Best Glamping near El Dorado Lake

Located in the Heart of the Flint Hills in Kansas. Right off highway 400 about 26 miles east of Augusta, Kansas. Fly in with your own plane, drive your car/RV  or ride your bicycle.  Beaumont with their own airport, hotel, campground, and cafe with a lot of Frisco Railroad History.

I camped in a tent in September 2020.  The cafe is open Fri 8 am-8 pm; Sat 7am-9pm; Sun 7 am-2pm (closed in winter).  One of the motel rooms behind the cafe is available for showers and restrooms for campers.  I enjoyed supper and breakfast at the cafe.--friendly people and great food.  Quiet evening and fantastic stargazing.

Very few 50 amp site to choose from and no 50 amp sites with shade. Decent beach area with playground equipment for kids. The general store carries camping essentials, beer, and ice.

After told at the office that there were showers in Bluestem all of the modern showers were locked due to water line problems. So we went to the campgrounds by the dam.

We actually camped at Bemis Campground about a mile and a half south of this campground. Right off of the main road. There was about 15 or 20 spaces all with electric. I believe there was vault toilets only but no dump station. We had to come up to the blue stem area to dump. Nice little campground right on the lake but downside was that it was right next to the road so a little bit of traffic noise and not really any place to hike or walk. Spaces were fairly level and nicely spaced apart. Probably would recommend taking a back in spot rather than a pull through spot as the pull through were all pretty small and had no shade.

Campground Review: I stayed at El Dorado State Park - Bluestem Point camping area. It was a lot better than I expected. The lake was large and you could tell that the banks of the lake had flooded the campsites on the shoreline. I expected a lot of bugs but it wasn't bad.

The showers and bathrooms were like a swimming pool shower built in the 70's. There was no roof but everything is enclosed. The lake is really peaceful, and even though the state park boasts over 1200 campsites, I was all by myself with no one in sight.

It is a very peaceful place.

Gear Review: As a top reviewer on TheDyrt, I have an opportunity to review outdoor gear and products. While at El Dorado I gave the Mountain House Macaroni and Cheese a try and was very satisfied.

It's easy to prepare, boil two cups of water, pour it into the pouch and let it sit for about ten minutes after you have stirred the contents of the pouch.

I would give it 4 out of 5 stars, it was really good. Honestly, it tasted a lot like Stouffer's Macaroni and Cheese. The only real problem, no matter how much you stir you cannot get every noodle to rehydrate, so about ten percent of the noodles are a little crunchy. That is why it gets 4 instead of 5 stars. The flavor is excellent and the texture is 90% there. This is a winner if you are backpacking and want a hot meal that is easy to prepare.

We normally camp here every weekend that we are able to as it’s a short drive for us. Camp hosts are very friendly and it is well taken care of. They just added new shower houses and are really improving what was already a great place to camp.

Park is nice & clean! Ross at the main entrance is a great guy with lots of information about the parks & lake. Camp host at Sunflower Meadows was nice & helpful. I would give the park 5 stars but the man at the Bluestem Bait & General Store was very rude! So rude that we made the 12 mile drive back to El Dorado to buy all our supplies & bait at Walmart & Angler's Bait & Tackle. The man at Angler's Bait & Tackle was very helpful & went out of his way to help make our camping & fishing trip enjoyable! Just goes to show that customer service can make you or break you. Will definately be going back to Bluestem Point but not to Bluestem Bait & General Store!

....the camp host offers you dog food and asks if your homeless....haha

Bluestem Point Rocks & Rolls! My SOBF (significant other boyfriend) and I have camped here over six times. We didn’t even leave when they had the semi-floods and crazy lightning storms in May & June 2019 (and we only live 30 minutes away). The picnic tables are great because they are shaped like a sail and you can turn them to block the wind or sun. You can also put a tarp on top and block out the rain. The camp hosts (Bob and Jean) are so friendly and accommodating. They also keep the place spic and span.

I’m exhausted, the last 12hrs has been a dumpster fire. Last thing we expected was a bed bug infestation. Woke at midnight with a few annoying bites, on further inspection we were covered in bed bugs, urrrgghh. After picking them off our pj’s and getting over the initial shock we went home to quarantine our clothes, shower and sleep. Returned in the morning to checkout and trash our sleeping bags and pillows. Everyone is disappointed, and I’m out of pocket for 2 nights accommodation and 4x sleeping gear...whoever the host is should be ashamed of themselves, I’m trying to warn the next people, this cabin is booked solid but in reality uninhabitable! The porch is also infested with burrowing bumblebees, scary for kids and adults alike.

This was our first time camping in our new travel trailer and we were pleased with having such an easy to use campground so close to home. The sites were level and spacious. We will definitely be back.

The lake was flooded so the water was a bit off, biggest complaint was the lack of shade on our spot and the amount of young people partying all night. Brewery in the city of el dorado wasn’t bad.

Nice campsite, tons of sites with nobody else here. Not buggy either.

The main trail is composed of a gravel camping road that encircles the man made lake. The road is bike and vehicle friendly, though it seems only park vehicles are allowed. Several trails offshoot from this main road, each is marked for either hiking (trail running), mountain biking, or camping. Theres several large camping sites, and both the bike and hike routes seem to be loops that end back at the starting offshoot on the main road. None of the hikes are very difficult, most are easy/moderate and support running. They are very easy for hiking. Some bike routes are more difficult. Half are in woods with trees as low as 5ft over the trail, the other half go through open fields. Since there are many different routes to take, its easy to increase or decrease the distance. I had no trouble clearing four miles by running out, doing a trail (full loop) and running back. The loops aren't always possible to cut, so keep in mind that its sometimes hard to tell how far along a loop you are. Note that few of these trails have views of the lake; only the campgrounds, bench sites, and main trail/road are unobstructed to the water. There are several beautiful views of the small damn and the broken sections that create a little waterfall. The sunset in particular was really peaceful and easy to watch from the benches (perfect for a romantic picnic).

This location is well maintained with multiple tent camping spots and a few electric. The owners take great pride in keeping it this way. The mountain bike trails as well as hiking trails are perfect for beginners to experts. It is large enough for wake but we love taking our kayaks out.