Best Equestrian Camping near Cassville, MO

Big M Marina and campground is absolutely awesome! Nestled snug on the Missouri Arkansas border is a gem of a campground. Large grassy sites some most with electricity and water, and some with sewer. Sites are paved and pretty level. Great play area for kids. Well kept bathrooms and showers. Marina has a great restaurant that you will not be leaving hungry. Nice marina store. Boat rentals as well as slips. The swim area was very clean and accessible even though it was flooded. Only inconvenience were the roads in. Be prewar warned. It is a nail biter. All in all definitely a 9 out of 10!

No amenities other than composting toilets. There are a few tent sites along the road and there is plenty of grassy area near the creek for RVs/trailers. This is a horse camp with plenty of evidence, but it was only us and a couple of other tent campers.

The creek was obviously spring fed, crystal clear and had a gravelly bottom. There were plenty of places to get in the water...understanding that this is horse camp.

The place was well maintained and mowed and it was super peaceful and quiet. The main annoyance was some trash in fire pits along the creek.

If you consider this as a waypoint, two things:

1. There is about a mile of dusty, gravel road that is a little rough.

2. We had great T-Mobile 10 miles south, but it dropped to zero by the time we drove into camp.

This campground offers a lot of options. Including trout fishing, hiking, and swimming. Located in South Missouri it is an easy day trip into Branson Missouri or Eureka Springs Arkansas. Very well located and very well run by the state. They offer a pretty well equipped camp store along with the lodge and restaurant. This state park is gorgeous and one of my favorite places to go. They also have a nature center and trout hatchery. Park is open year round, trout tags must be purchased at the camp Store. All campgrounds have nice bathrooms and showers. Just a heads up though if you are looking for a quiet relaxing weekend make sure you avoid kids free fishing weekend! It’s a ZOO that weekend!

We tent camped in Campground 3 at lot 168. We are more of the hiker, woodsy, adventure type people. If I would have known better I would have chosen Campground 1 for tent camping, as it seemed less groomed. Campground 1 was tucked up in an inlet that went back into the valley. It dead ends at a wonderful trailhead. The west side on CG#1 is lined by a beautiful creek that runs into the rotating river. Lots 54-77 are close to the bathrooms and well shaded, and I have them noted in my phone for our next trip. Reservations required and easy to make (1-877-422-6766)

Campground 3 was very open and didn’t feel very “woodsy”. However it was still a very nice spot with a short walk to some awesome fishing spots. It is also near the two longer trail heads, which we enjoyed. If you have ATT you won’t have any cell service here. BUT.. there’s WiFi. Yes. In 2021, you can get WiFi at your campsite. I don’t really like this, but it was helpful for my partner who is a businessman and needs to be able to send emails. (This was only from CG#3 in my experience) 

Campground 2 seemed like a nice in between of 1 and 3. It was a little more shaded, but seemed to have more traffic. 

Every campground offered basic, electric, or all the fancy stuff. We like to rough it, so that wasn’t for us. We will be back for sure!

Fishermen will love Roaring River! If you don't fish it is okay. The area is situated in the Ozark Mountains with the campground next to the stream where they release trout. The campground we stayed at has very little shade and the spacing felt uncomfortable as it has no natural blocks from the other sites. The sirens at 7 am and in the evening are what ultimately turned me off. We awoke every morning to fishermen down by the stream waiting for the siren to tell them they could fish. The talking could be heard all the way up and down the valley.