Best Tent Camping near Henryville, IN

Tent camping & hiking

The perfect dispersed site for my way through, quiet and peaceful. Good spot for tent camping , we enjoyed our stay.

This campground is on the south side of Monroe lake and has beach access. I tent camped solo and everything went great!

First, the good: Lake Shelby was easy to find. The signs were easy to see and tent sites are well marked. The office, RV area and restrooms were easy to find and also well marked. The tent sites were shaded by nice trees and were located right next to the lake. The group tent sites looked nice and had shade and open areas. You can rent a paddle boat or canoe. However, there has to be an adult in the canoe for rental. There are several docks and a boat ramp. You have to pay to launch and there is an honor box for that. The campsite itself, was mostly flat and partially shaded. The fire pit was nice as well. Now, the bad: The lake was brown and had an oily film across the top. It smelled of dead fish and something else that I couldn't identify. I saw people fishing, but I never saw anyone actually catch anything. The tent sites were down a dead end road, however the amount of cars that went past our site made me feel like there was a parade that lasted almost the entire time we were there. The paddle boat lost steering when we were halfway around the lake. The only thing we could do was go in a circle. It took 20 minutes for them to send someone to assist us. There was a trash can next to our site, however, it was nearly full when we arrived and no one ever emptied it. The restrooms are located at the RV parking area, so we had to drive to use them. In my opinion, the restrooms should have been built in between the RV sites and tent sites to make them easier to access by walking. Overall, I didn't hate my time at Lake Shelby, but there was nothing great enough to make me return or recommend it to friends.

Tent sites: steep hill with rodents living there. Gravel driveway leading to tent sites: a trench sure to rip the exhaust off your car. The RVers and workers: they make it obvious you are beneath them. Pets allowed: you WILL be up all night with the barking chihuaua on the next site. Airplanes flying over head as you are getting ready to sleep. Traverse the lawn to the faraway bathroom to ruin your shoes at 2am. Laundry on-site but the workers will scowl while you use it. Catch all this ire for the grand old price of $50+ per night.

The staff were very friendly and accommodating. I asked for the most remote location to set up my tent. It’s still pretty close (across the gravel road about 100’ from RV/trailer campers). The row of tent sites backed up to a fence line. There are trees along this row so you’re not in full sun all day. I wish the tent sites were along the edge of the lake, but this is safer for small children. I’d camp here again possibly. There is a shower house but I did not use this facility. A Rural King store and other retail businesses are less than 5 miles from the location if you happen to forget something.

This campground has RV sites and tent sites, pond to fish in and plenty of playgrounds for the children. Clean showers and bathrooms and friendly staff.

Level RV and tent sites, only some have water and electric. Large sites, clean amenities. Main road lead to the lake. Visited mid May and it was self checkin.

I don't see how there could be tent camping here, there's no grass. But I wouldn't be able to verify anyway because there was no attendant in the office at 10 am on a Monday morning. No one answers the phone. Doesn't seem like much of a business.

Loved this campground growing up! We tent camped and our relatives RV camped. However they have cut down most of the trees, the facilities aren’t maintained very well and the campground/park looks more run down than ever. It’s sad but I hope they update and maintain it more in the future.

Staff was very courteous. I was given very clear directions to the site and couldn't miss it. The lake is beautiful. Dog and I took a little canoe ride. My only issue was that the primitive tent sites were so close to the camper sites which likely couldn't be helped.

We enjoyed the stay at site 77. The description of the site did say it had a slight slope so were aware. We tent camped which means our tent was on a slope. Next time we’ll pick a more level site. Bathrooms were clean, just your run of the mill park bathroom with some spider webs. We hiked a pretty easy trail and loved the walk. We saw several sites that we’d love to try when we return. So we’d definitely go back.

The campground itself was decent but it was very noisy the holiday weekend I stayed. People were chopping wood at 4:30am one night. Late night partying and music followed up with early rising children riding bikes and talking loudly. All sites are very close to the main road. The tent site I had wasn’t very level. There is a lot to do here though and would be a great place to bring groups of kids and teens. They have zip lines, paintball, bike trails,etc