Best Tent Camping near Dexter, MO

Tent camped here during the week in June and the campground was only about 1/3 full. Quiet and the restrooms and showers were very clean.

Sam A Baker has a large selection of sites. Perfect for tent camping or Campers of any size. Great trail selection, many moderate trails, but there are many options for those with young children as well.

We typically camp just at the end of season and have this is our favorite place to camp. We always tent camp with minimal supplies. It is has always been clean and even during peak season I felt there was plenty of space between campsites.

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.

This is a great little state park that has plenty of options whether you enjoy tent camping or enjoying your Rv. Some of the144-151 sites can be pretty tight to get into because there are so many trees so double check the pictures on the reservation website to make sure you can get yours in. Ours is 40’ and it was pretty hard to get in but we managed. Nice shower facilities and laundry as well as river access within walking distance

If you are looking for a beautiful RV or tent site on the water, look here. There is a massive lake, perfect for a quiet day on the water. We kayaked out to an island and did some fishing. We didn’t catch anything, but it was relaxing. Campground was oddly quiet, especially after dark... we were the only site with a fire going.

Hiking, biking and equestrian trails. Boat and jet ski rentals in season.

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!

We camp here a lot and have tried several spots in the South campground.  The ones near the lake have views but don't have water access.  There is also a pavilion near the lake.  

Sites 22, 24, 25, 70 backup to the forest and have lots of room to set up tents, however they are the first to flood and stay wet longer.  

The map is pretty good about and shows pictures of the sites.  At the time of this review the bathrooms between sites 64 & 66 were closed.  The bathrooms and showers near site 23 are bigger and more accessible.  The bathrooms and showers near site 4 do have a ramp but it is uneven, the space inside is much smaller and would be difficult to navigate with a wheelchair.

Site 43 has trees on both sides of the pad and, based on comments from another camper, can be difficult to back in a larger camper.

Sites in the mid and upper 40's are also good for tent camping.  The cypress trees in the area send roots up and the ground can be lumpy because of them.  The campground has lots of gopher holes all over.  The mosquitoes are bad and you should take some strong bug spray. 

The campgrounds does have drainage issues when it rains and if your forecast predicts rain, you might want to put your tent up on the pad.

They opened a small gift shop this year.  The sell worms, and they now rent canoes and kayaks.  There is a boat launch near the entrance, but you can't launch anything too wide.

This campground is due for a makeover and I heard that it is in the works.  

If you love bird watching or photography this place is a dream; osprey, eagles, herons, egrets, and so many others are everywhere.  Pelican's stop here on their migration and I recommend the pontoon tour in October during the festival if you want to see them on the water.

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

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.

Camp host was nice and river was also very nice but campground was really tight. We had camper 5 feet off back window and tents on are side not much space

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.

Will definitely be back here. Clear waters to swim in. Clean restrooms. Spacious tent spaces. Nice trails. We went and saw the park rangers showing us all kinds of different snakes in the area. Kids loved it.

Great park. I did the backpacking with 1 night of hammock camping. They have 3 actual tent shelters on the trail but it is over grown by #3 there’s also aquatic trails so be ware of the horses.

This was a great stay! Nice and peaceful, great company with total strangers on the next site over. Campsites are spaced out nicely. There are only a handful of sites that are suitable for tents as each site varies on cleared area. No water or electricity that we seen. Boat launch and floating dock are just a short walk from any camp site. We stayed at campsite #5 and it was spacious for our tent. Dumpster for trash is next to the bathrooms across from site #3 & 4. Asphalt road through the camping area and Asphalt pulloffs at each site. Chiggers and bugs are an issue here so bring plenty of Off. We stayed 10 nights and we will definitely mark this one down on our list. Truck Stop 1 mile east for ice, food and drinks. There is a small grocery store about 18 miles west with a great selection. Picnic table and fire pit at each site. Free wood laying all over the place, when the management team cut trees down they leave them there for campers to use.

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.

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.

Perfect area for history buffs, plus lots of hiking, boating, and wildlife. There is info on local nature and historical facts, primarily Civil War. There are two camping options: RV friendly sites and log cabins.

Yay: Very clean, wooded open sites. Close to town.

Nay: it’s a typical RV-friendly loop so not much privacy for tent campers.

Surprise: great little Civil War museum.

Definitely choose the north campground (airport) if you are looking for a quieter, less claustrophobic camping experience. We stayed here in a tent. Everyone else had RVs so we had the bathroom and showers to ourselves. Bathrooms were clean and we had no problems with airport noise. It’s not the most scenic campground in the world, but there are plenty of trees and it’s very quiet. Plus, less bugs because you aren’t right next to the water.

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 stopped here chasing the 2024 eclipse. Easy to find. No cost. About 20 parking spaces, a vault toilet, and a boat launch. Open for solar panels, but tree cover around the lot. Only about 5 parking spaces are not on a slant. Places in the trees for tents. Absolutely beautiful views up and down the river. A single fire pit on the river’s edge. No road noise to speak of because it is way in the distance and rare at night. Fireflies and owls into the night. Mist on the water in the morning: just beautiful. T mobile service has 3 of 4 bars. There is no apparent Verizon service.