Twisted Oak Campground — Argyle Lake State Park

We were surprised to discover this state park in Illinois but searching on the Dyrt App helped us have a great visit. There are 4 different camping areas within this park. There are electric sites near the showers. Another loop of electric sites is down the road. Keep going and you find a small loop of nonelectric sites ($8! It’s hard to beat that price). A mile further and there is a gravel road where you can find walk-in sites (some didn’t look cleared but others were stunning).

In our loop of rustic campsites, it filled up on the first night. There isn’t as much greenery between sites so this was a bit of a struggle noise wise. The rest of the weekend only had a couple other sites filled. We were well distanced and this ended up being a really enjoyable campground. There are vault toilets near the road. Garbage cans are almost at every other site. While they weren’t emptied out while we were there, they didn’t really fill up with just a few of us.

Recent storms brought trees down and even damaged the road around the lake. Cars are only able to go halfway around - but you can go halfway and then drive back around to see it all. The camp host recommended hiking the road. The 5 mile journey was popular even though it is a series of steep climbs and descents. We loved it and our dog loved meeting all the other dogs walking their owners around the lake. This hike became our morning ritual as it was cooler temps and shady.

There is a small restaurant at the lake. It’s near the boat launch. We saw many boats and even people fishing from shore. This man-made lake is a popular spot.

Having looked at some other campgrounds in the area, this one appealed to us the most. Even hearing a train once or the sound of distant shooting didn’t take away much from our experience. We’re glad we discovered it!

Good spots with easy access to hiking trails and lake. Better in winter, spring, and falls months.

Camp grounds are clean and easily accessible if that's what you're after. Also have a few hike in spots. Lots of boating and fishing. Also has areas for hunting during the seasons.

We stayed at Argyle Lake State Park in the Twisted Oak Campground, site 20. It was terrible. They had just mowed the grass after letting it grow 6 inches high, so it was everywhere. As a result grass stuck to everything and was on everyone. Imagine a hairy dog or cat shedding all of its hair and getting all over you.

The campground had very little tree cover and the campsites were right on top of one another. In the summer heat you get cooked.

Adding insult to injury the bathrooms were disgusting. This makes family camping with small children very difficult. I did not take any pictures and cannot comment on the lake or the rest of the park because we only stayed one night and left first thing in the morning because we had such a bad experience.

Personally, a lot of these problems could be remedied by decreasing the number of sites (to create more space), planting more trees, and hiring a staff who takes pride in the cleanliness of the campgrounds.