Best Campgrounds near Alton, MO

The hubs and I went to North Fork campgrounds April 25-28th and we were the only campers there.  People were on the river for day-use, picnic, fishing, swimming etc. but we were the only overnight guests.  The sites are HUGE and spacious but not private.  No undressing if you have a neighbor.  There are some trails from the sites to the river but nature has mostly taken them over and it is not a safe trek. It's a short walk on the driveway to the vault toilets and day use area to get in the river or walk along the pebbled banks. Use caution while exploring the banks because what I'm assuming was a parking lot or RV sites had been recently washed away.  There are large sections of concrete/asphalt slabs, picnic tables, stationary grills, and parking wheel blocks scattered and partially buried all along the bank. The water was nice and the Catahoula enjoyed herself.  Nighttime was magical.  It was absolutely silent besides the sounds of nature and the river. Our favorite part was the THOUSANDS of fireflies. They were like a blanket or waves of twinkles through the whole loop. We let the fire die down just so we could watch the show.  Absolutely amazing.

There are a small number of sites and they are difficult to find. To reserve for $10 per night you have to leave your things at the site and drive down to find the QR code by the bathrooms and book the site. Then the online booking wasn't working and wouldn't allow me to book the site and I spent an hour on the phone with the forest ranger who also didn't know what to do. It's beautiful but overwhelmingly noisy and busy on the weekend. People in your site who are going down the river stop to fish and eat and occupy your space. Trying to launch from your camp site. If you can get a chill few days in th week it's really wonderful and peaceful.

We spent 3 week days camping here in our camper van. We snagged a spot with a river view. Campground was maintained by NPS, very clean. Nice restrooms with showers as well, potable water spigots. There is a herd of wild horses that frequents the area (as evidenced by mounds of horse poop in an adjacent field!) and you can easily walk over to the beautiful round spring. There is an on/off-loading area for canoes and kayaks. The RV and tent spots all looked mostly level. We saw a bald eagle and a very curious little otter down by the river. Close proximity to the ozark trail. We walked through the campground past the spring and caught a little trail that hooked up with the ozark trail and had a lovely day hike around a loop. It was perfect.

When we were there in April there were only a handful of other campers there and we tons of quiet and privacy, however, I imagine during the summer it fills up.