Best Glamping near Imperial, MO

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.

This park is so rich in Missouri and USA history - from buildings costructed by the African-American CCC stonemasons to Native American petroglyphs, there's some fascinating stuff here. The campgrounds are a bit rocky like, but each has a picnic table and fire pit, and they sit on the hills of a beautiful Missouri pineforest. Big River runs through this park, so there's some great swimming and fishing here, and there are three hiking trails of varying difficulty, so most people can do whatever. No supplies are available onsite, so bring everything you need!

Washington State Park is a hidden gem in Missouri! We camped in mid-March 2021 for 7 days and thoroughly enjoyed the area. They had just opened a new shower house which was clean and well kept. The campground hosts were especially helpful and friendly. The prehistoric Petroglyphs nearby are a must see.

We utilized the special use area of the campground for our Cub Scout family camp, but visited the main loop during our trip.

Best campground hosts we ever encountered! Knowledgeable and friendly. The park has a pool, river access, canoe & kayak rentals and miles of great trails. Great program for kids on staying out of they get lost presented by hosts. This is a great park for organized groups, with lots to do!

Shower house was clean and convenient. Hands down one of Missouri’s best!

Tip- check out the petroglyph site.

St. Francis is a beautiful Missouri state park, not to mention campground.  It features many access points to its anchor, the BIg River, picnic areas, multiple pavilions and some fantastic trails.  I grew up here, and I am biased toward it, but we camped many places, and it remains one of my favorites then, and now.  The campground has more of a communal vibe, for better or worse, depending on your perspective.  If privacy is your main concern, you may be better served looking elsewhere, but I have always enjoyed the friends I have made there, both young and old due to the proximity of the campsites and the many programs offered there by the Conservation Department.

Hawn State Park is a park like no other. Nowhere else in the state of Missouri have I been able to camp and feel like I'm in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.  The car camping area is nestled in the middle of a pine filled valley.  There's nothing more refreshing than sitting in the evening and hearing the wind whistle through the pines.  The trails are amazing with big boulders and beautiful creeks.  If you're car camping take the extra walk to the walk-in camping sites. It's like a micro backpacking trip. And if you like backpacking, Hawn state park is the place to do it!

I have been to Hawn State Park many times! It is a very clean campground with a newer shower house. The campground is smaller and has amazing views. I love electric site 17 best because it has the perfect view of the cliffs. There is 3 trails with the longest having two loop options with connectors from the other two trails. There are also walk in sites here and hike in sites. This park will not disappoint. It is also close to Ste. Genevieve which is a great town to visit for a history lesson on the settlement of Missouri. Pickle Springs Nature Area is also a few minutes away which is another fantastic area to hike. It is beautiful any season but I love the views in autumn best!

Campground Review Hawn State Park is beautiful! It is one of my favorite state parks. It offers a variety of hiking trails, a nice play ground, plentiful picnic tables, and is some of the best scenery in Missouri. The pine trees that surround the parking lot give you a sense of the grandeur of this place before you ever leave your car. Then you walk to the beginning of the Whispering Pines trail and see the creek flowing, and know this place is going to be worth it. Don't get me wrong, this trail is rated as rugged, and they aren't joking around with that. If you are backpacking give yourself plenty of time to make it to camp, there are some big hills involved. Big, rocky hills. Once you get to one of the three established backcountry sites you find a generally flat area to sleep, a good amount of cleared land for activities, and a fire ring (although techincally no fires are allowed in the backcountry there). The camping is serene. I stayed at campsite 2 this time and got to listen to the trickle of a small waterfall near my site all evening, I mean, until it started raining. The hike is always worth it. This is an extremely popular trail in Missouri because of its beauty and promiximty to St. Louis (about 1.25hrs), so expect to make some new friends at your campsite. All backcountry sites are first come, first serve and free! No permit is needed, just sign in at the trail head. If you are not a fan of ruffin’ it, there are basic ($13/night) and electric ($21-23/night) drive up campsites with a showerhouse nearby. These are reservable in advanced for an additional fee. I would recommend advanced reservation on weekends in peak season. The campground is well maintained with fire rings, parking pads, and picnic tables at each site. Outside of the shower house, all other restrooms are vault toilets in the front country area (no privies in the backcountry, bring your shovel). This campground is worth a stay and hike around, even if it is on one of the shorter, easier trails.

Product Review I’ve always wanted to be a Park Ranger, exploring the wilderness for a living. I guess being a Dyrt Ranger is a pretty good substitute, especially since I got the opportunity to review the Gregory Maven Backpack recently. I have to admit, I was a little reticent to try out a new backpack. My my current pack was trusty, familiar and had been with me on so many adventures. It had seen me through my longest hikes, to the most interesting places, and mostly, it was my first. It was going to take a pretty amazing pack to get me to forsake my good ol, patch-covered Kelty. I can safely say I will never use that Kelty again. Not only is the Gregory about 100xs lighter (obviously that's a literal, scientific calculation), but it has so many features that set it apart. The first I noticed and loved was the horizontal water bottle holder. Trying to reach behind you and pull a bottle upward while walking is on par with an Olympic event, especially after you've spent 10 sweaty hours out on the trail. This pocket makes it so much easier and less of a gymnastics routine to get a drink. This alone would sell me on the pack. But let me sing more of its praises. The sunglasses wrangler on the shoulder strap is so flipping handy, I can't believe I haven't seen one before! The water bladder holder doubles as a day pack, which I love because, duh, it'll hold your water when you go off on an adventure. The material on the pack all seemed nice and durable. The padding was comfortable and it was so easy to adjust to fit me. The pockets on the hip belt are always welcome! I had to hand-craft one for my old pack, I was glad to see them on this pack ready to go. The only thing with them is if you are a little bigger in the hips, you do have to use awkward t-rex arms to reach over/back to zip them up. Also some of the label on the adjustment tab for one started coming off. Not that it's the end of the world, you just expect new things to stay new for a little while. The included rain cover was PHENOMENAL! Normally when a pack comes with a rain cover it will only cover your pack. Anything you have attached to the outside is screwed. This cover was spacious! My camp shoes, ground pad, etc. did not have to worry about the rain. Things I do miss from my old pack: A few more pockets so that it's easier to keep your gear organized and find items in a hurry. I understand this lack of pockets helps keep the pack weight down and I would rather have my pack lighter than pocket-y. I also missed my front zipper so I didn't have to pull everything out of my pack to find something. A few other less awesome things: The sizing on the website was a little confusing, it was hard to know if the sx/sm, sm/md sizes were for the hip belt or back panel. Honestly, I'm still not sure, but I'm leaning toward back panel. I did view this through a mobile platform, so it may be better on PC. Also, the bigger volume size packs are only offered in blue or gray. The colors are nice looking, but I wish an aqua, pink, or purple was available too. I can hike long distances and be feminine too, but maybe I'm the only one that feels that way though. These misses are small and I'm honestly thinking of using this pack as my luggage for vacation in a few weeks. If I do, I'll post pictures. And I will definitely be using it on future trips.

https://backcountrymara.wordpress.com/2018/03/29/gregory-maven-backpack/

Great kids activities! Good breakfast and nice store. Really enjoyed our trip bundled with a Six Flags trip.

Very fun with little people

Prices were high with the kids love watching Yogi.

Had a great fishing trip and swimming trip

We stayed here with a new camper, to be near our RV dealer and hardware stores. The site was ok, tricky to level. There was a steep drop just past our steps, and not a lot of room to set up chairs, etc. Honestly, the site we were in felt like an afterthought, as we were just pulled off the lower loop road. But we were there primarily to op check the camper features, and this campground allowed us to do so.  

If you're visiting Six Flags this is an ideal location, with a great camp store and restaurant, and lots of things for kids to do. I found good hiking trails nearby at Rockwoods Range. There are a lot of cabins and tent sites here as well.  The camp staff were friendly and helpful. And the sunrise from our site was beautiful!

Typical Jellystone, lots for kids to do. Really small sites. Tent sites seem fairly flat. I’m in a site for small campers. The site is bowed front to back and not level side to side. You can hear highway traffic all night and the kids hit the playground, right outside my window, at 7:00.

The mine tranol, screeming eagle!

We spent a weekend here because we wanted to be close to six flags. I swear this place was more fun!!! There's swimming, games, lots of activities and you can go from rustic rent a tent to a really nice cabin with lots amenities!! We will be back!!

We stayed here last minute for Labor Day Weekend and the staff were great with finding us a good tent site available. This is not a rugged style campground as there are many amenities such as a pool, putt putt golf, volleyball, and more. They also host daily kids activities and crafts. A very family friendly campground and would highly recommend if camping with kids!

Its a little to commercialized for my liking. I stayed in a wilderness site it was $25.oo bucks. Here you can rent sites, cabins & golf carts. Its is super close to Six Flags and right off HWY 44 Close are most fast food or grocery places. You can get a band allowing your kids to do games of mini-golf, free train rides on the Yogi Bear Express Train, two arcade tokens, and a discount on Pizza at the Snack Shack.

Stayed two nights while visiting St. Louis. Check-in was easy even and staff was very accommodating to add another night. Game room and putt putt was fine. Pool was still closed unfortunately.