Best Glamping near Kirkwood, 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.

We stayed here for 10 months. The place did nothing but improve the entire time. Rent is cheap, and the people are nice.

I love it

There’s tie stalls under a roof and a round pen mounting blocks shower and bathrooms in camp. Electricity at each site and water nearby m. Kinda busy maybe make reservations when it’s a holiday. Trails are well marked maps available Awsome views and a cool trail by six flags this park is busy with hikers and bikers I’d say 90% of them are polite and yield to horses. Love this place!

Campground Review: This is a nice little hidden gem outside St Louis in a great county park. If you are a Six Flags kinda person, the amusement park sits at the southern entrance to Greensfelder. The park itself has some great hiking and biking trails, but the big draw is equestrian in nature (including eventing jumps along some of the trails). This campground caters to the horse-set, with more campsites attached to the equestrian park than not, which means you should make reservations in advance as it is a busy little campground. The equestrian camping area has a standing stall type open barn, a round pen for turn out, and large campsites designed for horse trailers. All of the sites with electric are meant for horse trailers as there are no amenities for RV's. The showers and toilets are in the horse camping portion of the campground. The non-horse camping area seemed to be an afterthought, and is along side a park artery leading to a boarding barn and more trails. I did like that there were two trail heads on opposite sides of the camping lot, and the trails were well marked. Expect this campground area to be busy as it is the staging area for equestrians who use the park.

Product Review: In July I won some gear from Primus for reviewing some campgrounds I visited earlier this summer. This was the first opportunity I had to try out my Primus Profile Camp Stove. This is a nice car camping stove; at eleven pounds, it isn't something to carry far. Things I liked about it include the wind guards, the latching lid, and the fairly thin profile when collapsed. For a two burner stove, it really didn't take up much room in my trunk and it is sturdy enough that I wasn't worried about piling gear on top of it. However, while new out of the box, the igniter didn't work. Glad I always pack a lighter. It's not going to boil water in record time, but certainly held a steady flame and was easy to adjust. I have other stoves, but this one seems like it will be my go to when car camping with friends as I can cook more on two burners than one. https://primus.us/collections/camping-stoves

site: shaded. medium sized. semi-private. amenities: older. clean. attractions: less than an hour from St. Louis. hiking. I would go camping here again/ get out of city.

Nice state park close to St Louis. Good, if short, trails. The campground is used a lot by RV and campers, not so much by tenters. Lots of campsites had electric. All had the standard pininic tables and fire rings, and the campground has a decent and clean shower house. You might end up pitching your tent on a parking pad as many tent sites don't have level grassy spots for your tent. Sites are not very private, and some are right on top of the next. I like sites 65 and 58 for their privacy or grassy tent spots.

Babler sp is one of those state parks that you just don't expect to see so close to a major city. The hiking trails are plentiful and quiet. The campground was updated and the facilities were clean.

What we liked about this campground was the comfortable feel of being at a state park with plenty of trees, hiking trails, space between sites, but also the convenience of having a level, paved site with electricity and television/phone reception. We happened to be there during the week in the fall so there were not many other campers. This gave the park the quiet feel we like so much. There are miles of hiking and biking trails right outside your doorstep and plenty of woods to explore. The park is located about 10 miles from where my parents live so we come here a couple of times a year. 

The campground has 30 basic and 43 electric sites (which are either 50 amp or 30 amp). There is no sewer or water at individual sites but water spigots are scattered throughout the campground and there is a dump station with potable water fill-up. All campsites and patios are paved and level with a comfortable amount of space between sites. Picnic tables and fire pits are located at each site. Sites are a mix of shaded, partial-shade, and full sun. The roads are paved and big rig-friendly (with the exception of one loop that is clearly marked “short turning radius”). Sites 13-33 are popular open and sunny campsites with nice grassy areas between them. In contrast sites 52-75 are much more treed and have a private feel to them.  It seems this is where most of the tent campers like to be. These sites are farther from the main bathhouse but there is a pit toilet in that loop.

There is one main bathhouse with free showers that was very clean. There are also two vault toilets located in the campground. The campground is open year-round but the bathhouse with flush toilets closes November 1 and doesn’t open until the spring. During the winter the only water spigot is available located near the camp hosts at site #36. Our Verizon 4G phone and hotspot worked great. We were able to get satellite reception at our site (#24) and the antenna picked up a dozen or so local channels including all the major networks. This is one of the few state park campgrounds that we have visited that has WiFi (and that actually worked well).

We love the setting of this park and how you feel like you are in a nice wooded setting but not too far from surrounding amenities. It is an 868-acre urban park with miles of hiking/paved biking/equestrian trails, picnic shelters, a playground, and ball fields. There is a visitor center with exhibits and an amphitheater in the campground where interpretive programs are held.

You can reserve sites on-line and the prices are reasonable. A $2 discount is given to seniors. 

                               April - October         November - March

      Basic                        $13                                 $12

      Electric (30A)           $21                                 $19

      Electric (50A)           $23                                 $21

We love this park and would definitely recommend it to anyone coming through the area. Not all sites are long enough for large RVs and the roads in some loops prevent you from turning around. The camp hosts we encountered are very helpful and have a list of site lengths and can tell you which ones are appropriate for large RVs. If this campground had sewer and water, it would get 5 stars.

The campground is not very large. Most of the sites are small. This works well for me since I like to talk and meet other campers. However, if you prefer some space while camping, this one may not be for you. The park has a lot to offer. The trails are not too long but can be challenging for small kids or folks that are not used to hiking.

There is no bodies of water within the park for fishing, but there are tons near by

Small sites, but well maintained. The sites at the end of cul de sacs give you the most privacy.

Great for taking long walks or bike rides, although very steep hills.

Close to St Louis, so you can do some urban exploring.

Babler is always a place you should try. we camp here every weekend because its so close to our house when we cant travel. but there are a few things to keep in mind.

The good: good trails, the whole park is a memorial so good history, very large, equestrian available, showers and bathrooms, playground, paved drive in, wood and ice available, near a grocery store and restaurants

The bad: racoons everywhere! they are scandalous and will be happy to shake your hand they dont care. thats how close they get to you. we used homemade cayenne pepper water for a perimeter but it only works until we went to bed. if you are tent camping your spot is very hit or miss. we always plan ahead and look at the pictures because some sites say its for tent but its just a dropping slope. you might as well pitch on the concrete. the sites are good are Very good! the sites that are bad... just annoying while sleeping. it lools like they are fixing it this year though. the ticks are pretty bad in spots nesstled into the trees. fpr RV's half the spots for you are out in the sun. you have to look at the pictures and choose wisely.

i know its a lot but babler is really a great park.

Small park with hiking trails, spacious sites, concrete pads, lots of trees, electric only, but water is throughout the grounds. Close enough to get to town If needed. No lakes/ponds, but thata not really the park's fault We will definitely stay here again.

I am not a fan of how small and close together these sites are and during the season they fill up quickly. Hiking is okay but with so many other parks around I would pass on this one.

There is no equestrian camping and the parking for horse trailers is super small. There’s a neat 7 mile loop goes by old stable as well.