Best Tent Camping near Farmington, MO

A great spot for a quick get away from St Louis. Beautiful park with lots to do not far from the campground. If you are tent camping you don't have to worry about generators from the RVs as there are two separate camping areas that share a really nice shower house, but have their own bathrooms as well. Be careful to not get a tent site in the middle, in the low area, as rain runoff will run down to the middle area. No tent pads, but plenty of grassy areas to pitch your tent. Activities in the park include swimming in the pool or the Big River, canoeing (rent at the Thunderbird Lodge), hiking, and petroglyphs.

Robertsville is a nice little park on the Meramec River with about 25 campsites split fairly evenly between tent and electric hook up in a long loop. The hook up sites are on the inside of the loop and the tent sites are on the outside of the loop. You need to look carefully for a level tent site as some are fairly slopped. However, most of the tent sites have nice trees for hammocking and all sites looked clean. The shower house is newer and well taken care of. Seems that lots of people come here for the boat access to the river, but there are some really nice hiking trails you shouldn’t miss. On the weekends in the high season be prepared to reserve two nights in a row, which can make it more difficult to get a spot. But if you go during the week you can have the place pretty much to yourself. And the racoons. Just saying

Not a huge campground but, Its a really simple beautiful place to enjoy Missouri's rolling hills. It is located 1 hour from St. Louis and 30 ish min from Elephant Rock State park. If your in the area check out the other amazing Missouri state parks while staying here. The Missouri Mines state park is maybe a 5 min drive and a neat place to see. Tent sites, Bathroom and some hammock spots.

Plenty of tent camping sites. There are primitive also. Great Lake to fish and plenty of trails to hike. Looks like the rv site can get booked up on weekends.

Stayed here for one night we toured the cave which was great. The park is very well kept and nice clean facilities. We tent camped and every spot had a good place to set up a tent.

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.

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.

We spent a Saturday and Sunday there camping in the electric site. They do have tent sites but we wanted to be closer to the river which was a 2min walk.

Great place, awesome people and kid friendly. Definitely will be back!

I like this camp site because you are within the trees the whole time. It is tent camping only. Where we camped, the ground was covered in moss. That made for very soft sleeping, except for the few large rocks spread over the area. We had room for two portable canopies and about 35 cub scouts and family members.

this ground is very well kept and is oerfect for tent camping. the only downfall is the amount trees. although the sites are very large, flat, and easy, you can see everyones business because there is maybe 1 tree in between each site. but there is a creek, trails, walk in sites, and lots of history to check out.

Johnson Shut-Ins State Park is an amazing park that combines the comforts of an RV park with the rustic side of walk-in tent sites. It is the best maintained park in the Northeastern part of the Ozark's. It has a store in the middle of the campground. The sites all have concrete pull-ins and the bathrooms and shower houses are all brand new, modern, and clean.

The sites are spread a part giving plenty of room to campers. There are several tent sites that you can walk into to get away from the concrete. There is a gear cart to help you get everything back from your car to your site.

This is a place where you could spend several days and have a lot of fun. This is the premiere campground in that area of the Ozark's.

The staff is also very helpful and friendly.

The campsites are very nice. I don't mind the concrete pads they have for camping and parking. We have a camper but used cots when we tent camped so concrete was not a problem for us.

The kids loved the shut ins. We didn't even make it all the way to the back as it was a very long walk. We also visited some of the historical sites in the area.

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

Wonderful state park with paved roads and level concrete pads. We were nestled up against a beautiful creek. Could barely keep the dogs out of it. Nice,clean bathrooms. Nice play area for kids. We hiked one of the many hiking trail available. Tours are offered throughout the day in the two onsite caves. They were amazing. Natalie was our Gide and really knew her stuff! Park also offer kayaking, swimming, rafting and just a whole bunch of fun. There was a large camp of boys scouts and several other tent camping. Would recommend this park everyone. 10 out of 10!

Lots to do for all ages, including swimming and hikes of any difficulty/length. Famous for petroglyphs and other history too. Green rolling hills that would be ideal to visit in the fall. The electrics sites are closer to the river, the tent sites are more private in trees in a separate area.

Yay: Rent a canoe/kayak/tube to enjoy the river (on site!).

Nay: Make sure to get away from the developed part of the campground to enjoy this nature. Surprise: Petroglyphs are the icing on the cake here!

Very simple campground lets you feel close to the lovely nature here. The trail options are either a short loop or a loooong out and back along the famous Ozark Trail. Not much else to do (no water activites) so if you’re not planning to hike a lot or just hang out/grill, you might want to plan some time off site.

Yay: Trails through all kinds of forests, waterways and waterfalls. Educational displays.

Nay: TENT CAMPING ONLY!!! My friend had been turned away on a previous trip! (There are some other parks nearby if you are in an RV.) Fills up fast.

Surprise: Hike the tallest mountain in MO, not a long hike. Endless green rolling vistas! Also had deer at our tent.

I took my daughter and a friend on their first camping trip here. We stayed the last weekend of the season (10/29-31). It was quiet with only two RVs on one end. We picked a tent site at the other end, right on the river. The girls ran all over the camp ground. The ranger was super friendly and shared information about the area. Since it was the end of the season, the coyotes were coming back closer to the area and serenaded us all night. We can't wait to go again next year

Most people who are camping and visiting this part of the Ozark's are here to enjoy the river, but don't forget to checkout the caves. I spoke to the campground host and his wife and they told me that the Onondaga caves are the third most visited in North America. The staff at the visitors center was also friendly.

The campground was very clean and well maintained. There isn't a lot of tent camping, most people are visiting with RV's and camper trailers. There are a lot of folks with canoes and inner-tubes in the campground.

Checkout my one minute video with Mike, the campground host, talking about Onondaga Cave State Park.