Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Lake Ozark, MO

This campground is clean, and is close to many attractions near the Lake of the Ozarks.

Wifi is spotty, but my site was at the back of the campground. The campsite also has a new in ground pool and dog park.

Reason I gave this campsite 3 stars is because it is clearly still under construction (6/30/23), which I was not aware of. My guess is this was the first season it was open. Half of the park still had conex boxes and construction equipment around. The dog park had little grass and was very rocky.

The owners were VERY nice and accommodating.

If I were to return next year in 2024 I have no doubt I would have given this campsite 4 or 5 stars

Great place for a place to stay near the lake of the ozarks attractions. Super close to big surf and not a bad drive from all the lake has to offer. But not a favorite for a trip focused more on hanging out at the camp site. Very hilly (though grade on the site wasn’t bad at all), pull through sites make getting in easy with larger rigs but all roads through are gravel and rutted so not the easiest. Sites close together without much in between. Nice large trees would offer some summer shade but still not much separation between sites. Water and electric at site. Small “dog park” (fenced in area) great for smaller dogs to run off leash and pretty large kid okay ground too. Overall we will stay here again but think of it more as bringing our own hotel to the lake rather than coming to enjoy the campground.

Turkey Creek was a very nice campground for our month long stay.  The park is well maintained and clean.  It is very quiet!  There is a train track nearby, but we only heard it a few times during our stay.  

Amenities included full hook up, laundry room, bathrooms, showers and a fenced dog park where you 4 legged friends can enjoy some off-leash time.  We had 4 bars with AT&T and waffled between 1-3 bars with Verizon.  

The location is great for visiting local attractions such as Branson Landing, Silver Dollar City and Top of the Rock.  

Really appreciate the park manager, she was friendly and brought an overpayment to our attention and quickly issued a refund.

Great experience overall!

Lake of the Ozarks State Park campground is located in Kaiser Missouri about 5 miles down highway 134 off of highway 42. This campground is about 1.5 hour from Columbia and Springfield Missouri. It is approximately 3 hours from St.Louis and Kansas City Missouri .

Lake of the Ozarks State Park includes two different areas which are both located on Lake of the Ozarks.

The one reviewed here is located in Kaiser and includes Public Beach #1 , a marina/gas dock , horse stables/trails, hiking trails,beach,fishing dock,shore fishing and campground.

The other is located in Osage Beach about 20 minutes away and includes Public Beach #2, grand glaze marina/gas dock,shore fishing and hiking trails. No camping is available at the Osage Beach location aka PB 2 or grand glaze.

Lake of the Ozarks State Park Campground is a wonderful place to set up camp for the weekend and is one of my all time favorites. The State Park is clean and well maintained with plenty to do for everyone.

The camp sites range from primitive to full hook up 50amp and you will see a range of camping types from tents to class A's . The sites are well spaced out despite how the reservation map appears on the State Park website. I would however suggest staying at the campsites on the outer edges as the interior sites are a bit more cramped.

This area includes bath and shower houses that are of average cleanliness for a State park (typically worn but clean). As well as 3 playgrounds for the kids. Also on site is a Beach so bring a Towel and swimming suit.

A few things to note . If you come in the winter or spring the lake will be low and your lake side campsite will be Lake view instead. You are located about 15 minutes from a grocery store however a camp store is available also bring bug spray.

Your ideal sites are lakeside 160's I stayed at #163 and it was wonderful open with not a lot of tress for the dogs to get tangled in.

This is a true gem at the lake and even though I only live 15 miles away we visit many times throughout the year.

This was a pretty campsite with lots of trees and simple deer trails throughout. Sites are well spread out. The lake itself was filthy and smelly. Lots of trash and rotting fish on the shorelines. The campground website said they had WiFi throughout the campsite, however it was only available at the front office. No cell service. We had planned to stay for a week to school and work remotely, but had to cut our time here short because of no connectivity. If we hadn’t had the need for WiFi, this would have been a fine campground to stay at, as it is centrally located to many sightseeing locations.

Sties were level, kid and pet friendly, quiet campground, 30/50 amp electricity, no water hookups, firewood avail for fire pits, also had nice picnic tables. Inexpensive.

Campsite Review

This is quite a large campground, meaning it can easily cater to tents, car campers, and RV heroes. Each site had electrical hook-ups, and there was a common combination shower & laundry area. My campsite, like all, came with a picnic table and a fire pit. I definitely recommend ear plugs if you are a light sleeper since the bugs were very loud all night. This is one of a few campgrounds within the State Park and I chose it since it offered lakeside views – which were very pleasant. There was also boat ramp access. I had a nice bike ride from the campgrounds to a nearby campsite area near Racoon Ridge on some well paved roads, capped off with some different lakeside views. There was a few places to fill up drinkable water and use bathrooms.

Product Review

I won the Saris Feedom Superclamp 2-Bike bike rack from a contest held on The Dyrt's facebook page, so I decided after a few weeks and trips with the product to do a review.

So far the bike rack has been up to Jasper National Park from Boulder, CO with stops along the way in Grand Tetons, YellowStone, Glacier, Banff and Lake Louise National Parks as well as a roadtrip from Boulder to Toronto, ON through Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan. I've gone on various road conditions over the 5,000+ miles as well as in various driving conditions (city, highway, off roading, and country).

This bike rack is incredibly easy to use. It is what I call "micro adjustable" just because the bike is clamped to the rack with a bunch of slide-able wheel wells and tire arms adjustable at any position. It works with any bike type, and is super easy to install - no special tools needed. Your car just needs either a 1.25" or 2" hitch. Watch the video review here.

I also love that it comes with included, retractable bike locks to secure your crappy or expensive bikes to the rack, then another lock between the rack and your car's hitch. I can't fully open my trunk (although it looks like the new model EX2 solves this bit of trouble) when I have bikes on the back, which I would complain about if this didn't take any longer than 10 seconds to get the bike's off.

I was also impressed how well the rack held up when I went up Shadow Mountain with 2 on the rack to do some riding around the summit with the Grand Tetons as my backdrop. The bumpy road and constant rocking could've bent the frame, but it held up beautifully.

Shout out to Saris for putting some good material around the wheel clamps to keep any harsh contact points against my bike. My bikes are cheap, but someone with anything they care about will appreciate the care they took to keep their bike protected.

I'll do an update on this review after a few more weeks with the rack for my overall impressions, and so far so good!

ROAD TRIP!

And so the road trip to Canada with my dog Sirius begins! I hit the road a little late from Colorado, so I knew as I was driving that when I finally made it to Missouri I was going to be rolling into the campsite in dark. Luckily, most of the drive east once you leave the Rocky Mountains is flat and uneventful so anything I would have seen in the daytime wasn’t much better than blackness. There’s some vast prairie landscape along highway 70, so it’s not the worst scenery to have, but I’ve driven from Colorado to Chicago a few time and I was trying to avoid another one of those endless farm field drives you can find along highway 80. Oh well, more of the same I guess.

When I was researching places roughly 9 hours from home, Harry S Truman State Park looked like a fun place to check out near the Ozarks if you’re on the road and passing through. There are lakes plenty large enough for any water activities you’re creative enough to think up, and the many campgrounds found scattered in the parkland offer a great balance of seclusion and variety. I picked Long Shoal since it was near the water and promised some nice lakefront views. I was going to have to wait until the morning to find out if that promise was one the park could deliver on though, as I didn’t arrive into camp until close to 2am. I parked, popped up the rooftop tent, popped in my ear plugs, and hit the sack. The next morning I awoke to a large lake and a kayaker enjoying their morning paddle. My morning was spent cycling the 4 miles just past the welcome center, where I enjoyed some more lakeside views from Racoon Ridge. It certainly was convenient to have a paved road the entire ride lined with dense forest trees. I wish I saw some deer along the way, but I can’t always get so lucky. The heat was quite strong, so it was a nice coincidence that the ride was shaded and hugged the water’s edge. I took in the lake views, but I didn’t have long to enjoy the scenery, as I had another 8 plus hours in the car that day, since I wanted to get to Kentucky and spend my real play time of the trip checking out the Land Between the Lakes Recreation area.