Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Benton, MO

Really nice place on the castor river. The owner was a nice guy and very helpful with whatever we needed. I love the castor river. The water feels good and is clear. The castor river ranch campground in Marquand Missouri is a nice lil campground. There aren’t many people that knows about it so there isn’t hardly any campers there so we had a whole Big area to ourselves. The river is right next to the camps. The bathroom is a single person bathroom but it was really nice and air conditioned and has a stand up shower with wood walls and tile floor. There was never a wait for the bathroom it was always open. There’s also showers on the outside of the bathroom for spraying off after you get out of the river. Each camp has its own water spicket for dishes or whatever. They are very pet friendly there. The owner guy was super nice. The only complaint I have is that there is no trash service there so you have to take your trash with you but there is a winery down the road that lets you use their dumpster for $5. I also recommend eating at the winery. They have the best food, amazing people and great service. All around awesome experience with the campground and winery. The castor river shut ins is only 27 minutes from the camp so I definitely recommend going there too. It’s beautiful to see and the water is amazing. The owner of the camp will also give you a ride up river to float back down to your camp for free just bring your own tube or whatever. There is electric sites. Rv or tent camping.

Maybe it's because I am from WI and we tend to rip on IL a lot, but I really found this park sub-par. I am also spoiled from getting to see some of the larger parks in the country. Would probably be nice for a long weekend with the kids. But I don't have kids. It's more of a touristy place than a real campground in my opinion. If you are in the area check out the view of Tower Rock. There are a lot of campsites available for both tent and RV, and they do offer grills, tables, camp fire pits, toilets, and a playground. Pets are welcome. Part of a foundation of an old house built on a rock is still around and is a neat part of history.

Reading the reviews on several review websites, we decided to give Little Ole Opry a try as our last overnighter on our way back to our home base near St. Louis. We arrived about 3:00 PM. We used our RV GPS that took us through Jackson, MO(that has many stop lights) right to the address that turns directly into the campground(CG) off Hwy 34. We had talked to the camp host earlier and she told us to go on in and pick a spot and she would be by later to collect our$15. We pulled into one of the better defined gravel sites(#3) closer to the entrance. However, when we tried to put down our MoRryde steps they sat wonky on the wood site trim plus recent rain made us nervous about putting our levelers down and sinking. About that time the camp host(assume owner) pulled in and suggested we move farther down to site 8 that was pretty much grass and dirt but firmer. Even though we were overnighting, we wanted to back up to the little lake and have a picnic table. There is a tree line that runs behind the lake view sites and the other sites across their gravel road and so, at least in a tall 5th wheel, you cannot get very close to utilities, which are all at the back of the site, due to branches from the trees. Our electric cord reel is mid-rig so I knew I was going to need my extension cord to get to the electric box that has two 30 AMP plugs. I also needed 20’ of sewer hose and 35’ of water hose. The water pressure was very good at around 60 psi but you share a spigot with an adjacent site. The sites are fairly level but in need of gravel and grooming. In general, the CG needed grooming but we’d give them a pass as it had been raining and was late April. They were mowing the morning we departed. We got quite a few OTA channels and usable 2 bars on Verizon. The views, especially sunset and sunrise, were very nice. And there was a path around the lake to walk the dogs. We didn’t use their small shower house/restroom, but it did look clean. There’s also a pavilion and small dock for viewing or fishing. We imagine the place gets busy with campers during the summer. Overall, we had a positive experience, but even at $15 a night, we would not spend the time and hassle traveling in from I55 for an overnighter.

Worth the trip up from US 60 if you’re driving E/W, standard MSP rates and setup. There’s a campground on the lake and and a campground up on the ridge. We’ve stayed on the ridge twice, and on a weeknight or any night in the off season, you can nearly have the place to yourself. On a Monday in July, I counted 2 other campers in the ridge campground.

Close to several trails, and obviously the lake, for my Bootheel and Bootheel adjacent friends, this is a great spot close at hand.

For folks from away, look, from April to September, you’re gonna want electric so you can run AC (or at least a fan), Missouri humidity is not a joke.

We’d seen signs for Shawnee Forest Campground (CG) many times as we headed out and back from our St. Louis home base and wanted to check this CG out. We followed our GPS to the clearly marked CG entrance but our GPS showed we still had about a half mile to go. We checked in at the little office and were given the choice of pull through sites with FHUs 12 or 21. We chose site 21. The gravel roads are slightly narrow with some trees but we did not have any issues getting to site 21. The water and electric(50/30/20 AMP) are at the back of the gravel pad. There are two sewer hookups, which was nice. The water pressure was good around 50 psi. Their WiFi was very good. There are mature trees here and there in the CG, so satellite should not be an issue. We got two bars on Verizon. Each of the bath houses have a washer and dryer. Our site was not level and with all the rain we had, there were water puddles at the steps. There are some nice sites in this CG but we were not offered one of the better ones even though there were plenty of sites open in the upper 26- 50 site area. If we come back, we’ll know where to ask for a site. They have a small lake and two ponds for fishing. There's no formal dog area, but there are paved trails around the large CG area, which made it nice to walk our dogs.