Best Tent Camping near Osage City, KS

Neat and peaceful place. Well maintained! Boat ramps, RV hookups, benches, shelter areas, bathrooms, showers, tent camping, beach and more!

Camped here many times. Even before had camper and was still tent camping. Great fishing not far. Boat ramp close. Have left boat in water on bank.

The name of this site is Adam's Grove.

• 30 tent sites with no hookups
• $6 fee per site
• Boat ramp

Adam's Grove does provide the closet boat ramp if you plan on picking up passengers off the beach near the dam (at Michigan Valley Park).

We used our motorcycle tent trailer. They were kind enough to let us stay in a tent site which was actually by their ponds. It had electric and a light with a switch which was perfect because we arrived just after sundown. I was able to setup my outdoor kitchen and cook without fumbling with a flashlight. The facilities were nice and clean. The main building is a refurbished old barn which was very cool!

This campground has it all! Plenty of sites with both shade and sunshine. Big sites for big RVs as well as some perfect hidden little tent sites. You can also rent cabins if you please. Close access to trails and disc golf, plenty of bathrooms, picnic shelters, and gorgeous prairie views! It was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop me from loving it!

I’m in my 30s traveling solo and this stop was a great place to regroup and take advantage of their amenities like shower, laundry, etc. The bathrooms were clean and the staff was very friendly. If you are traveling with kids this is a terrific place to stop because there are lots of things to keep kids busy like a playground and pool. The sites aren’t very private and road noise from the nearby highway can be heard throughout the night if you’re tent camping but it didn’t really bother me.

• Dyle

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This is the only park we could find. But it’s great. There are 45 RV sites here and about 8 I think have electric and water. A dump station is here too. The remaining sites are water only and are good for tent camping as well. Gravel and paved sites for water and electric. We had finished eating dinner and noticed a car sitting down the driveway so my dog and I circled around behind the car and discovered it was a police car. We spoke to the officer and he said they keep a close watch on the park because it’s safe and they want to keep it that way. Cost is $10 per night and there’s a registration drop box at the entrance.

This is not a campsite I will go back to. When we drove into the park and paid the entrance fee, we were told to find a place that wasn't occupied then go get a tag from the host. We found a site and started getting our stuff out of the car and pretty soon the campground host came by and told us we had to leave. She assigned campsites when people drove in, which is not what we were told. After telling her we wouldn't leave, she left, then came back and said we could stay. 

The campground itself was pretty, but a lot of people in RV's (we tent camp) who were there to fish and party, so I thought it was noisy.

We were tent camping and they out us by the river and it was wonderful. They have huge lots and very friendly service. Breakfast can be purchased and is brought to your campsite! A con was the bright lights from the center of the site; enough to keep us up but not enough to help us see at night while setting up. Another was the very, very loud train that blows its horn everytime it passes late at night (around 12am), in the middle of the night (2:30am-ish) and very early morning (maybe 5am?). I was so exhausted that I needed to sleep another few hours after checkout; luckily, I wasn't driving, so if you are, you might be tired by 11am checkout if you don't sleep early enough to account for the times you're woken up by the train a few times through the night.

Pros Off-season was quiet Open bathrooms were nice and well kept. Easy access to trails Lots of wildlife, vultures, deer, etc. Well marked and plenty of them spots Marina was a quick bike ride away and had a lot to offer during the season. Primate loops had some good spacing and tree cover, along with views of the lake. Inner loops not so much Potable water available year round. Was drinkable.

Cons Signs marked closed bathrooms but not the closest open bathrooms. One per campsite was still open with heat and electric. Weirdly all vaults were closed Office and hosts were unavailable so we had to leave for Casey's for firewood. While before the season, someone told us it's typically impossible to get firewood because the office is usually closed. Signs to the entrance to park and n avigation were pretty small, impossible to read at night, not lit. Electric parking pass only issued one day pass at a time. Would do the paper pass across the parking lot next time. Spacing is definitely a bit crowded for tent camping privacy this time of year. Will be curious to see how it feels in the summer/fall.

Set up my nice brand new tent on Sunday. Confiscated by Rangers on Tuesday while I was at work. My animals were sent to the Humane Society & sterilized. (Breeder meat rabbits). They claimed they had the authority to enter the tent to see if anyone was sick or dead. My name & phone number were inside the tent. The tent was returned but not put back up. My animals were not returned. 10 days after, 2 rangers opened & entered my tent AFTER being told by another camper that I had been there & had gone to work. Another tent was clearly abandoned, ratty & in a clearly marked no camping zone. The left it for 8 days, falling down & unsightly. Other campers left/leave gross amounts of trash, a sleeping bag on a smoldering campfire... Litter (including feminine products), liquor bottles & fishing lines & hooks are left all over the lake fishing & camp sites. No rangers. The good ones are kept busy elsewhere & the bad ones - - ? Really sad. It's such a beautiful & sometimes peaceful lake.

Beautiful lake and great sunset. Tent spots are on gravel so bring a very good sleeping pad

We brought our two dogs here with us and camped. There are so many spots you can set up at on the trail that nobody went to. Keep in mind though that the trail gets very muddy if it has just rained! We had a great experience here right up until the last morning when a hobo that was sleeping in his tent there decided to knock on our tent at 6 am wondering if we stole his wet wood from outside his tent. And YES he indeed was homeless because he told us himself and then shortly after that said he was drunk as well. We got up and started packing to leave as we were talking to him because we felt we were in danger. Told the man to leave several times and he didn’t even want to step away from our site. Over all was a good place but just anywhere you go keep an eye on others around you and definitely bring protection, people are CRAZY!

We missed a KOA in Kansas City because of construction. Went to Lawrence KOA instead. Glad for the misfortune. The park has all you need for short or long term camping and RV trips.

My sister and I have to drive through Kansas on our road trip to Utah. My friends have told me that it’s the worst state to drive through because it’s so flat and boring. BUT another friend recommended this campsite. OMG it’s free and it’s so cute and pretty well kept. It’s in the Flint Hills region of the state. There are rolling green hills surrounding a lovely little lake. Cottonwood trees shelter the many spaces out camp spots. Milkweed and butterfly bushes support a healthy monarch butterfly population! There’s boat / fishing access and a pretty decent bathroom. It wasn’t too buggy - and there was a lovely sunset in the wide open sky. I didn’t give Kansas a chance. And, I was wrong

I slept here on my way from Denver to Washington DC in February 2021. I have a mini camper in my CRV, I pulled up at midnight, went to a spot right by the shore and saw some incredible stars. Free and easy, and a nice change from all the flat dry Kansas fields.