Hawn State Park Campground

Hawn is a one of the best fall campgrounds close to the St. Louis area.  There are a number of hiking options around the campground in the park and nearby nature reserve.  

It is a smaller campground with a good mix of electric and non-electric sites.  The restrooms were clean and they also have some vault toilets in the park for convenience.

Hawn is a lovely park just south of the city a few clicks.  It's tucked away into the trees with ample shade and options for backpacking, backcountry hiking.  The park is nice and sites are spaced out enough.  Not sure about cell service but had a site in the 2nd campground in the middle where there's a break in the trees.  I was able to use Starlink.  People were friendly and overall lovely park and experience.

We camped at site 39 over the weekend. The park was very clean and family friendly. There are several hiking trails and an overlook. The restrooms and showers are still closed for the season, but there are primitive vault toilets. The sites are very close together, so there is not much privacy. Also, some have electricity and some not. The firewood was wet und would not burn. The landscape around the park was very nice. We camped here to visit the Gateway National Park and Mastodon Natural Site.

The sites are in close proximity to one another so it gets crowded during Holiday weekends. Aside from that, the park is peaceful, very clean, and full of surprises.

Took the youngest kids for their first camping trip, and it could not have been better. Plenty of space, site was level for our tents and had a nice, soft carpet of pine needles, facilities in great shape (didn't use the showers, but they looked decent and were fairly popular), nice sink in the laundry room we used to fill our dish-washing tubs, good neighbors, nobody too noisy and folks generally kind and friendly. Really enjoyed being on the tents-only side of the campground--allowed for a clear, wide view of the landscape and the fall colors. Hiking is some of the best in Missouri.

I will say that the "walk-in" sites didn't seem to have much privacy and weren't very far from the parking lot, if that matters to you.

All in all, you can't get much better for tent camping.

Hawn is my favorite campground close to St. Louis. We always stay in the walk-in sites; 47 has been our favorite so far. 48 is a little weird - it’s longer than it is wide, so I think it would be hard to have two tents. 50 is the biggest. There’s great hiking in the area and you can get right up on Pickle Creek near the walk-in sites. The facilities have always been clean and well maintained. It’s a little smaller than, say, Meramec, and I think because of that it’s pretty quiet.

One warning though: they only sell firewood between 9-10am and 6-7pm. We got to our site one time at 7pm and had to get a bundle of wood from a neighbor.

Beautiful camp site with plenty of shade. I was right next to creek. It was quiet and peaceful. Clean bathrooms.

Great park, awesome trails and wooded areas. Amazing tall pines cover the area. Camping is great, rv sites, no water at site.

Loved the trails, facilities and beautiful surrounding area. Just a solo one nighter so can’t really add more.

Great state park to get away from everything for a while. We only were able to stay one night while passing through but would definitely stop here when in this area again. There is not really mobile service here though. We had great signal up by the dump station but down where the campsites are we only had one bar of AT&T and nothing for T-Mobile. Even with our signal booster turned on we didn't have very great signal strength so we had to drive up the hill to get some work done. Coming down into the area with the campsites the road is a fairly steep grade but there were plenty of both small and big rigs camping here.

Hawn State Park is a park like no other. Nowhere else in the state of Missouri have I been able to camp and feel like I'm in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.  The car camping area is nestled in the middle of a pine filled valley.  There's nothing more refreshing than sitting in the evening and hearing the wind whistle through the pines.  The trails are amazing with big boulders and beautiful creeks.  If you're car camping take the extra walk to the walk-in camping sites. It's like a micro backpacking trip. And if you like backpacking, Hawn state park is the place to do it!

This place is awesome! It was our second overnight backpacking trip we did! We started on beautiful pickle creek trail which is rock scramble right beside a awesome clear water creek bumbling over big rocks! Then we hit whispering pines trail and stayed at campsite 5! It is about 5-6 miles in. Perfect campsite a creek on each side with waterfalls on each one!! We finished the trail the next day right at 12 miles! Be sure to arrive early as the parking lots and campsites fill up fast!! Absolutely stunning trail for Missouri!!

Love this small campground and the creekside campsites, but spots are very hard to get in the warmer months. We went the other day for a hike and wrote down our favorite numbers, so hopefully we can plan a little more in advance and get a good one. Hawn overall has excellent hiking and is a good family day trip or overnight. It's also fairly close to Farmington should you need anything. Ice and firewood is available at the campground.

We camped here a couple of years ago and while the campsites themselves and the campground are clean and quiet the campground host gave us the wrong gate access code and in order to be able to get to our campsite that night we had to hike all the way down the road and wake the campground host up so that he could let us in which was over a 1 mile hike in the middle of the night. Like I said the actual campground is nice and clean and quiet but other than hiking there really isn’t much in the form of any activities. And unfortunately because of our bad experience that night we will probably not ever camp here again.

This is a small park and hard to get a reservation because of how nice it is. There was a creek that ran not far from the campground. My kids played in the creek all day. We caught cray fish/crawdads and cooked them up for dinner. My kids still talk about going back there as teenagers and they were little kids when we went.

Favorite park in Missouri for backpacking.

This campground is nature at its best. It is close to the creek where you could put your chair in the water and sit and chill out all day long. Great for kids fishing swimming and just relaxing

The big camp is beautiful and has electricity and water. On the trail there are several marked and unmarked campsites for backpacking. Absolutely gorgeous hikes. Just be careful of the raccoons; they are super smart.

We packed in and stayed at one of the backpacking sites. We highly recommend the Pickle Creek section for a good variety. Trail includes tough climbs and rocky downhills. Included is a photo from one of the amazing overlooks.

We visited in October and were able to hike several great trails in the park and surrounding area. The campsites are nothing special. They are closely grouped and all central sites in the loop are treeless. Sites on the exterior of the loop back to woods. Ice and wood are available at ranger station check in. I will say the the bathhouse/showers are the best I have encountered while camping. They are clean, large, and free. We did not get cell service at our site, but did get it up near the campground entrance so we could check in periodically.

Hawn has a large variety of campgrounds. Whether you have a trailer, a tent, or you want to hike into a remote site, they have options for you. On top of great clean sites, Hawn also has one of the best trails in Missouri, Whispering Pines.

You should reserve ahead of time for minimal confusion once you get there. Seems like a popular campsite but with a fair amount of grounds per reserved campsite spot. Regular checkups are made by ranger personnel to ensure maximum safety, cleanliness, of the area. There is a large moderately clean facility accessible on site with bathrooms, showers, and sinks. You are required to purchase firewood from the grounds unless you bring your own. There are several trails in varying lengths at Hawn State Park and they are all incredible. It was so enjoyable to sleep at the campground and hear the creek nearby and the night wildlife and to wake up in the morning to the morning sun and head out for an early start on the trails.

If you are looking for a not-so-wild experience this is the perfect place. It is so peaceful and enjoyable and the trails are beautiful with incredible high-point lookouts, creeks, a river, beautiful botany, birds etc.

I have been to Hawn State Park many times! It is a very clean campground with a newer shower house. The campground is smaller and has amazing views. I love electric site 17 best because it has the perfect view of the cliffs. There is 3 trails with the longest having two loop options with connectors from the other two trails. There are also walk in sites here and hike in sites. This park will not disappoint. It is also close to Ste. Genevieve which is a great town to visit for a history lesson on the settlement of Missouri. Pickle Springs Nature Area is also a few minutes away which is another fantastic area to hike. It is beautiful any season but I love the views in autumn best!

Bbeautiful. Quiet. Relaxing. No place to swim. Only think yo do is hike or relax

Hawn State Park is gorgeous. The campground is small and quiet. It's tough to grab a site, so plan ahead. We've had lots of trouble getting a site here in the past. When you visit Hawn, be sure to hit the trails. There are plenty of trails and each one is unique. Backpacking is allowed on some trails, as well. Our favorite has always been Pickle Creek Trail, crossing over onto Whispering Pines. The bathrooms are well maintained and there are plenty of outhouses throughout the park. If you're lucky enough to snag the campsites closest to Pickle Creek, you can literally hear the creek running. What a peaceful way to wake up in the morning!

Hawn State Park shows its natural beauty surrounded by Pine Trees. The campground is very well kept and spacious.

There are a three trails accessible from the park. Two trails are overnight hikes and one is a short hike. I was able to hike the Pickle Creek Loop trail which is rated moderate and only an hour to two hour hike, depending on how much you stop. I definitely recommend going on this beautiful hike if you’re camping.

Tip: I have the All Trails app which was very helpful with locating trails near you and even shows you your location while on the trail.

This is a small but great place to camp. Clean and space enough to relax. Great hiking and fun for the young family. Quiet and relaxing and a great place to be. The camp site could use some rock around the living pads to cut down the dirt on gear but a little gem for sure.

This is my favorite camp ground in the world! Hawn has the most beautiful views I've ever scene, hiking trails are amazing, the creek is perfect and babbles right near my favorite plot, and the best part is its never crowded- at least during the fall and winter when we go. Please, visit here and take care of it, this is truly a hidden gem. ❤❤❤❤❤

Small park as far as the amount of campsites, but this makes it peaceful and secluded. Great restrooms/showers. Great hikes.

We did a one night in and out. Hot on the way in and raining on the way out. Lots of trees down across trail. Sorry the picture is upside down but as you can see lots of room at the campsite. I'm standing in the middle of it when I took this shot. You have to cross a small stream to get to it from the trail. Fairly level. One possible widow maker, so look up before choosing where to place your tent. Beautiful pine trees.