20 calls no one picked. I live in Bolingbrook Illinois bcz I booked and was responsible drove to this place 2 hrs to check out. 

 Found out this place was abandant, no cabins, and looked scary and closed. I came back trying to ask my monhey back no answer or E mails replies. This place is a scam please be careful. I also, filed a police report lost my money not happy and very embrassed in front of my group.

Please, do not trust this place and do not book on credit card I lost my money.

Thanks,

Soni

I honestly can’t get over this campground. I’ve stayed at some sketchy grounds but this....the facilities were nice, general store is convenient and sells beer and 24hr firewood access is the only thing saving this review. There is zero privacy in the tent sites, upper Creekside is a good spot for if it rains but be aware of the intense incline. The “creek” isn’t an actual creek but just rain runoff. The older gentleman that runs the place is pretty rude, and the security is obnoxious with how often they circle around the sites. The fishing pond is subpar. At $36/night(stayed 2 nights so $72 in total) I could have stayed at a state park with actual water access and with privacy for around $20 total. This is definitely not somewhere locals should go and just let the tourists have it.

This is very close to Starved Rock & Matthiessen State Parks, both of which are absolutely breathtaking! The campground is decent; lots of tents. Spots are pretty close together, but some have water & electricity; pull through spots available too. Nice camp store & small arcade. The fishing pond was NOT well kept, and the water tasted terrible—we ended up buying jugs of water because we couldn’t even stand to brush our teeth with it. Reasonable rates; we paid $44/night for pull through spot with water & electric. Fire ring & picnic table at each spot; firewood sold at camp store & outside firewood vending.

Clean bathrooms. Secluded from road, quiet, in forest. Friendly staff.

We had the shade and the sites had nice people and we were near a stream, but there was a ton of poison ivy in the uncut beside the tent. Even ivy in the utility box for water and electricity.

This is an amazing full service type private campground. Everything you could want is here: there is a creek with tent sites along it, there are RV sites with full hookups, there are cute little cabins, and there are even yurts! There is a general store where you check in, and if you get there after it closes, they leave directions on the door for reserved sites and info on how to get a non reserved site. There is a nice pavilion, a game room/club house, basketball court, fishing pond, firewood for sale, and a few short trails. I felt like I was in the Berkshires instead of northern Illinois since most of the buildings down by the creek were whitewashed with green trim. Even though sites are close together, it still felt a bit private at the tent only sites on the creek. Up top it was more open with kids running around and playing everywhere. The rates are somewhat pricey ($28 for primitive sites), but include showers in the super clean (looks brand new!) bath house.

right near the vermillion river which offers a white water rafting trip in the early season, just about 5 miles from starved rock.

the bulk of the campsites are down in a valley and ours was along the creek. A heavy downpour resulted in water up over our ankles all through the site! Thank goodness the tents floated while we hunkered down in our vehicles. Took forever to drain so we, and the Girl Scout Group two sites over all ended up packing up and heading for home.

We stayed in the section called Creekside. The best part about the campground was being able to hear the creek at night in the tent. Otherwise the sides are on a completely grassy area which can get horrifically muddy in the rain. The kind of mud where you step and you sink in past your ankles. We were there during torrential rain and you have to park your car in this grass as well. It’s been a lot of time worrying that my car was going to sing too deeply to drive out. The area we stayed in was allotted six campsites. At any other campground they would have put two campsites in that same space. Luckily for us no one else was there. If there had been it would’ve been very uncomfortable. I can only see being this close to people if you’re there for a family reunion or a group of friends. This was true of all the campsites we saw. Also true of all campsites was it there was no vegetation or screening of any kind. Although there was a good amount of shade. Just not that would’ve provided any sort of privacy. We drove up to the area called the Highlands where some of the RV sites are. It was steep and narrow and I was a bit nervous with my van. I imagine if you’re driving an RV up there it could be a bit hairy.The game room was closed the whole time we were there so I can’t speak to it. The bathrooms were doable. Nothing great but not gross.

This campground is nice, but not our favorite. It’s really expensive. Most sites have no privacy at all. the kids loved going to the playground and they do have an arcade but other that that there’s not much to do. A little creek runs through the campground and you can walk along that. They sell firewood and the bathrooms are really nice. The staff is also very nice and live on site so are there to help whenever you need. RV and tent sites. fire pit and picnic table provided. Close to the state parks where they have tons of amazing hiking. Overall good campground just a little expensive.

We enjoyed this site as it backed up to a creek that was perfect for building stone structures and exploring. Sites are rather close together and most are fully shaded. Campground is pretty expansive and was close to rafting and state parks for hiking.