Best Campgrounds near Crane, MO

Pretty great spot! If you’re fortunate enough to be alone, this is a very large space, with a nice picnic table and a few fire pits. Completely surrounded by forest, so plenty of shade. Access road was a little rough, as in your typical dirt road, but posed 0 problems for our little economy car. I’ve had much worse for sure. The area is pretty secluded, with only a few cars driving through all day, so bear spray is absolutely necessary for peace of mind. Practice good bear prevention measures and you’re good to go for a free night stay, or several, happy camping!

This place was awesome. The camp sites are spread out so there's plenty of room. We stayed in the quaint little bunkhouse with an air conditioner and all the amenities that we needed- a little frig, toaster oven, microwave, sink, coffee maker with pods,  storage the we could use for our things we brought and the bunk beds that held 5 of us. The owners are great people who take pride in their property. Very attentive and ready to help provide anything we needed. There is so much to do and for all ages. Great family fun activities and very nice layout plus she even brought us freshly baked cookies that I believe to be the best chocolate chip cookie I think I've ever had! I highly recommend this place and I hope to stay there again some day.

If you are looking for a family friendly campground, you would be better served taking your business elsewhere. Tall Pines employees and campers alike are allowed to speed through the park, nearly running people over in the process, but will complain about your children in a heartbeat for playing outside at all. Despite the posted 5mph signs throughout the park, as well as signs we ourselves have provided, they do nothing to ensure safety; no one is at the park to run the office, or provide essential or necessary maintenance. They only come to the park when there is a complaint about children, or the cops have been called. Laura, who lives and works on the grounds, drives through the campground in her black Nissan Titan like she is a Nascar driver, and has almost hit kids and adults doing so. No one tells her to slow down, just to keep the kids out of the way or leave the park if you can't keep the kids under control. As far as pricing goes, Christina will offer a fair price to start, then recant on her decision despite proof of receipt, or how far in advance you pay on said quoted price. While the campground itself is a beautiful place to be, the owners are very lazy. They put more effort into their(Best Western) hotel, where you're more likely to find the staff working and avoiding campground calls, than you are to get anyone's attention inside the office, or to actually run the park. We were treated very poorly by the staff during our short stay here, despite our best efforts to try to work with them to make this a safe place for all. They were unwilling to take any sort of accountability, or give any corrective action to those who were more willing to remain uncooperative. Do not plan on making this a full time home for you and your family. It will only come down to Christina being at your residence for unjustified complaints that they can't prove one way or the other who is at fault

If you’re in the area for mountain biking and want more privacy and space than the other nearby campgrounds this place is an excellent option. The owner Damon is a really nice helpful and accommodating guy and his place is complete for primitive camping: grassy and (some) shady sites, fire pits (free firewood), very clean porta potty toilets and nice outdoor showers (hot water), water, outlets to charge devices, and good common areas loaded with helpful biking trail info. This place has lots of unique character, for example a renovated school bus used as a common area in case of inclement weather and even a complete bike cleaning station. One notable aspect: it is about a 10-15 min drive to the trails. If you’re a tent, car/van, or tear drop trailer camper, I highly recommend this place!

We had been to this place before and wanted to go again so we booked for June 14th 2025. We had to cancel due to my wife’s being diagnosed with cancer and due to the nature of the activity they reconended we not go. I contacted them and asked for the cancellation policy what I was sent said there was a 50 dollar cancellation fee. I cancelled and they kept 100 dollars I asked why and they said it was per unit. That is not what the email they sent me said just 5 minutes before. If what they would have sent me just earlier would have said that I might have kept it scheduled and let our kids go. Just not happy they didn’t honor what they sent me!!!!!

They really capitalize on as much lakeside camping as possible, and it is amazing! My ring is literally 7 ft from the lake, and I have my own little pebbly beach, and I would say that there are a lot of sites just like this. It's absolutely gorgeous, and is really relaxing as well to look out at the mountains and the lake. Both me and my dog really enjoyed it. While we were here, they have a full bathroom on the island, and only vault bathrooms on the landside. While we were here the vaults were pretty stinky, but otherwise this campground was awesome!