Best RV Parks & Resorts near Forest City, MO

We arrived around midnight and there was very limited parking. We did not plan to use the RV hook ups but there seemed to still be one available slot if we wanted it. The rest of the parking lot was pretty full with limited spaces, but we were able to grab a spot. A little noisy but what you would expect from a truck stop with 18 wheelers in and out all night.

We visited Basswood Country RV Resort in October 2020. All in all our experience was a positive one, but prospective visitors should know that there is a large section of long term renters that you must drive through to get to the short term sites. This gave the impression that this was less a vacation park and more of a trailer park. The facilities were clean, but older. The site we stayed in was large and level.

This Love’s RV Hook Up is right off I-29. We’ve enjoyed several stays at these new Love’s campgrounds(CG) and they are normally away from the main car and truck fueling areas. After cruising around the truck area, we found that we needed to go to the car area as the CG is literally off the auto-side fuel pumps/parking lot. There is a lane that we could have driven through from the truck area and this would've put us in the right position to back into our site. However, there was a Love's fuel truck parked there the whole time of our stay. There are six back-in sites with water and electric. They give you a code if you want to use the dump station. We reserved site 1 with water and electric(50/30/20 AMP). It still could have been an easy back-in but there was a big U-Haul truck parked outside of the formal parking areas in our path. We were still able to maneuver around and get in our site. After parking, we checked in online to activate our utilities. We quickly found out when we auto-leveled that site 1 was not a level site as our passenger side tires were off the ground. And whoever designed these sites thought boulders between sites was a good idea? We had to position our rig to avoid a boulder on the pad, so that we could open our basement slide drawer. The utilities are at the far backside of the pad and based on our rig’s configuration with the wet bay towards the front, we needed 25’ or more of hose and electric cord. The water pressure here is good. The WiFi is also for general public use and not very fast. We got 3 bars on Verizon and used our MiFi for internet as we were not comfortable putting out Starlink in this general public area. We were next to Love’s two-sided dog park, which if not for dog poop on the inside and around the outside would have been a great convenience. Concerning the uncomfortable comment, two stealth campers in cars were in parking spaces adjacent to our site for the night. We shared the CG with a Scottish Rugby cycling team traversing the USA raising AHS awareness. We did not know that starting around 6:00 AM the sprinklers came on and all of their gear got wet. The sprinklers also make mud puddles at the dog park entrance. Loves should gravel the small and large dog entrances. There should also be signs to let campers know about the sprinklers. The other Love’s RV Stops we stayed in had restroom and shower facilities, here you go in the main building and pay to use the trucker showers. The dump station is hard to get into with a large rig. Wrapping up this unpleasant stay, this Love’s was one up on a Walmart parking lot as it had water and electric.

This campground is mainly for Rvs. The campsites are full hook ups which are $20. The sites each have a picnic table, and fire pit. They are on pavement, level, and are kind of close together. There is a nice playground away from the sites along with a fenced in sand volleyball court. The park also has a frisbee golf course. The lake/pond has a paved sidewalk surrounding it with plenty of benches scattered to just rest or enjoy the lake and it's wildlife. You can hear the bull frogs, geese, and coyotes when the sun goes down. There is a train track behind the lake, and it seems to have a train every few hours that you can hear from your site. A couple of things that I noticed was the large number of vehicles coming through the campgrounds that were not staying hear. It was very busy and noisy. They also have 2 large fenced in dog runs for the pups.

It's in the Conservation Area of Missouri on Pony Express Lake. Easy to get to. Gravel road to the camp areas. Very small. Only 7 or 8 sites. We had a van. There was an RV there and a tenter. Picnic table and fire ring. There is a boat landing further down the gravel road past the campground, different finger of the lake. Fishing. Pit toilet, no water or hook ups for RVs. Very quiet place and of course, you can't beat free!

Camped here on Oct 5, 2023. RV parks are not our preferred place to camp. Prefer to camp with our campervan in dispersed or primitive campsites. That being said, this campground was really good for an overnight stay during our trip north to Minnesota. The owners were very welcoming and helpful. The property and restrooms/showers were very, very clean and well maintained. Our dog enjoyed the fenced in dog park with is on the property. The campground has ponds. Other campers were friendly and respectful.

Longterm and Short term RV camping in a newer part of town. all the hookups. Sites are directly behind a Dollar General and across the highway from the grocery and Shopko.

Auburn has a golf course and a decent disc golf course.

Good fishing in the Rotary lake.

Weston Bend, MO 9/24: As of early September 1/2 of the campground is closed for construction. I understand that some sites will be upgraded to full hookups. (Scale 1- bad, 5-Very good

(72 yr olds in 27’ trailer.)

Overall Rating: 5 for a state park . Hiking and overlooks nearby. This is a nice campground to visit Leavenworth from. Very clean showers. Price 2024: About $15 for non electric sites. $25 for electric sites Security: Gate w code for night time entry Usage during visit: Very full during weekends. Plenty of free sites during the week Visual Privacy Between Adjacent Sites: Some more than others Site Spacing: Very good Pad surface: Blacktop Reservations: Yes Campground Noise: Pretty quiet Outside Road Noise: None Through Traffic in campground: No reason for Electric Hookup: All sites but # 3 and 26. Sewer Hookup: Coming to some sites by 2025 Dump Station: Yes Potable Water Available: Yes, at dump stations and some scattered spigots Generators: Allowed Bathroom: One building with flush toilets. One pit toilet near site #26 Showers: Yes. Clean and nice. Pull Throughs: 1 or 2 Cell Service (AT&T): 2 bars Setting: Thick deciduous forest Recent Weather: Some 90 - 100 degree days in late August Solar: # 3 has better solar than the other non-electric site shady #26. Insects: Not bad Host: Great Rig Size: large rigs Sites: #3 and # 26 are non- electric. #26 is the most private.

We have been camping at Basswood for several years, first with our children and now with our grandchildren. Basswood provides amenities that are great for entertaining children, includinga swimming pool and splash park, two playgrounds, a basketball goal, and fishing. Every weekend there are organized activities such as arts and crafts, fishing contests, duck races and frozen t-shirt contests in the pool, and a Saturday evening outdoor movie. There is a great little store with alcohol for the adults; ice cream treats, which we enjoy after a swim; and nearly any key item you might have forgotten to pack. Most roads throughout the campground are paved, and the campground is generally well-maintained. We appreciate the full-service RV spots, but there are very nice bathroom facilities, including showers, in two locations in the park.

This newly acquired campground is truly a hidden gem. The new owners really care about making your stay pleasant.

There are two RV areas. The Sycamore Bluff Campground (North) and Shady Oak Campground (South).

We stayed in the Shady Oak Campground which was geared more towards families with children.

There is a skating rink, tennis courts, basketball court, mini golf, and small park for children. You have to buy an activity pass for everything which is $10 a day. If you’re camping you get one activity pass for free. Children 5 and under are free as well. Sundays are free as well.

They have heated shower rooms which are very clean.

The RV spots are pretty close together so backing in can be a challenge. The Sycamore Bluff Campground to the North of the campground has pull-through spots.

Firewood is $5 per bundle and ice is $5 per bag. You leave your money in a box in the red depot office and take what you pay for. This is also where you check in.

We stayed through Monday. Sunday was completely empty except for our family which made it slightly eerie at night.

Overall we had a great time and will be returning next year.

RV and tent campers only $15 a night with hookup. TENT CAMPING IS FREE! 10-night maximum. Dumping station. Water and electrical. The restrooms are quite a ways away. No showers available.

The town has some decent shopping, such as the Catholic thrift store which is so well set up it could be mistaken for a decent antique store, and a local clothing store with unique items.

The disc golf course in town is challenging and well laid out.

Pluses: pull thru lots, very level, convenient hook-ups

Minuses: A bit out of the way for one overnight stay, but you wouldn't want to stay any longer. The camp is not well cared for and the lake is stagnant with dead trees in our view.

This is a wonderful park.  There are a lot of things to do and the sites are beautiful.  This review is for the site at Hackberry Hollow.  The sites are back-in sites with electrical hookups and water from a hydrant on the loop.  The end of part of the loop is up the hill above the bathhouse that has flush toilets, showers, and laundry. Lots of birds, racoons, and terrific spiders.  Watch out for ticks though.  Lone Star Ticks were abundant in April.

The park also has a store, a museum, horseshoe pits, archery, trails, and boating on the Missouri river.  There is a cemetary and an old restored town. Indian Cave isn't open to the public because the stairs and boardwalk are in need of repairs.

Nice quiet park with lots of family activities. The camping spots were mostly wide with 30/50 power hookups. Paved parking pads made leveling the camper easy. All the park staff we interacted with were very friendly. We hiked, biked, played disc golf, and practiced our archery. Great park that was quiet and offered lots to visitors.

Getting to the state park off I 29 and through the countryside was easy as the route had Weston Bend SP signage. We followed the SP signs to the campground(CG) where the gate was not manned so we headed to get water, but someone was sitting in the dump station waiting for another person to arrive so we went around this one-loop CG to see if there was a convenient spigot. There are spigots but with a larger rig, you will block the road, and/or you will be on a hill. We went back around and the person moved so we could get water. After that, we headed to pull through site 28 with electric(50/30/20 AMP) only. The site is long but has a 1/4 moon turn so we had to pull back around to get better positioned on the pad so we could disconnect our 39’ 5th wheel and F450 for our 3-night stay. There were tree branches overhead that we could not avoid. RVers next to us in site 30 had just arrived as well and were having trouble getting their travel trailer unhitched and leveled due to the pad’s slight incline and unlevel asphalt. They got their trailer positioned so they could get somewhat level. We got a solid two bars on both Verizon and T-Mobile. Due to our proximity to Kansas City, we got a lot of OTA channels. A satellite connection would be iffy in most sites here due to the number of mature trees. The trees in a lot of sites would also scrape the top of larger rigs. There’s a variety of sites with most being good for regular trailers versus tall rigs, and tent sites. They have a nice shower house with 1 washer and 1 dryer both for$1.50. There are also vaulted toilets here and there. There’s a 1.7-acre fenced dog park that includes one large area for large dogs and two other areas with one dedicated to smaller dogs. The dog area is at the front park entrance away from the campground and it would be a long walk to get there, so we drove up. There are a lot of hiking trails here plus an old tobacco barn that’s worth a look.