Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Joplin, MO

We overnighted here on the way to Hot Springs, AR.  Convenient to Interstate 49, but virtually no traffic noise and none while inside the van.  We arrived after the office had closed - there was a prominent note on the door as to which site to use.   Electrical hookup was fine - we did not use water or cable.  There were about a dozen other  campers - most appeared to be long termers.  The CG was VERY quiet - very peaceful.  They have an off-leash dog park area which our dogs loved and used it 3-4 times the nite we were there.  The bathrooms were toasty warm and VERY clean.  Lavatory hot water got warm quickly, plenty of soap and towels.  The office has various items for sale, from snacks to RV gear.  Would not hesitate to stay again - in fact, may do so next week on our return trip.

This is a great, friendly campground, off the highway about a mile, so no highway noise. Very pet friendly. Long wide sites that have grass, patios and picnic tables. Open year round!

Nice, no one camping in December. Mostly set up for RVs with some day use areas. Nice vistas of the Neosho River from the Echo Bluff sites with all the leaves down. Biggest detractor is the traffic noise. Didn't check out the boat launch area which was across the highway from the main park and office. NOTE JUST IN CASE (12/4/20): We found an adult black cat near our campsite who appeared pretty content to just sit in the leaves and watch everything! No collar or tags seen. Apparently no animal control for this county.

Very dog friendly and all of our neighbors were friendly!

Stayed here for about 9 days and really liked its location to the water. Nice large area to walk around with the dogs which was a treat. Great SUP’ing :-)

Pretty remote. Quiet. Tick dog tried to get through the tick gate but failed unfortunately. No table. Burn ban, so no fires. No ticks. Hard to get to in the dark, but nice scenery.

Decent sized campground, full hookups, WiFi is a little spotty, nice view of the lake, plenty of green space for kids or dogs to play, 2 easy trails to walk. Convenient location to town, but surprising quiet for being so close.

The campground was closed for the season with only a small portion still open. There was a camp host on site but we did not see them. The lake is gorgeous the campground is clean. On the farthest side from the exit, there is a really nice paved trail with lookouts and various paths to the lake! The dogs loved the walk. Lots of ducks, geese and herons. Very nice overnight spot.

Cedar Oaks is a very easy campground (CG) to find and get into. We did not have a designated site number but had requested back-in site 90 on the lake or a pull through from 64 to 73. We got our first choice and after an easy check-in we were escorted to site 90 and were assisted backing in. This site had a large lawn area due to site 91 being decommissioned because of flooding a while back. We enjoyed a very nice lake view as this site is probably the best site in the park. The site next to us, 89, was very near on our utilities side, but 89 still had some lake view. There is no cable TV here but we got a good variety of OTA channels. We got 3 bars on Verizon and the park WiFi was average for a park this size. There are permanent and seasonal residents here plus dedicated transit/short term areas. Most sites in this CG have a shot to the southern sky if you want to use satellite. There are two small fenced dog areas but plenty of room to walk your dogs. There is also a bathhouse and boat launch plus slips. This was our second stay here and we would stay here again in the future.

The online reservation page said this place was full with no availability. I called them and they said they did have some spots. The people here are nice and the restrooms/showers/laundry room are very clean! Neighbors to our left had been here for a couple months and had a big dog that they didn’t clean up the poop very well and we about stepped in it many times. The swimming pool is a little small but my kids love it! My 2 year old was able to learn to swim better in it. Cute spot that’s in a convenient location!

Twin Bridges is actually located in North East Oklahoma, not in Kansas. Quite near both Kansas and Missouri. Beautiful sites, busy campground. Great facilities including showers and a playground. Office staff was rather rude, which is unusual in the camping industry, so maybe it was a bad weekend for them. Some sites are too close to the very busy road.

I stayed at twin bridges this past weekend with my wife and our two dogs. Despite nice weather it was less than half full. There aee three distinct areas to camp. One on the east side of HW 137, one on the west side of HW 137, and one south of HW 60. The area south of HW 60 is camper pads and very busy as it is right at the boat ramp. This area also charges a premium rate for its location ($27 with water and electric hook ups). The west side of HW 137 has lake huts ($50-$60ish per night) as well as tent and RV sites. The east side of HW 137 has tent and RV sites as well as the visitor center. Tent sites are $14, with electric $18, and electric and water for $22. You can reserve RV sites online but not tent sites. This area is mostly for RVs. The tent sides are all on a hill side so you cant find flat sites to tent camp and tent camping is poorly marked. We did find an "unimproved camping area" presumably for tent camping but everyone with an RV at the nearby RV sites used it as boat trailer parking. There are bathhouse on each side of HW 137 and we found them to be pretty good for a campground. There is a RV dump station behind the visitor center ($5 to dump, free to camping guests, payable at visitor center or envelope station). If you get in late there are signs instructing you to pay at visitor center the next morning. However these must be old signs as there is an envelope station in front of the visitor center door to register and pay (didnt seem like the visitor center is open much). Noticed a lot of trash around camping area into the wooded area around it. Not a lot to do in the park but plenty of fish and boating areas nearby. Also there are camp grills at each RV/camp spot but no fire pits, although we did notice people have just built camp fires as they see fit (not sure of park policy on this). Overall its a decent enough campground if you are going to be spending all your time on the lake but wouldnt recommend for tent camping or longer RV stays if you are looking for hiking trails and more secluded relaxation.

The tiny campground is located in a wooded hollow at the edge of the prairie and has 4 primitive sites, no electric or water at sites, no showers and one vault toilet only. You can drive up the hill to the maintenance area to get water and there is a sign for this. 2 sites have paved pads and the others are gravel/dirt. The 2 outer gravel sites back up to a curved stream that runs along the perimeter of the campground but are lower and more shaded and more prone to hovering clouds of bugs. They are all have a picnic table and fire ring and are relatively private and well distanced. Since you have to drive through this stream to get to the campground beware when there has been heavy rain as it may not be accessible. The center paved sites are more open and grassy and get more wind but also don’t have as much shade. I think I stayed in site 4 and it was great for my solar panel. I did have steady cell service with AT&T while here.

Since it’s pretty primitive you will likely have the place to yourself, but be prepared to have guests of the state park driving through all day to check it out. Lots of deer around, beautiful to see but this also means ticks! There is also significant poison ivy along the roads but there are signs warning about that. Best to keep to the maintained roads and paths. As far as dogs, they are not allowed on any of the trails because of the bison but they can walk the entire main gravel road of the state park (no shade). Nature center was closed due to covid when I was there but looks interesting. There were a couple bison about 20 feet from the center when I was there. My parents visited once and ended up on the road for about an hour while an entire herd of bison meandered across the road around their vehicle! The bison roam free here, although the small campground area has fences and/or cow grates to keep them out. The land is stunning and open and takes you back to a bygone era of this country. The sunrises here over the prairie are gorgeous.