Hawn State Park Campground

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.