The best TENT SITES camping near
Annapolis , MISSOURI

We absolutely love this campground! We have camped here several times. They have a general store with just about anything you could need. The pizza from the restaurant is very good as well. We spent a week here in July and we enjoyed every minute of our stay. Very nice owners as well! It’s our first camping trip come April, we can’t wait to go back!

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!

When you visit Alley Springs campground you will be engulfed with giant oak, walnut shade and the beauty of all nature has to offer. There are approximately 5 springs dumping about 1,000,000 gallons a water an hour into the rivers in this area. Rocky Falls is scenic and great to cool off in the summer.

Easy to find. Clean crisp water from the river at its origin. Quiet and perfect.

But we made our own and it was lovely. We made a ring for fire and withstood a lovely winter storm. Would recommend if you don’t mind primitive to its ultimate

This is a new(ish) and well maintained campground. It is located on the Black River, and the water flowing through the shut-ins is crystal clear and cool. We weren’t there during the summer months, but I am sure this park is busy when the weather is good for swimming. We stayed at the campground at the end of September when the leaves were just starting to change colors and it was beautiful.

All the sites have concrete pads and there is plenty of space between sites with lots of trees. There is also a walking path that cuts through the middle of both loop 2 and 3. This is great if you are planning trips with friends and family but can’t get sites directly next to each other. The park has a great general store which is centrally located and there is a nice big laundry facility attached if you need it. We didn’t use the bathroom/shower facilities while we were there due to covid, so I unfortunately don’t have information about those for you.

Be aware the shut-ins are separate from the campgrounds. This can be either a positive detail or a negative depending on how you look at it. It’s only bad if you are concerned about the fact that you have to drive or walk to go play in the water. However, I think the good outweighs the bad in this case.

Although we weren’t there during the warmer/swimming months, I can imagine the park gets pretty busy during the weekends and hot days. So the positive is, if you are camping, that the campground area won’t be busy with day-use visitors because the park is split up. Which means, you can still enjoy the peace and quiet if you aren’t playing at the actual shut-ins. That is definitely a plus in my book.

The only issue we had was there was nobody at the gate to check us in. We had to check in by text or we could scan a QR code and there were no campsite maps available either. So hopefully you have better phone service then we had, and make sure to download a site map so you can find your campsite more easily.

Overall, the park is great. The shut-ins are beautiful and if you are into exploring the area around Johnson’s Shut-ins there are multiple state parks nearby where you can drive to and do some more exploring.

My family camps at Sam A Baker every year. It is clean and everyone there is friendly. They have a nice gift shop and some great places to swim.

Nice little primitive campground with about 8 small spots. Has a nice sized lake good fishing if you are using a boat, or kayak. Spots have a table and a fire pit. Vault toilets, and a pavilion on site.

I had a great time but it was off season. In peak times it would be easy to be stacked on stacks …

We stayed here on a Tuesday evening in early November. It was election night so we were happy to not have a cell signal for the night. 😊 The sites are all walk in but it’s a short walk from your car to the site. Very rocky ground so be careful where you put your tent. Pit toilets are located at the entrance to the campground. We didn’t see where the water was but it was supposed to be off for the season anyway so we were prepared. We did the hike to the highest point in Missouri and then to a small waterfall. We were racing the sunset so we didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked. There were only two other campers and all was quiet.