Best Tent Camping near Mindenmines, MO

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.

Squirrel campground is one of the smaller campground at Twin Bridges area of Grand Lake State Park.  This campground has both RV and Tent campsites.  Most of the sites are tent sites.  This campground does have the dump station for the Twin Bridges area of the state park, this is located near the entrance to the campground.  Site has restrooms and water and trash service.  RV sites are fairly close together, tent spaces are nicely spread apart from each other.  ADA site is available.  Sites can be reserved.

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.

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.

Woody Trail Campground has lots of options.  From walking tent sites with or with out electricity, RV site with hook-ups and even cabins, this campground has something for everyone.  All sites are nicely distanced from each other.  Campground roads are paved.  Sites have picnic tables Metal fire pits, and BBQ grills.  Trash service and water as well as flush toilets and showers available.  Campground has a large pavilion.  Play ground for the kids and horse shoe pits.   Tent sites with electricity have covered picnic tables.

Use to tent camp there 10 years ago or so. Went back to camp and pretty much caters to RVs now. Pretty much campers and fisherman now. Be careful does not say anywhere about reservations. We had been set up and kicking back for over 3 hours before the RUDEST ranger came and told us our site was reserved she just hadnt put up sign yet. Plenty of nicer places in the area, oh well used to enjoy it.

If you are interested in bison sightings, this is the park for you. If you need water, supplies, shower or a flush toilet, skip this one. The tent sites are VERY primitive, but you drive up to your camp. You really have to go out of the way to get to this camp, but we were rewarded with a scary but fun close encounter with a lone bull bison. We also got some ticks, so be careful!

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.

Camped in Loop B on Oct 4, 2023. Camping was free at this Corp of Engineer campground since off season began on Oct 1st. The Loop B campground has several RV/tent sites arranged in sub-loops in an open field; some trees for shade. Sites are close to each other; no privacy between sites. Sites appear to be level. Each site has a metal fire ring, table and lamp pole. The loop road is paved and the sites were gravel. There were no hookups in Loop B. The water station was shut off, but the vault toilet, which wasn't very clean, was open. No camp host on duty during our stay. There is access to Stockton Lake from the loop road. There was nothing special about this campground, but has good lake access for boats.  Otherwise this campgrund is suitable for an overnight stay.

Don't go there on a Monday or Tuesday!!!! We camp here all the time and enjoy it. We went on Monday and it was the first time meeting the new part time camp host. We pulled up and there was a grumpy old man sitting on the bench would not wave or smile, the lady inside the both opened the window and just looked at us. We asked if there was any tent camping and she said in a short snippy voice for how many night. No welcome to Crabtree or great day!  So the only site was 29 we pull in and look around  put a few things on the table to hold that site and down comes grumpy ( Ray Millard) told us all the things we couldn't do. That he was the host and we were not following his rules .  We drove on the road pass the cones to turn around and we would have to pay if we did any damage.  We were on the road !!!! There was no water or damage to anything.  He was just being a jerk!  We left and will not go back until The regular camp host Terry is there. She really makes the place nice  and relaxing to go to

Bathrooms were clean but dated. Water spigots were well spaced. Ticks were very bad. Family sites were spacious but laid out like 2 separate sites. Would have been nice to have both tables together. Tent pads were advertised but non-existent.

Clean campground but it was way too well maintained as far as it being very out in the open, there were no woods around us for our campsite so the wind almost knocked our tent over. But it was a very pleasant one night stay! Loved being so close to a little pond and lake. My toddler loved watching the fish

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.

Went camping with our adult daughter and her boyfriend. I am glad that we were the only ones camping because the spots were very small and close together. We had a hard time securing the tent because the ground was so rocky. The bathroom had 2 toilets but no doors and the exterior door didn't have a lock on it. The sink was so close to one of the toilets that you could have washed your hands while sitting on the toilet. The power supply was next to the road and not next to where you would put your tent so I am very happy that we had brought extra extension cords. All of the camping spots had a fire ring, BBQ grill and a picnic table. There was no clear shot to the water from any of the camping sites from what I could tell. We did however go to Anglers Paradise to see how the water was and it wasn't as clear and swimmable as I would have wanted. We did however find a nice little spot called Sycamore Creek on #10 and it is the clearest water you could amagine! Swimming was amazing there and it was only about 7 minutes away! Over all we had a great time camping!! Oh yeah, I did try fishing but didn't have much luck.

Camped primitive at Twin Bridges State Park in 2002 by myself. Set up one-person tent. Built a campfire and enjoyed the solitude. Grand lake and Spring river joins together there just over the hill. Thats reason its called Twin Bridges! On 60 highway west of Senaca, Mo and between there and Fairland, Ok going west. Nice shelters with bath houses and picnic tables. Fishing is great! Have roped off swimming area too. Rangers came through every couple hours to do a security check which was nice. Made coffee next morning on fire and brother came with cinnamon rolls and to visit!! What a nice campground.

Gibson Spring is a back country camp site and the only location in Fort Crowder Conservation Area where camping is allowed.  Located at Gibson Spring this camp area has plenty of room for numerous tents.  The site has several picnic tables, a trash can and a BBQ grill that someone left behind.  Your water source is the spring it self, remember to treat the water.  This site would be great for someone just getting in to backpacking as it is a short hike to the campsite from the closest trail head (took me only seven minutes).  No toilets at the site.  Trail head can be tricky to find as no signs on the road indicate the turn.  The conservation has 11 miles of multi-use trails to explore (foot, bike, horse).