Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Tonganoxie, KS

Pros:

- so peacefully quiet, seriously even with the kids

- dog park with 3 separate areas- close to KC

- a hose at the dump station that you can actually hook up to your black tank flush

- both AT&T and Verizon worked great 

Cons:

- I honestly have none from here!

It’s not the best I’ve ever been to, but it’s a as great family campground with beautiful views. We travel with two adorable rescues and appreciated the awesome dog park where they could run a bit. The restrooms are adequate and clean. Views are beautiful as you will see for yourself. Would definitely return. Tastes are $56-60

Great please to camp, not to crowded. Got busier on the weekends, empty on the week. Nice showers and toilets, laundry. Campsites were large, many had a good footprint enough to set up a large tent. We have a 20’ round yurt and had plenty of room. Lots of hiking trails in this park, some paved. Nice lookout point. Dog park was nice, well gated and taken care of, had water station for thirsty dogs. We spent 25$ a night for a 30amp electric site. Campground was well maintained. Only minutes from the historic town of Westin, amazing parks, lots of pubs and little restaurants. Nice place to walk around. I would camp here again.

This Love’s RV Hook Up is right off I-29. We’ve enjoyed several stays at these new Love’s campgrounds(CG) and they are normally away from the main car and truck fueling areas. After cruising around the truck area, we found that we needed to go to the car area as the CG is literally off the auto-side fuel pumps/parking lot. There is a lane that we could have driven through from the truck area and this would've put us in the right position to back into our site. However, there was a Love's fuel truck parked there the whole time of our stay. There are six back-in sites with water and electric. They give you a code if you want to use the dump station. We reserved site 1 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). It still could have been an easy back-in but there was a big U-Haul truck parked outside of the formal parking areas in our path. We were still able to maneuver around and get in our site. After parking, we checked in online to activate our utilities. We quickly found out when we auto-leveled that site 1 was not a level site as our passenger side tires were off the ground. And whoever designed these sites thought boulders between sites was a good idea? We had to position our rig to avoid a boulder on the pad, so that we could open our basement slide drawer. The utilities are at the far backside of the pad and based on our rig’s configuration with the wet bay towards the front, we needed 25’ or more of hose and electric cord. The water pressure here is good. The WiFi is also for general public use and not very fast. We got 3 bars on Verizon and used our MiFi for internet as we were not comfortable putting out Starlink in this general public area. We were next to Love’s two-sided dog park, which if not for dog poop on the inside and around the outside would have been a great convenience. Concerning the uncomfortable comment, two stealth campers in cars were in parking spaces adjacent to our site for the night. We shared the CG with a Scottish Rugby cycling team traversing the USA raising AHS awareness. We did not know that starting around 6:00 AM the sprinklers came on and all of their gear got wet. The sprinklers also make mud puddles at the dog park entrance. Loves should gravel the small and large dog entrances. There should also be signs to let campers know about the sprinklers. The other Love’s RV Stops we stayed in had restroom and shower facilities, here you go in the main building and pay to use the trucker showers. The dump station is hard to get into with a large rig. Wrapping up this unpleasant stay, this Love’s was one up on a Walmart parking lot as it had water and electric.

Getting to the state park off I 29 and through the countryside was easy as the route had Weston Bend SP signage. We followed the SP signs to the campground(CG) where the gate was not manned so we headed to get water, but someone was sitting in the dump station waiting for another person to arrive so we went around this one-loop CG to see if there was a convenient spigot. There are spigots but with a larger rig, you will block the road, and/or you will be on a hill. We went back around and the person moved so we could get water. After that, we headed to pull through site 28 with electric(50/30/20 AMP) only. The site is long but has a 1/4 moon turn so we had to pull back around to get better positioned on the pad so we could disconnect our 39’ 5th wheel and F450 for our 3-night stay. There were tree branches overhead that we could not avoid. RVers next to us in site 30 had just arrived as well and were having trouble getting their travel trailer unhitched and leveled due to the pad’s slight incline and unlevel asphalt. They got their trailer positioned so they could get somewhat level. We got a solid two bars on both Verizon and T-Mobile. Due to our proximity to Kansas City, we got a lot of OTA channels. A satellite connection would be iffy in most sites here due to the number of mature trees. The trees in a lot of sites would also scrape the top of larger rigs. There’s a variety of sites with most being good for regular trailers versus tall rigs, and tent sites. They have a nice shower house with 1 washer and 1 dryer both for$1.50. There are also vaulted toilets here and there. There’s a 1.7-acre fenced dog park that includes one large area for large dogs and two other areas with one dedicated to smaller dogs. The dog area is at the front park entrance away from the campground and it would be a long walk to get there, so we drove up. There are a lot of hiking trails here plus an old tobacco barn that’s worth a look.

It does cost about $25 a day, but you have electricity, and shade, and it is always quiet here. The park rangers are always cleaning or doing rounds to make sure everything is okay. Bathrooms have AC and are cleaned with disinfectant daily. Very clean campground and has a playground. Pet friendly.

Sept 26- Oct 1, 2019 Site A01 had electric and water. Rate was $10 with Sr. Lifetime Pass. Park had laundry room, dump station, very clean showers, flush toilets and vault toilets. Verizon 4G 2 bars. Pets allowed. Elevation 1,002 ft.  Prior to arrival they had a flood that came up to site 4.

A couple miles down a secluded drive, nestled back in the woods right on the lake. Lots of trees, nice shower house. Camp host is friendly and laid back. Pet friendly, well lit. Our family felt safe.

Beautiful sunsets. Water is a little muddy but good for fishing. I would recommend for a family getaway or a fishing trip.

Our site was $56.78 We were in Site# 59 The check in was at 12pm but the office was closed until 3:30pm so we grabbed our sheet left out front and got ourselves to our site.

We had Full hook- up with a gravel pull-through.
We travel towing a 14 foot trailer and were able to fit both in our pull through site along with my jeep (although the Jeep had to be parked straight across the front of our site to fit in). Also we were right on the highway.

The site was easy to level.
Our site was not shaded and without any trees. The most FRUSTRATING part is that this was a buddy site (that is NO WHERE on their website). We have rescue dogs and don’t want to share our space with neighbors we don’t know. Literally no one wants to Kumbaya by the fireside with complete strangers. Therefore our trip went from one week originally to two nights. We would have left the next day but the husband wanted to see the Evel Knievel museum.

The lot does not have a concrete patio but has a picnic table and fire grate.

They have a community fire pit with multiple swings around it. They sell wood for $6 a bundle.

They do not provide garbage service at your site so you must walk to garbage dumpster at the entrance.

You are allowed to ride personal golf carts. They do not provide golf cart rentals. There is really not a need to have a Golf cart because it is a smaller campground.

They do have a saltwater Swimming pool. They have a catch and release fishing pond.

There is a Playground. They also offer a weight room and an adorable activities room with air hockey, a library, & a pool table. There is also a scenic walking trail. The trail is almost a mile and they’ve kept it mowed and easy to identify.

They have a basic general store. There is not a snack bar/restaurant on site.

The streets are gravel so not great for riding bikes.

They have cabins for rent and a tent area (electric & primitive options).

They have 2 shower houses. The shower house in the main barn has individual shower/toilet/sink areas. The shower house in the park has the typical stalls. These are kept very clean.

There is a laundry facility in both shower houses. It is a cash only facility.

They have a fenced in dog park which is unfortunately located in the front of the park away from RV sites.

Some fun things to do outside of the campground are the Evel Knievel museum and Brown vs. Board of Education historical park.

Staff are very kind. I would definitely stay here in the future but will know to secure a site that isn’t shared with others

Perfect for weekend trip, with kids or/and dogs for swimming and hanging out.

great camp grounds, great host, great place to take our dog on her first camping trip for the weekend

We love this campsite, especially in the off months! We always get a great private campsite, but I can see where in more popular months, it can get crowded! Bathrooms are clean, dog friendly! Hiking trails are great too!

My husbands job took us to Merriam Kansas and we needed a place to stay, we made reservations at Walnut Grove. We were surprised to find it in the middle of a neighborhood. The staff were very nice and helped us into our site. The sites were on gravel and very close to each other. Walnut Grove was both short and long term campers. There were no tent sites. We had full hook-ups, cell service, and free wifi. We had a picnic table and fire ring and could purchase firewood at their store.

During our stay I was awakened to a startling noise and couldn't figure it out until I went outside and saw the walnuts falling onto our camper. By the time we left, everything was covered(stained) tarnish brown. The park is in a walnut grove hence its name. They had a dog run which was not fenced but provided some grass for the pups. They had a laundry mat and clean showers with good water pressure. There also was a strange noise coming from the trees and when I asked the office what it was they thought it was locusts. I knew that was not their noise so I had to find what it was. After searching, I found that it was tree frogs 🐸 and it was their call. So if you are there in September listen and you will hear them, they love the walnut trees.