Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Dexter, MO

Real nice RV park orientated toward rigs of all sizes. Easy to navigate the roads, with every site level concrete. ATT & Verizon both worked fine. Wifi & cable included in the price. 10% discount for Good Sam, military & seniors. Right off a hiway (W) and a bit noisey, but all in all a nice park, especially for a night over. Sites are reasonably spaced, many with large trees. Not real far off 55. Would stay here again for a nioght ofer and even an extra night. They also have a dog park area.

We love it here. Sites that can accommodate tents and/or RVs. Its clean and well maintained. Multiple access points to the water. Educational programs and entertainment of some sort most every weekend. Pet friendly.

Stopped here while passing through Missouri on a Saturday on 4th of July weekend and there were only 3 other campers when we arrived late afternoon. The sites are nice and big with picnic tables and fire rings, even a few “doubles” that would fit two big rigs side by side. The trail around the lake makes for a nice short walk with the dogs and it was surprisingly not terribly buggy for July. No hook-ups, which was the only downside since it was so hot and my Husky demands AC in the summer!

This campground is very nice with electric,water and some sewer hookup. They are dog friendly and has a central shower,toilets and laundry area. There is a soda machine outside the women's showers. There is a mini golf course and a snack stand with picnic tables scattered around.

They have civil war reenactments sometimes and a museum on site. Also a community center to rent out.

The campground was laid out well in the fact that you didn’t feel crowded at all, even when there were lots of campers. We were in site 45 with a 33 ft travel trailer and had plenty of room. Nice walk for our dog and grassy areas also. Showers were clean but nowhere to put toiletries except on the dressing area bench... but that was okay. It was all tiled also. Mosquitoes were the big downfall. Just be prepared. We put up a screen tent as well as having bug spray. Ate at Boyettes too and it was really good.

We Stayed in site  174. While this location was right next to dumpsters it was also adjacent to a gravel bar access for the entire park.  Our trip was amazing. Site 174 and most around it had quite a bit of shade and plenty of room for kids, dogs, and our 4 hammocks.

Our campground hosts were knowledgeable and on top of things with seeming overbearing. Campground is obviously hit and miss as far as neighbors but here you have enough room to make your own oasis. 

Clean Shower houses and historic visitor centers. We cant say enough about how much we love this campground. Do yourself a favor and book it early they fill fast.

This campground had a lot of families, a simple but age appropriate playground (ages 5-12), and many spots with views of the lake. The bath house nearest our site (88) was not in commission, and judging from the webs and nature overtaking it I would say it hd been closed for a long time. The land is low so if there is heavy rain it will be soggy in many places. The site we had was spaced nicely from others but close to the main road. Lots of campers with dogs. Only one hiking trail on-site. We did choose one night to go to the resort restaurant (a fish house) next door to the campground (a quick walk even with small children).

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!

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.

There are 15 paved sites, each with a picnic table, fire ring and a pole to hang a lantern. Some sites are double width. There are two (nice & clean) vault toilets, one in the campground near the entrance and the other at the day use/boat launch site, no electric, water, dumpster or garbage. Pack it in and pack it out. There's a 1.3 mile paved trail along the lake and a dock. There is some noise from 60 but it's hardly noticeable. My time here has been quiet except for some drunken yahoos one night.

The only negative is there are a lot of ticks! They are easy to spot on my white dog but I have to do a tick check every time he goes outside, and I always find some. Avoid the vegetation and you'll see less. Make sure you check yourself.

Nice little campground, with full hook-ups available. Nice views of the Mississippi River. Very clean all around. All site are hard and somewhat level. You can drive a short distance to the river for some boat watching. Everything is very well cared for. Lots of Civil War history on site. I'd recommend that you pass on buying the internet service. It's spotty at best and slow.

Columbus has plenty of areas to have a cookout, an abundance of trails to explore, a ton of scenery for your eyes to enjoy, history woven into it's fabric which is narrated to you by way of signs and a museum(which cost a very reasonable fee to explore), a beautiful campground, a pleasant little food shack with reasonable food prices( hot dogs, hamburgers, ice cream, sodas and more on menu), and cute mini Golf course!( also a reasonable fee). The staff we ran into were very friendly and helpful. Can't wait to journey back

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is a perfect spot for a pass though. 3 back in spots with fire pits and tables. Road coming into the camp ground can get a little rough depending on season, but it’s gravel. Spots are perfect for smaller rigs. Sites are only a few miles from our house, we use it to test out new gear (hammocks)

General Watkins has a good amount of ponds (great fishing) and has a few good walking/ small hiking trails.

This campground will always be packed for Missouri firearm deer season. Mid November. But normally has open spots rest of the time.

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.