Best Cabin Camping near Toronto, KS

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.

Elk City State Park is great. It's full but not crowded, hiking is about as good as it gets in Kansas, dedicated Mountain Biking trails which I rarely see and it's rather pretty. Swimnarea is muddy but the kids didn't mind. Comfort Cove camping is adequate. Shower house is clean (by KS State Park standards), quiet hours respected and my kids enjoyed the playground. Our site is miniature. No place for a clothes line, no fire pit to speak of even though everyone else has one. We are boxed in tighter than a KOA and we feel it. There are sections more spread out with more room per site but not Site 243. Also, very little shade and very few shades sites which is weird in an area abundant in big giant shade trees.

You'd think the Big Oak Campground in El Dorado State Park would be amazing. It's shaded with huge trees, nice sized sites some of which are very spread out, a quick walk to the swim beach and a quick drive to put your boat in the water. Unfortunately these pluses are far outweighed by the negatives. First the bathrooms were horrible. I realize they are older restrooms but they smelled awful, they were never obviously cleaned, the showers were not even a tiny bit private, the door to the restroom was broken and had to be propped open with a tree branch. Just over the bridge at the swim beach they were worse and some of the doors in the women’s room were missing. Yuck! Secondly basic campground rules were not enforced at all. The site across from us easily had 30 people camping and were up until 4am with loud music and a bright light on. I’m not kidding, my daughter was up around 3 to use the restroom and we walked by twice. The family in the site next to us had at least 4 cars and 2 tents set up outside the site on the walking path in addition to their two tents in their own site. The dog free swim beach had dogs on it. We camp with our dogs, one of which loves to swim and even I don’t want dogs on a public beach. Our camping weekend was negatively affected by poor camping etiquette and a sever lack of basic rule enforcement. We won’t be back to El Dorado State Park Big Oak campsite any time soon, at least not during the busy summer camping season. Cross Timbers and Fall River are much better!

....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.