Looking for the best tent campgrounds near Hannibal? You can find tent campsites by type, including drive-in, walk-in, and even hike-in for a backpacking adventure. Each tent campsite offers quick access to one or more of Hannibal's most popular destinations.
Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation's website for more information.
Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation's website for more information.
Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation's website for more information.
Visitors at John Spalding are in the perfect location for recreation on Mark Twain Lake. The day-use area is the only facility within reach of the sandy public beach. It's also directly connected to the Joanna Trail, a 32-mile multi-purpose trail for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. Tour the birthplace of world-famous humorist and writer, Mark Twain and explore the region that inspired his most beloved stories, such as "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer."
Swim and enjoy the beach all day, or take a boat out for water skiing and fishing. For hikers and bikers, the lengthy Joanna Trail lines the northern banks of the lake.
The day-use area is equipped with a swimming beach, showers and picnic shelters. Shelters have electric hookups.
The Salt River of north-central Missouri feeds Mark Twain Lake, the regions largest body of water, spanning 18,000 acres. A variety of recreation areas surround the lake, including the Mark Twain State Park.
Visit Mark Twain's birthplace in Florida, Missouri or his boyhood home in Hannibal. The David C. Berti Shooting Range is below the dam and M.W. Boudreaux Visitor Center is above the dam.
$30 / night
Missouris Spillway Recreation Area is tucked in a cove near the Wappapello Dam on Wappapello Lake. The area provides plenty of recreation for day-use visitors, including boating, fishing or playing volleyball by the lakeshore.
Wappapello Lake has a seemingly endless string of secluded coves hugged by a winding, wooded shoreline. The public recreation area spans 45,000 acres in the southeastern Ozark foothills.
Boating and fishing are the most popular activities with largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, white bass and channel catfish, among other species.
Pine Ridge Natural Trail, a 3/4-mile double loop, starts at the Spillway Recreation Area and provides an excellent way to explore the beautiful woodlands.
This day use area includes two large picnic shelters, 8 picnic sites, a volleyball court, playground, horseshoe pits and bank fishing.
The extensive 33-mile Ozark Trail, starts just south of Sam A. Baker State Park and winds along the west side of the St. Francis River and Wappapello Lake.
This recreation area is part of Mississippi River - Pools 11-22
Hello there! We (Christina & Brian) are excited to share our 80 acres with you! At the moment we offer only dispersed camping. We want to keep it as "Organic" as possible! So, there will only be 1 main gravel road, that is mostly covered in gravel at the moment. NO concrete or asphalt areas. Heavy rains will in-hinder on how far you can travel in. Either way, we can assist you, unless you are an RV. If you like, we have a large metal wagon that you can hand pull or pull by our truck. You are welcome to bring your UTV, but only to move your equipment and guests back and forth to our site or your vehicle. We are willing to show you around before you set up camp. If you are coming in at dark, we can suggest a campsite, then you can move in the daylight if you like. FIREWOOD: We have more than you can handle as this land has been harvested for timber prior to our purchase. We also encourage you to take some as long you use it up while in Missouri. More info at website DontMoveFirewood dot org We do NOT have amenities on site as of yet. We will provide bottled water at no cost. We highly encourage that you unplug while you are here, but not required. We do want you to have your phone with you for safety and capturing moments while you are here. We do have cell service here! We are close to many places: * 1/2 mile to Casey's General Store * Mark Twain State Park: 30 min * Long Branch State Park: 40 min * Thomas Hill Reservoir: 40 min * Finger Lakes State Park OHV/ motorcross: 40 min * Amish Community (Clark): 30 min * Casey's Gas Station: 3 min * Dollar General: 4 min * Walmart Supercenter: 17 min
If you are bold and want to enjoy nature nudist style, that is welcomed, but ONLY at your campsite and maybe a larger area for an additional fee once you arrive. This place is NOT a nudist camp, but it is private enough that you can be comfortable in your area. We thank you for taking the time to read our post. If you have any questions, feel free to get hold of us at anytime.
$25 - $30 / night
Visit the Missouri Department of Conservation's website for more information.
Guide
I tent-camped at Driftwood during a bike tour along the Mississippi River Trail. The showers and restroom were impressively clean. The hosts could not have made me feel more welcome.
Traveler
Real nice campground with bathrooms and showers. Only $5 to tent camp here! Great view of the lake and easy to hike trails. Only downside is that the mosquitoes will eat you alive!
Traveler
Very quiet and beautiful here. We are on site 93 with a partial view of the Mark Twain lake. Had to use blocks site goes down hill. Stayed 2 nights for $18 total with National senior pass. Electric hookup only. 91 degrees needed fan air movement. Water and dump are $24 a night. They also have tent camping.
Traveler
This campground use to be a great place to camp until it got new owners. They no longer offer tent camping and they completely shut it off from the public. My family has been going there for generations including having family reunions there. That place helped so many parents and kids get thru their summer breaks. Now you can't step foot on the property without having rented an rv spit.
Legend
Currently this is an RV only campground due to Covid restrictions, but there is ample space for tent camping when they return to allowing tents. So, RV sites include pull through and back in with water and electric hookups, and a dump station on site. There is a nice bathhouse and super clean laundry with a little lending library. Also on site is a community room(currently closed due to covid restrictions), an outdoor pavilion, and a miniature golf set up. The campground is wedged between the highway and a cow farm, so expect some noise, especially with few trees or landscaping to absorb the sound.
Legend
No frills camping on the edge of the fairgrounds, there are campsites mostly for RV’s (full hook ups- 50 amp and 30 amp, and sites with sewer), and space for tents on the margins (might be why tent “sites” are free). The bathhouse was locked when I passed through, and no one was camping here, but there is an emergency number to call, so I guess if I had wanted to camp here I could have had someone come out and unlock the bathhouse for me. The town is a short walk away with a convenience store and not much else, but still cute. Don’t expect any privacy or shade here as there are no trees.
Legend
All I can say of this fairly new campground is WOW! Tent sites in the trees with river views, water/electric at all of the RV pull thru sites, on site dump station, cute cabins in a variety of sizes, great hammocking trees, and a super clean bathhouse. If that is not enough, there is a coffee bar that serves light sandwiches, on site kayak outfitter, and summer concerts on the stage. About the only drawback I can see is that it will be so popular that it will be hard to get a site in the busy season without advance reservations. Even sitting next to the busy highway, there isn’t a lot of road noise thanks to the trees. If I was in a tent I would want to try and get sites 15 or 17 as they are large and have great views of the river.
Guide
The rain was a pain but didn't ruin Mark Twain! Though I grew up outside of St. Louis, I'd never been to this campground or to Mark Twain Lake. Really enjoyed exploring the area and the campground was nice. Showers were a short walk and campsites had a decent amount of privacy. The Loop we were on was really better suited to motor homes and we were tent camping. We had two tents and had to set them up in kind of a odd location near the loop road. Some sites were better then others but I wouldn't come back to this exact site to pitch a tent. If you have a camper though, its great.
You are right on the lake here, though it's a bluff so when you get to the edge, there is a steep drop off. It's very pretty and my kids are 9 and 11 so I wasn't worried but if there were much younger I'd be concerned about letting them wander toward the lake as they could slip and fall in. Since part of the reason I take the kids camping is to be able to let them explore, I'd go to another area with younger kiddos.
That being said, there was a trail that you could take for about 10 minutes that took you down to water level and is decent for swimming.
We took a day trip to Hannibal, which is a fun little town. Took in the Mark Twain Museum and took a riverboat cruise. On another day, we rented a pontoon boat to explore the lake, which I'd recommend as well.
Once you get the to the campground, you are at least 30 minutes from any store, gas station, etc, to stock up.
We were there mostly during the week and it was very quiet. As it got closer to the weekend, it started to really fill up and get more lively. Mostly families and such so didn't mind but just a heads up.
In the end, lovely area, really well maintained campground and would recommend.
RangerWe spent last night camping at Indian Camp Creek park and it’s a great mix between primitive camping with limited connection and camping at an RV parking lot. We took our 4 year old daughter tent camping for the first time and this was a great location. Although there’s only 8 individual tent spots available, it seems as though there’s always a spot available and each site is secluded by a group of trees. Each spacious site is equipped with a nice sized firepit, a concrete pad with a picnic table and a soft flat level space for a tent. One restroom with no running water is well kept and trash was picked up in the morning.
The park is loaded with activities. Great hiking trails, a huge kids playground, a pond with trails, and a full frisbee golf course. There’s a nice creek that runs through the front of the park you can cool off and float on a tube. The park is incredibly clean and well maintained. You could easily spend a weekend doing various activities without getting bored.
You can reserve a site online, but it has to be 4 days in advance otherwise it’s first come, first serve. There’s also the option for group camping, although we never checked it out.
All in all, it’s a great site, about 15 minutes away from wentzville. If you are looking for extreme primitive, or a place to park your camper, this is not your place.
Ranger
Campground Review:
Mark Twain state Park is an absolute blast. approximately 30 minutes from Hannibal MO this park sits on Mark Twain Lake. Several hiking trails in the area will get you in touch with nature and an abundance of deer. Large playgrounds in the camping area's as well as visitor center areas. All loops in this park have electric and basic sites. No water hookups aside from host sites. Best part is all shower houses fairly new. We never located any vault toilets but found all three loops had their own shower house.
Park has a boat ramp with ample parking and if you have better luck than I did a fish cleaning station. While having a boat ramp close may be a deterrent it was rare to have much boat noise with the tall trees surrounding these large private sites.
We stayed in site 76 in puma loop which was a sloping site but it was massive. The lots on either side of ours were similar in layout but much more level. 76 also has a path to the waterfront which we utilized daily.
It rained on us for most of our stay we found Mark twain state park to be well worth the trip.
Product Review:
As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time- today I am testing the GCI Outdoors Master Cook Station.
While looking at GCIOutdoors.com for the right item for my family to try out we were amazed at the function of their site. We were able to compare multiple items flawlessly and despite much debate locate an item we believed may reduce our overall need to pack everything including the kitchen sink. The cook station didn't immediately jump off the page for my wife. She had her heart set on a new rocker chair of which GCI Outdoors has an amazing selection. However, I was able to win her over after pointing out the endless options the Master Cook Station (AKA My Kitchen) Offers.
My Kitchen provides functionality as a table, a cook top, a drying rack, food storage, and does so taking up the same amount of space as a folding chair. Our first night in camp the dreaded dinner bell began ringing and my loving wife walked over to our new kitchen. After cooking, plating, and eating from this beast she looked at me and said, "Never again will I doubt your decision making about anything." (or at least thats how I remember it.) She actual was really impressed how this cook station had taking the stress out of meal time. With a built in sink we were able to cook, eat, and clean from a singular location and when done we could either fold it up and tuck it away or use it for evening activities.
As a pop up camper space is always limited and at a premium. The GCI Outdoor Master Cook Station not only met our expectations it surpassed them. This swiss army table will be a must have among all of our friends and the high quality of this product tells me that we will get to show it off for quite some time.
Ranger
Stayed here 2 nights, while we explored Hannibal. The campground is large, but half empty when we stayed. It meet our needs, always love having WiFi. My biggest complaint would be only 2 washer/dryers (one which was broken). The cave tour is interesting, but a little expensive. I would stay on the main street of Hannibal to see the Mark Twain sites, rest of the city is seedy
RangerI was not impressed. If you are there to see sites of Hannibal MO and are using camping as a motel this campground may work for you. Almost all full hookups. I would recommend sitesD7 and E7. Shower hose was pretty nice and clean. Campground sits right in the city of Hannibal. Beautiful town. It does have a nice store that is the entrance to the store. We did not do the cave. We will probably camp elsewhere and travel in.
LegendPROS
Senior discount
Site 32 level asphalt pad surrounded with grass and river rocks
Moveable aluminum table
Metal fire ring with cooking grate
One hook lantern pole
Site 19 very near toilets and a dumpster
Friendly and helpful gate personnel
4 bars TMOBILE
CONS
Some road noise in the distance
Electric box at rear of site pad
Sewer connection 6 inches above ground
Poor planning to demolish all but one campground toilet/shower facilities at the same time
No overnight gate closure
Don't Miss
Rustic Oak Cabin Restaurant
Mark Twain Memorial Shrine in Mark Twain State Park. Free entrance
Ride the Mark Twain Riverboat in Hannibal
Downtown Hannibal nice variety of stores and shops
Dam Visitor Center very nice--fairly new
TravelerClean hot showers, nuff said.
Small but very nice snack shop that serves cold and hot sandwiches. They will deliver your meal to the winery, nice touch. The winery also had live music hat wasn’t loud and shut down early. The grounds is only 2 miles outside of Hannibal and is walkable if fit. My buddy and I walked in but took Uber back.
Nice place.
GuideThe campground is quit and peacefully. Just a short walk from the Mississippi River and downtown Hannibal. They have two caves you can tour along with a winery on site. Both attractions are at the front of the campground so they are an easy walk from your campsite but your site is also secluded away from the tourist their during the day for just the caves and winery. Staff was friendly and helpful. The caves make the whole stay that much more amazing for the kids.
Legend
Wakonda state park, located about 30 miles north of Hannibal. The park has a several lakes to fish and boat with multiple trails ranging from 1 to 5 miles. The sites are a little tight but at the time of our visit the park was empty. The showerhouse is a little dated but adequate. The basic sites site right on the edge of a small lake and is a wonderful sight waking up to. My only complaint is the highway a little close and it can be loud.
LegendComing into Hannibal, the RV GPS wanted to take us around town up to I-72. Had we been on our toes, we could have turned right at the“campground sign,” making our trip a bit easier and shorter. We came into the campground(CG) and resort area with some other campers. There was plenty of parking, and we checked in at the gift shop where you can purchase cave entry tickets. Our friends had come in the day before and told us that our reserved site E-05 was long enough for our new 40’ 2” Brinkley Model G, but we would need to park our F-450 elsewhere. Our friend suggested F-17, which was an easy back-in. F-17 was available, and was actually cheaper, so we saved$6 on the back-in site. The office folks here were very nice and accommodating, as we had expected to arrive the day prior with our friends, but due to loading up our new rig, we arrived a day late. The nice people at the office helped us work out this situation plus changed our campsite when we arrived. We proceeded to F-17 and settled down for our first camping night in our Brinkley. The F area back-ins are fairly new, with few trees to block the satellite. The older pull-throughs have mature trees and a lot of shade, so satellite would be spotty depending on the site. The water and electric are towards the back of the site, with the sewer in the middle. The water pressure was good. We got one bar on Verizon, and the CG WiFi worked better than average for a CG this size, but we were here for just an overnight from Monday to Tuesday. We were told that this private CG fills up on the weekends.
LegendWe stopped here on our way home & stayed 2 nights. Friday & Saturday. It was busy & most sites were full in the Puma loop. This is the electric loop with the very nice, clean bathrooms & showers. There's no water at each site, but there's water scattered throughout the campground.
There are good sites scattered all over. 74 & 76 had a small view of the lake through the vegetation. There are no sites on the lake. Site 70 was pretty nice. Shady, with a wooded view in back. Close to the bathrooms, secluded from the neighbors but of course you can still hear them!
Aside from the elderly couple in the handicapped site across the road leaving their LED lights on all night everyone was respectful.
The other 2 loops are more separated. They share a bathroom/shower that's on the main road. There was no one at the gatehouse around 5pm, which I would have thought was odd before covid. State park camping has changed since then. The camp host came around & checked us in. She was pretty busy the whole weekend. I never did see any employees at the gatehouse at any time of day.
So, this is a very nice state park, but aside from the campground, boating & fishing is the main draw. There's a swimming beach we didn't check out. There's only 3 trails. Buzzards Roost is a picnic area with a shelter & a scenic overlook.
Florida isn't far if you wanted to check out the birthplace museum (free on a Saturday morning) & Hannibal is about a 1/2 hour away with tons of things to do. Lots of restaurants & shops.
TravelerAt one time this campground was a KOA campground so if you are familiar with KOA, you know the basic layout. We stayed here in our tent and while the tent area was closed for receding new grass the owner let us stay in a grassy area under the trees near the office. It was a great stsy and the restrooms and pool were nice and clean. We enjoyed ourselves and cooled off in the hot weather.
LegendBoulder Lake is the larger of the two campgrounds here at Wakonda State Park. It is also crowded with RV and campers in the main part of the campground, with a small loop that is sort of tent only. The tent part is a loop with sites in the middle (37-50) having the best trees for hammocks and the sites on the outside of the loop having the most level places for pitching a tent. If you can get site 44, you have probably the best site in the campground as it sits at the end of the loop with no close neighbors, close to the lake, and backs to nice trees. None of the other sites are as private. This site is the furthest from the bathrooms and shower house, however. You can purchase ice and wood, and there are laundry facilities. All of this is located near the shower house. There are a couple of water spikots scattered around the campgrounds, and there is one hiking trail that heads out of the campground near the woodlot. Elsewhere in the park is a nice swimming beach with a place to shower off the sand, and some interesting cement tunnels/bunkers that kids might have fun exploring.
Scout
Plenty of tent spots with tree cover and fire pits. Lighting bugs came out at night.
Traveler
It was a nice 5 day stay posts of room for your tent and parking. Play ground was very clean and pavilion had lots of outlets and picnic tables.
Traveler
Well-maintained. Lush but neat. Good privacy. Twain Shrine has very limited hours. Only RVs and families here at present. Most sites and entire Coyote loop open, on a Tuesday end of June. Some of the basic sites in the Coyote Loop are more suited to small pop-up trailers than tents—eg, site 45 does not have much room for a tent unless you want to set it up on gravel, while site 43 does. Site 43 looks the best imo. The sites on outside of loop in the Coyote loop are better in general. They have no view of lake though, just glimmers. Two raccoons popped out at me (site 45) from a hollow tree. Apparently ticks and chiggers are bad here. I did not hike because of this. There is a fishing cleaning station. Periodic vault toilets throughout sites though they do not show up on map. Shower houses with flush toilets and sinks. Nice.
Guide
Nice campground, mainly tenting but Eva are welcome. Grass sites, fire pit and picnic tables. Lake with free paddle boats(do need life preservers) and fish hatchery across the street. Free potable water and dump station behind ranger station. Generators are ok just make sure they are not too loud and try to if possible running them only when needed
Ranger
Wildcat is a very nice campground operated by the City of Hamilton, Illinois. Campground has only 17 RV slots of various sizes. We had room to put our 32 foot fifth wheel and room to park our truck alongside. Ours was one of a couple of sites large enough to handle our size.
Their website says the nightly fee is $15 for tents and $25 fir RV. When we arrived we were informed that it had gone up to $20 fir tent and $30 for RV.
Service excludes electricity of 30 and 50 amp. Water is also available at each site. A dump station is on site.
Also on site is a very nice public pool and interesting Disc Golf course.
Very quite and peaceful surroundings. Just a half mile off of the Mississippi River.
We will definitely return here when we get back to the area.
ScoutWe rented cabin A for 4 days for our summer vacation. We couldn’t have been happier. The cabin is simple and clean. It has air conditioning, which is needed in Missouri in August (it was sooo hot). Cabin is private with fire pit and picnic table at the front which faces near the woods. Bathrooms and shower houses were clean and a short walk.
GuideI stayed here for one night in a tent. There were some locals having a birthday party at the gazebo. They were friendly and told me that the attendant had left for the day. So resorted to leave the fee in a mailbox near the official's RV. The campground is right above a lovely, which I rode around on my bicycle in about thirty minutes. The showers are quite nice, with hot water and no additional cost. I would definitely stay here again.
Tent camping near Hannibal, Missouri offers a blend of scenic beauty and outdoor adventure, perfect for nature enthusiasts looking to escape the hustle and bustle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which is the most popular tent campsite near Hannibal, MO?
According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Hannibal, MO is Hunnewell Lake Conservation Area with a 4.3-star rating from 4 reviews.
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TheDyrt.com has all 10 tent camping locations near Hannibal, MO, with real photos and reviews from campers.
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