Best Tent Camping near Mount Vernon, IN

Not big by any means but we'll kept and cozy. Primitive with water and restrooms. Worth the stay for thise wanting a small area and tent camp.

Plenty of hiking trails with a lot of information about the area. Pretty close to convenience stores for your needs.

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.

Spectacular, outstanding views, ancient cliff formations I love this place. They have camping, i think just tents though.

I stayed Thursday-Sunday. Very peaceful and clean. Very well maintained. Even the pit toliets are nicely stocked with toliet paper. Love the tall trees and that it's down the road from Garden of the Gods trails/ observation trail. Great for tents and Hammocks.

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.

This camp ground is only about 10 min from Garden Of The Gods. It’s down a gravel road a bit but nothing too hard to find. The spaces are wide open and big for multiple tents. There is well water, a bathroom (open septic tank) for pit and picnic table at each site. No heavy traffic on the gravel road so it’s very quiet.

RVs, tents, hammocks, teardrops, and camper vans are all great here.

Just be warned that there aren't many lots and they fill up fast, especially Friday through Sunday, especially in the autumn as the leaves are changing.

And if it's unseasonably warm in October, don't bother coming out. Dayhikers clutter the parking spots so badly overnighters risk car accidents trying to get in or out. Lots of kids and Karens.

I really like this little campground. The sites area  bit close together, and popups are probably the only camper that can fit comfortably. This campground is very close to the Observation Trail where you can view Camel Rock. There is no electricity at this campground, and sometimes people bring very loud generators, and there isn't much that can be done about that. But it's usually pretty busy with tent-campers. This is one of the locations on the Forest that fills up more often than other campgrounds, especially on holiday weekends.

Hammock friendly established campsites, which are rare for IL, also accommodating for tents, campers, and RVs.

Water pump tastes pretty good, no electricity hook up, bathrooms are usually pretty clean and are emptied regularly, decent cell phone signal.

Very busy on Fridays and weekends. Too many people, mostly day hikers, mostly parents with loud children, who have no concern for nature. They park wherever they can squeeze their car, even if it's obstructing your campsite; they leave garbage and waste everywhere.

Recommend only visiting Monday thru Thursday (except during spring break and holiday weekends) in spring and autumn (when the air is getting colder). The bluffs are treacherous after rainfall, but the views are more stunning and your more likely to have them to yourself.

We stayed here for 1 week in October. There weren't that many sites that were taken so there were a lot of good sites to choose from! Even on the weekend there were only a handful of sites that were taken, that hadn't been during the week. It is a beautiful area with a lot to do!

There is a dump station and potable water at the entrance to the campground. There are also some water spigots sprinkled throughout the campground. The toilets are vault toilets except in the concession area (that seemed to be closed permanently)  that were flushing toilets. The toilets that were the cleanest were the ones near the entrance in our experience. 

We were able to get cell signal on the campsites up the hill but not in any down by the water, which is why we stayed up the hill. 

In order to get a spot you will need to look around and choose a site then put your tent or RV on it to save it. Then you go to the campground host to pay and he will put your ticket on your reserve post. 

Somehow we did not get any pictures of the lake but it was really pretty! You can fish here and even put in a boat or other water toys if you own one!

All in all - we would stay here again!

Was passing by for a few night and decided to try this place out. Pretty run down spot. Bathrooms were very dirty and sketchy. People who stayed there are nice but the facility itself is in disrepair.

Great secluded area. Large park with so much to do.