Best Tent Camping near Mexico, MO

There are 10 or so primitive tent sites and an area that will accommodate about a dozen RV’s. There are no services here and no hook ups, but it’s free. The primitive tent sites are spread out along the main road through the conservation area, which means that in the daytime you will get road noise and dust, but its pretty quiet at night. Only a couple have picnic tables, but all seemed to have at least a level spot for the tent and a fire ring. I noticed some sites had a bit of trash in the fire rings, probably from day use or partiers. There is no trash service, so plan to pack out your trash. The best site (already taken, too bad) was set on the edge of the woods next to a fishing pond. The campers that were there let me take some pics of their site since it was so pretty. The only downside to that site was its proximity to the RV lot and their generators. There are some nice hiking trails here to explore.

This is a free primitive campground on the Mississippi River. Most sites have some sort of fire ring and a gravel spot to pull a vehicle in. I only saw two picnic tables in the whole campground(maybe 10-12 sites total). The clean but basic vault toilet is at the far end of the campground loop near the boat ramp. Pretty much every site has great views of the Mighty Mississippi(depending on where your neighbors set up their site), which means you can watch boat traffic from your site and maybe feel a little like Huck Finn. A few notes of caution: this area WILL flood if the river floods; it WILL be buggy in the summer as the campground backs to a large wetlands area; on the other side of the wetlands is an active train track, so you may have train noise as well as barge noise on the river.

There are single campsites on both the north and south ends of the conservation area, and none of them have any amenities- no water, no vault toilet or outhouse, no firewood for sale. But what the sites are lacking is made up for with scenery and hiking, and it is free. The conservation area is closed to camping during various hunting seasons(I ran into a hunter scoping out his turkey hunting spot for the following week’s hunt). There is a great hike down into a valley with the actual Lost Creek at the bottom, completely worth the hard hike back up out of the valley. The campsite has room for a couple tents(no RV’s here), some great trees for hammocks, a primitive fire ring, and a picnic table. Since you are right next to the parking lot, you will see some traffic during the day with hikers, birders, and others, and there is no privacy for your campsite. Bring everything, including a cat hole shovel, and pack everything out.

The whole park doesn't match the awesomeness of site 97 and the few around it, but the end of this loop is almost perfect. Great shade, almost no slope to pads, all power options, great water pressure, and a sewer hookup. Plenty of rocked lounging or tent space with each site. Good size fire pits, lantern post, and an aluminum picnic table on a concrete pad. All the sites have enough empty space in between that most campgrounds would have stuck another site in-between. Restroom/shower house very close by and it's regularly cleaned. 2 trails to lakeside access are close by too.

We stayed at Camp Takimina on our first shakedown trip with our Popup camper.  It was amazing.  It was about 5-10 minutes from I-70, super easy to get to. The camp was quiet, private, and peaceful.  There are no hookups, but water was right next to us near the parking lot, and the picnic tables near the lodge were shaded most of the day.  Portapotties were clean and well stocked.  We brought our dog and two children and the had an absolutely fabulous time!  We hiked a lot in the woods, played in the creek, and had plenty of time and space to figure out our new to us popup camper.  There aren't actual spots for to park in, it is just a big gravel lot with a couple designated areas for campers if the lot is full (it wasn't full at all).  We reserved Arrow Hill also, which is a huge site right next to the parking lot, so we had a campfire ring to cook on.  Most of the firepits have benches that surround them, which was very handy not to have to move chairs around all the time.  The tent sites were huge- easily would fit multiple tents at each site, and we will absolutely be back to tent camp, and with the popup too!

Fredericksburg Access is a free campground with about 10 primitive sites. Grassy coverage with a mix of gravel or grass pull-ins. Lots of trees but still great stargazing at night. We even saw a few meteors!

We went on a late July weekend and only 1 other small group was there. It had just rained but wasn't too mucky. Drive was safe in our heavy converted camper van. No off road vehicle or AWD needed.

Ground is very level and not super rocky so this is a great site for tents. There are vault toilets but no sinks nor dumpsters, so plan ahead for hygiene and waste. Toilets are on flat ground, handicap accessible, and gender neutral. Likely to be a much tougher trip if you used to full hook-up RV camping/glamping, or require showers, but perfect for primitive camping!

The region: 45m to nearest Walmart or tractor supply, so plan ahead. Food, fire starter logs, and lighter fuel available at Thriftway (about 30 min), firewood and ice at Casey's, and McDonald's all in Linn (all 30m) if you need anything.

About water access: Sites are all within about a 5 min walk from the boat ramp on the Gasconade. Sign reads "no swimming" but there's a nice gravel bar just downstream from the ramp. If you enter the water, be mindful that boats may pass as you try to cross.

The swim there requires crossing a moderately sized river that is relatively swift. This is fine for people who swim well but not recommended for young children or weak swimmers especially without flotation devices. It is swift enough to carry you downstream of your target even for good swimmers, so plan for this, especially for your swim back upstream (recommend walking upstream past dock then floating back across to dock). It's also deep in the center so you're not going to be able to cross with dry items unless you have a container that is waterproof.

Again, it's a wider and quick river, so we had to help our dog across. Took 5-7 min there and 15 to get back (with dog. Mind the rocky/brush areas just downstream of the dock, saw some snakes.

Campground Review:

Mark Twain state Park is an absolute blast. approximately 30 minutes from Hannibal MO this park sits on Mark Twain Lake. Several hiking trails in the area will get you in touch with nature and an abundance of deer. Large playgrounds in the camping area's as well as visitor center areas. All loops in this park have electric and basic sites. No water hookups aside from host sites. Best part is all shower houses fairly new. We never located any vault toilets but found all three loops had their own shower house.

Park has a boat ramp with ample parking and if you have better luck than I did a fish cleaning station. While having a boat ramp close may be a deterrent it was rare to have much boat noise with the tall trees surrounding these large private sites. 

We stayed in site 76 in puma loop which was a sloping site but it was massive. The lots on either side of ours were similar in layout but much more level. 76 also has a path to the waterfront which we utilized daily.

It rained on us for most of our stay we found Mark twain state park to be well worth the trip. 

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time- today I am testing the GCI Outdoors Master Cook Station. 

While looking at GCIOutdoors.com for the right item for my family to try out we were amazed at the function of their site.  We were able to compare multiple items flawlessly and despite  much debate locate an item we believed may reduce our overall need to pack everything including the kitchen sink. The cook station didn't immediately jump off the page for my wife. She had her heart set on a new rocker chair of which GCI Outdoors has an amazing selection. However, I was able to win her over after pointing out the endless options the Master Cook Station (AKA My Kitchen) Offers.

My Kitchen provides functionality as a table, a cook top, a drying rack, food storage, and does so taking up the same amount of space as a folding chair. Our first night in camp the dreaded dinner bell began ringing and my loving wife walked over to our new kitchen. After cooking, plating, and eating from this beast she looked at me and said, "Never again will I doubt your decision making about anything." (or at least thats how I remember it.) She actual was really impressed how this cook station had taking the stress out of meal time. With a built in sink we were able to cook, eat, and clean from a singular location and when done we could either fold it up and tuck it away or use it for evening activities. 

As a pop up camper space is always limited and at a premium. The GCI Outdoor Master Cook Station not only met our expectations it surpassed them. This swiss army table will be a must have among all of our friends and the high quality of this product tells me that we will get to show it off for quite some time.