Best Cabin Camping near Dexter, MO

Went to stay in a cabin for one night, then extended our stay.   The place was to nice to leave.   The lake and St. Francis river are crystal clear.  Watched the baby deer, and listen to thw owls at night.   The cabin had all the amenities included, towels, coffee, soaps, dinnerware and cookware.    check-in was easy. Front deck included a B-B-Q  grill, and hot tub that over looked the lake and camp fire.   Our family will be back.   Thank you!

This 1200 acre property used to be the beautiful Cherokee Ridge Girl Scout camp until it was sold in 2019. We have went through extensive renovations and development to bring this property to the public so that it can be enjoyed by our guests. River access and our private gravel/sand bars are available exclusively to our guests and have provided some of the most peaceful weekends imaginable.

We have everything from glamping tents right on the river bluff (photos attached) to 12 fully equipped cabins with hot tubs overlooking the 22 acre lake with a beach and activities (photos attached)

We have 4 Conestoga Wagons that are heated and air conditioned (see photos attached). They are the definition of glamping.

50 RV sites with picnic tables fire/grill pits with a variety of 30 and 50 amp pull-through and back-in sites. We offer float trips, rental boats for the lake, and rental golf carts to adventure around the park.

The park is going through endless development to continue to provide everyone with the most enjoyable and peaceful vacation possible.

Please check out our website www.otahkilake.com

With a paid reservation made 3 months in advance, the Campground Host cancelled our reservation, refunded our money and then quadrupled the rate for that same period ($125 went to $750 for one night).  Your paid family vacation plans reservation is not firm with Otahki Lake Cabins and Campgrounds KOA. I hope this does not happen to you and your family’s dream camping trip!

Such a scenic park. Beautiful at every turn. Well kept, lovely staff and has something for everyone. Cabins, camping, hiking, river, floating, horses, you name it. Amazing place! GO!

Small lake. Has tent camping or cabins. All roads are gravel. We have stayed in the cabins. It was a double bed and also had a set of bunks. So plenty of room. Lake has sandy beaches. Small playset I the water for kids.

State Park in Southeast Missouri along Big Creek. Well maintained campsites with electric hook ups. Water and dump stations, but no water hook up sites. Nice beach with easy access for swimming and kayaking. Very nice bike trail throughout park. Privately owned store and restaurant in park. Cabins also available for rent.

Campground Review

Huzzah Valley Resort (HVR) is not a typical campground. It’s a place built for and specializing in float trips. If you are picturing serenely paddling down a pristine river in a canoe listening to the sounds of birds and insects, you are in the wrong place, at least on a Saturday during the summer. This is more like a float trip with frat parties floating on by you, complete with loud music, floating cooler, floating beer pong tables, loads of drunk people and of course the antics of these drunk people. Not really the best place to take your kids on those summertime Saturdays. I knew this going into the weekend. Really, with campsite prices from $12.79 (for the family camping area) to $16.00 (for the loud area with no quiet hours, nicknamed the Zoo) per person, per night most people not looking for this experience are weeded out by price alone. All that being said party-barge type float trips are pretty much a rite of passage in Missouri.

My Husband and I went on this trip with a group of friends that are not as experienced campers as we are and opted to stay in a cabin. This was about $90 per person for the weekend. Our cabin sleeps 8 people with 1 queen bed in a room, 2 queen beds in a loft, and a double sofa sleeper. It included a kitchenette, full bathroom, fire ring, BBQ grill, picnic table. Aside from a microwave and a full size fridge, the cabin didn’t really offer any other amenities. We brought our own sheets and campstove. It was nice to be able to set up a crockpot before we got on the river and have dinner ready when we got back though. The cabin was reasonably sized and not a bad experience.

It was nice on Sunday morning to just get to enjoy our coffee as we watched hundreds of hungover people in the campground try to take down tents.

We floated from Scotia to Ozark Outdoors, which is a very pretty 5 mile float in the Huzzah. This meant we had to be bussed from HVR to the put in and from the take out back to HVR. The river was packed!! There were people as far as the eye could see and the raft/canoe/kayak traffic never broke up during our whole time on the river. Since it was not a holiday weekend, we were a little surprised by how crowded it was. This didn't stop is from having a great time though! We floated in a raft and a kayak and both experiences were very good.

The campsite offered tent sites as well as sites with full hookups for RVs. Each campsite has a fire grate and picnic table. There is a camp store on site that sells everything you could possibly forget, from matches to fishing poles to beer.

Product Review

As a Ranger for the Dyrt I get to try out products from time to time. One this trip I tested out Nature’s Coffee Kettle, which is billed as top quality coffee that you can take anywhere. They give you a reusable kettle bag and a filter bag of coffee. You can purchase refill packs to use in the same kettle bag. Kettle bags get up to 4 uses. You place the filter pack at the top of the bag, pour some boiling water over it and let it sit for a few minutes, then you pour the remaining water over the filter and wait a few more minutes for it to brew through the filter bag and drip into the bottom portion of the bag. Once it is done, you can pour yourself a cup of hot joe.

The coffee is very good. Even though the brewing process is a little complex (adding 1 cup of water, waiting a few minutes, adding 3 more cups, waiting more), it isn’t that difficult. The closable pour spout is nice to keep your coffee hot while you drink your first cup. The bag is a little flimsy and I was afraid the kettle would fall over while brewing, but it held up.  The kettle and bag are lightweight and can fold down pretty small. These are definitely much easier to use than an old school percolator, and take up less space. I feel like car camping is where these will shine. Although you do still have to pack a pot to boil the water.

They are even practical enough that I might try to take them backpacking at some point. I can’t imagine they will replace Starbucks Vias as my go-to coffee for backpacking though. It is still bigger, creates more trash, and you have to make 4 cups at once even though it is tastier.

Pros:

• Delicious coffee in a variety of roasts and types
• Lighter, smaller than traditional percolator
• Reusable kettle bags
• Screw cap to keep coffee hot
• They offer coffee, tea, and hot chocolate

Cons:

• Can only make 4 cups at a time
• Thin bag- makes it too hot to touch and have to be careful not to let it fall over while brewing
• Not light, small enough to take backpacking regularly

Beautiful camp sites and a beautiful river to paddle around on. This park usually isn’t very crowded which is really nice. It is very tranquil and perfect for a weekend get away.

Lake Wappapello SP is a refreshing little get away. We took a girls weekend in the fall and enjoyed the trails and fall foliage...which was mostly already on the ground. The lake, though to cold to enjoy , was beautiful. We followed a wandering trail around the edge which was interesting to attempt to follow due to the leaves on the ground. There are two campgrounds, one is closed for the season. The other had nice size sites with facilities. I like the separate “patio” with cooking and dining area. Needless to say it was quiet, off season leaves the area empty. There are a lot of things to see in the area and Lake Wappapello is a nice base to travel from or you can stay at the lake exclusively and enjoy water sports and hiking.

Sam A Baker is really hard to beat. There are all the amenities (electric, showers, store, bike and watercraft rentals, etc) and plenty to do. We stay here 2-3 times a year depending on if we can get one of the sites we like. We normally stay in Campground 1. It's great for the kids to ride bikes. There are short and long hiking trails, good swimming and wading areas in the creek and river and mostly friendly people. The closeness of some sites along with the barking dogs and few loud partiers tend to get on my nerves when camp is full, but that can happen anywhere. I have bought firewood here twice and it was a waste. Overall this is a great family campground with attentive hosts. I also love the old-style CCC buildings and it's just a pretty area.

The state of missouri does an amazing job providing opportunities for families to enjoy the beauty of nature. Nature programs for kids and parents to learn. Well kept facilities. The ice cream is just a bonus. This is by far my favorite campsite for the kids.

Campground Review

I was very excited to finally get to check out Sam A. Baker State Park as I had heard great things about beautiful land. The drive to the park was very pretty indeed, my husband and I enjoyed the view on the way in. My first impression upon entering the park was that this place is huge! There are 2 huge campgrounds (around 100 sites each!) and a nice paved bike path connecting them. There is also a visitor’s center were you pay for your campsite, a camp store that sells all kinds of things, a small restaurant, equestrian campsites, cabins, and an equestrian trail. We set up our tent in a basic site with no electricity, which was nice that it put us a little bit away from RVs and campers. The sites are very close together and even on one of the hottest weekends of the year the campgrounds were full! They do allow advanced reservations and I would definitely recommend them in the summer. The basic site cost $13/night and was close to a shower house with flushing toilets and a water spigot. Since it was such a hot weekend, Saturday morning we decided to the 4 mile float the campground offers. They depart at 10am or 11 am from the boat ramp at campground 1. They have a bus that picks you up at the end at either 2pm or 4pm. We paid $40 for our canoe for the afternoon. It was nice to float a different river, but the St. Francois (at least near Sam A. Baker) was pretty murky and you couldn’t see your feet in about knee-deep water. There were also tons of trees down in the water, making it a more technical trip at some points and even requiring us to get out and portage our canoe for about 25 yards. Although the price for the float was decent, the distance was very short (without stops, it would take about 1.5-2 hours). I think next time I would choose to just play and relax in the river near the campground rather than do that float again. The park also has some backcountry trails with backcountry campsites and is near the Ozark Trail. My husband and I really wanted to explore the trails and see if it connected to the Ozark Trail, but because of the heat the weekend we were there we didn’t get a chance to. Most of the trails are shared use, meaning foot and horse, which is never great for the hikers on foot. We wanted to be able to see the true condition for ourselves, but I guess that will have to wait until next time!

Pros:

• Full amenities (showers, water, electric, store, restaurant)
• Lot of activities (river floats, fishing, swimming, equestrian trails, backcountry trails, amphitheater, bike path)

Cons:

• Very popular, and therefore very crowded
• While it was pretty, it did not feel exceptional in any way.

Product Review: Snapbuds

As a Dyrt Ranger, I get the honor of reviewing products from time to time. This trip I got to highlight Snapbuds. They are a magnetic earbud cord organization system. If that sounds complicated, they are. They are a series of magnets that you clip around your earbud cords so that when you wrap up the cord it stays in place. This is to prevent the inexplicable phenomenon that is setting down your earbuds perfectly coiled, not touching them, then finding them in a yarn ball like knot the next day. They certainly do help with that problem. However, I have noticed since I am now coiling my earbuds the same way each time, they get twisted up after a few uses. The set up process is not entirely intuitive. You lay your earbuds on the provided guide and tape them down. Then you snap the buds in the locations of the wrap you want to achieve. Once the buds are placed, they are not supposed to be able to be moved, but you can pry them back open with a fingernail or slide them down with a bit of force. I found that the indicated placement to wrap around your hand or phone was not where they should line up for my hand or phone once I placed them. This required me to remove or slid each bud. Since they are magnets, if your cords are slightly twisted and the buds line up so the poles of the magnet don’t attract, you have to flip them and it doesn’t look as nice. Also, the magnet will be attracted to anything metal, so when using these at my desk, I have to be careful around my laptop. The buds do add a little weight to your earbuds, but it’s not bad. I did find that wearing the earbuds with snapbuds on them while running was a little annoying, since you have magnets hitting you in the chest with each stride. After each use you have to careful wrap the cord to match up. All in all, I don’t feel like this a worthwhile solution to the problem. At $10 per set, I feel like I would just rather continue to coil the cord at my leisure and keep them in place with an old hair clip.

Pros:

• They do offer a solution to a common problem
• You can get them branded and use them as a promotional item

Cons:

• Still causes issues with coiling nicely
• Not intuitive to install
• Magnates get attracted to metal around you
• Magnets add weight to earbuds
• Still had to invest time into untangling and coiling. Didn’t feel like it saved me anytime.

The state park is located in southeastern Missouri was a disappointment to us on our visit. The campground, while large and spaced out, was a little bit on the trashy side. The facilities were dated and the park state were not the most pleasant. There are several trails in the park that look challenging but we chose to move on.

We absolutely loved this state park! It's easily our favorite Missouri state park to visit with our kiddos. There's just so much to do! The campsites are nicely spaced and clean. Expect plenty of sand at your site (my kids loved this, of course). There's a paved bike path that runs through the park. We took bike rides every day! We were pleasantly surprised that Big Creek was clear, cool and shallow (at least where we were). Swimming in the creek was one of our favorite activities each day... even having a 2 year old. The kids caught and released huge bull frogs and tons of minnows. We also enjoyed the evening presence of deer. Shower house and bathrooms were as clean as to be expected from a packed campground. This park also has a couple of on site stores in case you forget swim shoes or even swimsuits (like we did). You can even rent kayaks and canoes!

Awesome place to camp. Lots of wildlife to see. Nice beach, swimming area with great access to to boat ramp. However no full hookups at campsites only electric you must fill your water tank at the different hydrants scattered around the campground

The family had a lot of fun! We kayaked around the lake and had a blast!

We booked online, from the photos of site 48 at the Ridge Campground loop, there was plenty of space for our tent & to enjoy our weekend camping. We could not have been more WRONG! This site is TINY! Not even enough room for our tent, the fire pit is nearly touching the picnic table & a drainage line runs right through the site. The grass was SO tall, leaves & Brush everywhere. The site & fire pit were full of trash! I pulled countless bottle caps out of my dogs mouth, and had to clean up broken glass as well. We spoke with the host & moved one site over, to #49. This site was bigger & looked more appealing. We were still WRONG! The ticks, ants & mosquitoes were thick (I know were outside, and I understand - but the amount of ticks I picked off ourselves, our tent, our chairs, table etc was more than normal.) when breaking down our tent we found a nest of black ants, millions of them, all through our tarps.

The bathrooms in this loop are large, but they are much older. They were dirty - constant trash on the floors, including sanitary pad wrappers & bloody tissues. The soap dispenser was broken, and someone had busted the lid off to get to the soap inside. There were dead bugs all over the counter & the showers didn’t drain, they had standing water. When we drove through the Asher loop it was like a different campground! I couldn’t believe the difference and was quite upset. Just because Ridge is the older part of the park doesn’t mean it should be maintained any different. We will NOT return to the Ridge campground, but would love to stay at Asher one day.

Nice State Park. Sites are fairly large and fairly well spaced out. Bathrooms aren’t great. We’re here on a Friday night and there are only five other people in the whole place.

Despite terrible storms during my stay, it was a wonderful place. The hosts and staff seemed a bit eager to have someone visit, it was rather empty for the middle of the summer. Firewood is a bit overpriced but thats to be expected. The non-electric sites in the first loop have the best view of the lake but zero shade. The next loop had great sites but no view of the lake. The pamphlets from the park are poor quality copies and out dated… they show things like a store that is not on the site. The showers and laundry were great. The staff were friendly. A little buggy, but I think that has more to do with the weather and time of year. Couple raccoons tried to make a move, but my dog had something to say about that.

Overall, great park!

Love this park, lakeside or ridge top. Only 4 spots without electricity, use that how you will. The lake side is dope for water views and stag gazing.

Way to crowded tiny sites

We stayed one night on our way to Arkansas in site 199. Our site was level and spacious. The camp host was friendly and helpful. We had a nice time riding our bikes in the morning. The only reason for a 4 rather than a 5 was that lack of cell signal at our site (it was fine in other parts of the park).

Stayed here for three nights over Halloween weekend, and it was wonderful. There were very few people there to begin with, but Sunday night there was no one else there but us. We even had a deer run through our campsite while we sat fireside! Bathrooms were clean, roads were well maintained, and the signs were very clear.