Best Tent Camping near Alexandria, MO

We tent camped here a few weeks ago and it was pretty nice. You self check in and cost is only $10/night for primitive. They don’t have electric or water hookups for tent camping which was ok for us. It was easy to find and quiet. The only downside is the lake was filled with algae. So if you’re wanting to fish or swim, this isn’t the place for you! There’s a gun range, horse farm, playground, bathrooms, and even a place to use a few telescopes to see the stars!

This campground has the best tent camping sites we have stayed at. It also has great hiking! We have been 2 times and plan to go again!

Boulder Lake is the larger of the two campgrounds here at Wakonda State Park. It is also crowded with RV and campers in the main part of the campground, with a small loop that is sort of tent only. The tent part is a loop with sites in the middle (37-50) having the best trees for hammocks and the sites on the outside of the loop having the most level places for pitching a tent. If you can get site 44, you have probably the best site in the campground as it sits at the end of the loop with no close neighbors, close to the lake, and backs to nice trees. None of the other sites are as private. This site is the furthest from the bathrooms and shower house, however. You can purchase ice and wood, and there are laundry facilities. All of this is located near the shower house. There are a couple of water spikots scattered around the campgrounds, and there is one hiking trail that heads out of the campground near the woodlot. Elsewhere in the park is a nice swimming beach with a place to shower off the sand, and some interesting cement tunnels/bunkers that kids might have fun exploring.

Wildcat is a very nice campground operated by the City of Hamilton, Illinois. Campground has only 17 RV slots of various sizes. We had room to put our 32 foot fifth wheel and room to park our truck alongside. Ours was one of a couple of sites large enough to handle our size.

Their website says the nightly fee is $15 for tents and $25 fir RV. When we arrived we were informed that it had gone up to $20 fir tent and $30 for RV.

Service excludes electricity of 30 and 50 amp. Water is also available at each site. A dump station is on site.

Also on site is a very nice public pool and interesting Disc Golf course.

Very quite and peaceful surroundings. Just a half mile off of the Mississippi River.

We will definitely return here when we get back to the area.

Campsite is directly next to the river. Most sites have power but there are a few tent sits as well (those are right on the river). We'll maintained vault toilets. Site has a shared spicket.

We visited in October so the campground was not very crowded. The park itself is gorgeous, especially in the fall. Lovely fall foliage. The hiking trails are challenging for 2 middle aged folks- lots of climbing up, then down, at some pretty steep inclines. And the trails don't loop around on themselves so you come out a mile or more from where you started and just have to hoof it along the road to get back.

There is a boat ramp and fishing available, if that's your thing. There's no differentiation between RV camp spots and tent spots so if you are tent campers, like we are, you might end up next to a HUGE RV in the spot next door.

Battle of Athens sp is located in the northeast part of Missouri, a little out of way but worth the trip. We spent a good portion of the morning exploring the battle grounds and driving down by the Des Moines river. The campground is on the small side but at the time of our visit, empty. The sites were well maintained and overlook a nice pond and fields. Very quiet.

Nice campground, mainly tenting but Eva are welcome. Grass sites, fire pit and picnic tables. Lake with free paddle boats(do need life preservers) and fish hatchery across the street. Free potable water and dump station behind ranger station. Generators are ok just make sure they are not too loud and try to if possible running them only when needed

We were hoping that this would be a great find but it turned out to be not our camping preference. The lake is beautiful. Bring your own boat or you can rent one at the camp store. There are a series of fishing docks too. 

The campground itself was a crowd of big RVs. The road kept splitting and opening up more areas of RVs. Golf carts are a popular means of transportation. We found a few grassy spots for tents that looked nice. This turned out to be too much stimulation for our dog so we moved on to another campground.

Lacey-Keosaqua State Park is a gem located in Southeast Iowa in Van Buren County. It is off the beaten path but it is one of oldest Iowa State Parks. The Park and campground are well maintained and clean. We visited over Labor Day weekend and the park was only two-thirds full. It was a variety of Tent campers and RV's. The camp sites are spaced really well so you don't feel like you are on top of one another. They have electric and non-electric sites and the shower is very clean. There are almost 80 sites in the campground.

Don't miss the hiking trails and the Beach House and swimming lake. Don't miss lake Sugema, the Indian Mounds or the Ely Ford Mormon Trail crossing.

I tried to camp here, but it was closed temporarily due to high water on the Mississippi River. In fact, part of the the campground road was under water. However, I was able to check it out and talk with a city worker who was mowing the empty campground. This is a primarily RV campground next to the Mighty Mississippi, with all spots having nice gravel parking pads, hookups, and great views of the river. The worker told me that tents are welcome, but not what they usually have show up. There is no dump station. Bathrooms were porta-potties (it wasn’t clear if this was the permanent bathroom situation because of the river flood potential or temporary), and there were no showers. There was a nice playground in the middle of the campground. Just up the road a short walk is the lock and dam that you can visit with interpretive signs and nice benches to sit on while you watch the barges go through the locks.

We always stay in the main campground area. Either in a normal camper, pop-up, or tent, Siloam is a perfect place to stay. The bathroom and showers are good, and the walk from the main circle of sites is super close. The pines give great cover when hot and add that familiar pine sent to the whole park.

From hiking to fishing to boating/kayaking, there is a lot offered. I prefer to spend most of my time hiking and every once in a while, I will rent a kayak. The trails are pretty well marked and are best in mid/late fall or early spring. We’ve redone them numerous times and still enjoy them. My favorite trails are the Red Oak and Hoot Owl!

My family and I have always enjoyed Siloam Springs as a good weekend getaway!

Another cool find in Missouri. Lake in Conservation Area. Doesn't offer much but it was a bit out of the way. Campground was free. Sites are close together. Some spots more shaded than others. They had rowboats and canoes you could paddle around in. You just needed your own life jacket. The boats were free. There was a shelter with picnic tables by the lake. I like hiking and wished there was a trail that went all around the lake but was only able to go a partial, short way. Still a nice place to stay. Quiet. Looked like there was a ranger station there and fish hatchery but it was closed the two days we were there. So I don't know what all was in the building. Clean pit toilets. Lots of ducks on the lake.