Best Tent Camping near Joplin, MO

Gopher Valley campground in on of several campground in the Twin Bridges area of Grand Lake State Park.  This campground is fully paved with both full hook up RV camping area, tent camping area and areas that work for both.  Campground have drive through and pull in sites.  Sites all have picnic tables and metal fire rings.  Campground has a large pavilion which can be rented.  The pavilion has a huge BBQ grill.  Campground has a small playground for the kids.  Small restroom with showers is available.  With the exception of the RV pull through sites all the other sites have plenty of grass to set up a tent.  Sites can be reserved.

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.

Eagle Bluff campground has both RV and tent camping spots.  Drive in sites have electrical, picnic tables, metal fire rings, BBQ grills and paved parking pads.  The nice part of this campground is the undeveloped camping area for those tent campers, the sites while close together have Shelters over most of the sites picnic tables as well as BBQ grills.  Sites with electricity have plenty of room for setting up tents.  Campground has a new playground for the kids.  Rest room has showers as well.  Horseshoe pits and a basketball hoop are also available.  Sites can be reserved.  A Pavilion is available.

Angler's Paradise campground is a 20 site campground in the Twin Bridges area of Grand Lake State Park.  The campground sits between the Neosho and Spring rivers.

17 of the sites are RV sites with hook ups, the last three are primitive tent sites.  All sites have Picnic tables and BBQ Grills.  Some sites have hooks for lanterns.  Restrooms are on site as well as water and trash service.  Most of the RV sites are right up against each other with little room between.  It appears that this will be a busy site due to the very large boat launch at the campground.  The campground is also just off of U.S. Highway 60 so expect some road noise.  The campground does have a shelter as well that can be rented for $51.

I’ll start my review by saying I’ve never pitched my tent in this park but have visited many times. They added tent sites in 2019- they appear to be primitive and include a fire ring. The nice thing is the tent sites are far from the RV sites so no unwanted noises for tenters in the night.

Trails abound in and around blowing springs which connect into the back 40 trail system...you can hike the B40 but remember this is a shared trail and you will come across many mountain bikers enjoying the trails system. There is also a arbortrarium in the park towards the back, a couple caves, and a creek.

If you are in need of snacks etc it’s a quick 2 minute drive to the grocery store / sonic/ Pizza Hut.

This campsite is not for those who want amenities. There are 4 SPACIOUS sites and they are what I would call primitive. No hookups/ no electricity/ no running water. Good for star gazing. Two sites have a paved pad and two do not...depends what you’re looking for. There are quite a few trails ranging from 1.5-4.5 miles—- total of 14 miles of trails. The nature center is small but they have two bison, a coyote, and many other learning opportunities inside. Speaking of bison and coyotes... you’ll hear the coyotes all night howling and barking...the bison are roaming around which you will be able to see where they’ve been by the scat droppings around the road and trail system. Definitely something to see if you’ve never seen the plains before.