The best TENT SITES camping near
Benton , MISSOURI

We found ourselves scrambling to find somewhere to stay for 4 days after our original destination misplaced our reservations and were full. After a few phone calls we found ourselves heading here. 

The cemetary next door was both beautiful and a little creepy :)

Overall I would rate the park as good. It was well kept, including the bathrooms and laundry facilities, however our sites only had 30 amp power and no sewer connections. For a 2-3 days stay that's not really a big deal but by day 4 our gray and black tanks were full (or getting close). 

When we were leaving the only real problem we had was that the dump station was full so we ended up driving all the way home and dumping at our local Camping World, which was less than ideal.

The campground is amazing. There are a number of hiking trails in the park. We only hiked one of them but the views in and around the lake were beautiful. The campground sells firewood at a very reasonable price. The only draw back would be the sites in the Mississippi. The train comes through both day and night. Love the train and whistle but it’s a bit close.

My group and I camped in two of the basic sites in Asher Creek campground and we couldn’t get enough of the front-row lake view! The sites closest to the lake are very level, and everyone in the campground is only a short walk from the cleanest park restrooms I’ve ever seen. If you’re like me and are just doing basic tent camping, I’d recommend a pop-up canopy for the table area since there is not a lot of tree cover in those sites. Overall, an excellent place to camp!

So first of all- I think it’s fair to state before I leave a review that my husband and I prefer primitive and private camping. The fewer people we see while we’re out, the better. We live in a city so when we camp, we want the opposite. If you enjoy RV camping or don’t mind not so Private spots, this is a decent spot to spend the night. If you like primitive/private camping- il fill you in below!

We do tent camping and Saw there were walk-in sites and hike in sites at this campground. Usually walk-in sites are pretty private and dispersed well - atleast where we’ve been before. The 14 “primitive” camping sites were right next to eachothwr with little to no privacy at all. Good tree cover for shade but otherwise you’re basically setting up your tent and area in an open field. That was a little disappointing to us because it wasn’t what we thought we would find. The RV spots also seem super close together but again- we like things spread out so maybe it would be an OK place for some.

The vault toilets near the tent sites were…as clean as vault toilets get! And we did not use tje shower facilities so can’t speak on that.

If we had been just the 2 of us, we would’ve hiked in to do our camping along one of the hiking paths but we were meeting two other friends and were unsure if they would want to hike miles to a spot so we opted for the tent spots just after the RV campground. If you want more privacy for an evening of camping, you’ll need to come with your gear packed up decently enough to hike it out atleast a mile onto the trails. There is camping allowed along the trails as long as you are 100 ft from the trail so that was an option, but in certain spots along the trail it’s challenging to find a clearing (hammocks would be great along the trail). There is also an official primitive camping site halfway through the 12 mile loop of the Red Ceder Trail. We day hiked almost the whole loop but made a Weird little detour so we didn’t get to check these spots out.

We were hoping to find a campsite that- as get as difficulty of accessibility level- was in between a 6 mile hike and the tent spots in the field but there isn’t any official spot like that even tho there’s tons of space and potential for it. Rant over about the campground. Let’s talk about the hiking! The hiking was truly awesome and felt like it balanced out my disappointment with the campground. Doing the whole 12 mile loop of tje Red Cedar Trail was a challenge for us! We really enjoyed it. In some spots, the trail markers are a little confusing, but overall it’s decently marked and the map is somewhat helpful just to kindve know vaguely where you are. The 2nd day, we went back and did about half rhe loop and also checked out the more popular section of the trails back there that include Giant City Nature Trail, Devils Stand Table, and a few others. Very cool rock formations. Pretty busy in the weekend over there but the test of the trails away from that area with those big landmarks was completely deserted and there are some super cool rock formations not on the map at all.

Over all, this was a fun 4 days. We would return and plan on hiking out into the trails to camp for our evenings. If you like privacy around your campfire at night, I can’t recommend the campground.

This was our first stop on a trip out west. It was a great spot to pull into for the night, pretty sunset over the little lake on site. Sites were kinda close together but that is more of a preference thing I think. Picnic table, hook ups, level, host was friendly.

There were several hiking trails that looked pretty, but we didn't get a chance to walk them. Overall, this is a nice and quiet campground. We would definitely stay again. We camped at Ferne Clyffe State Park in a Motorhome.

This is a very clean, quiet, shady campground. It is off interstate 57 if you are passing through or a great place to park and see the sites of Shawnee National Forest. The people of Goreville are nice and friendly and Ron, who oversees the campground is a great guy!

Very disappointed people r confused drove from herrin 2 the lake 2 different occasions went 2 pyramid marina asked if we could fish they said yes went back a second time stopped 2 get 4 dozen minnows asked if there's any public access she said u have 2 pay $5 2 fish pyramid marina on top of it I went inside the bar 2 pay & the bartender said there's no public access or fishing what's the real awnser

Got here on a Saturday night in late September and both of the campsites were available. Campsites consist of a clearing with a fire pit and a picnic table. No litter. No toilets. Very slow and spotty AT&T service: I was able to text but not access the Internet. The area is very pretty. Soft ground for staking a tent. Bugs were alright, no need for bug spray. There’s water access at the pond, but it’s obviously stagnant and very brackish. Big downside was a convoy of Jeeps full of partiers rolled down to the pond at 12:30am and hung out down there blasting music for an hour, which is a real sleep ruiner. This might be a local party spot, so be aware and maybe pack earplugs if you’re coming on a weekend. Upside is that it’s in a National Forest, so if both sites are taken, you can always dispersed camp

We stayed in this beautiful park in a travel trailer. The sites were shady and clean. The staff was great and the marina store provided the snacks and bait we needed. We loved the clean beach area. Perfect spot for kayaking. Boats and kayaks were available to rent. We camped at Little Grassy Lake Campground and Marina in a Travel Trailer