Best Tent Camping near Richland, MO

Another wonderful Corps of Engineers campground on Pomme De Terre Lake. There are basic campsites and campsites with full hookups. The campsites are spacious and overlook the lake. This is such a beautiful, well maintained campground. Every campsite is level and has a picnic table and fire ring. During the off season ( Oct 1 - Nov.30 & March 14th - Apr 14 ) all campsites ( electric and primitive ) are only $10. ( limited amenities) From Jan 5th - March 14th campsites are free at Damsite Park. However, there is no electric or water available at that time.
Please check the Pomme De Terre USACE website for changes and regular season rates. 50% off all rates with America the beautiful/senior access pass at all Corps of Engineers campgrounds.
I highly recommend this campground. 4g LTE and great cell signal.

PROS 

Senior discount 

Check-in via text was easy and fast 

Beautifully maintained state park 

Quiet during week 

Pull-thru Site 102 level, concrete pad surrounded by grass 

Site sufficient length for trailer and tow vehicle 

Metal frame plastic plank picnic table metal fire ring with cooking grate 

Dark sky friendly except for campsites 101-106 

Trash dumpsters throughout campground 1 

Firewood for sale $5 at entrance gate house 

Huge park store! 

CONS. 

1 toilet and 1 shower for 48 campsites in Campground 1. Both door locks did not work. There were lines for the one toilet most of the time!!!

$6.50 Reservation Fee 

Site 102 had a wonderful view of the entrance gatehouse that had blaring lights all night, the one lane dump station and a dumpster 

Campground 101-106 sites slammed together; our campfire ring was 15 feet from neighbors sewer outlet 

Site 102 campfire ring was 2 feet from site unmovable picnic table 

No privacy from any other sites 

No security overnight gate closures 

Would not recommend Park restaurant

First off there is camping here!!!! This Missouri Conservation area is a Swiss Army knife of rugged of the path camping. Rivers, Lakes, Gun range, Horses and hiking can all be enjoyed here. First come first serve basic camp area on the river. It has 1 fire ring in a gravel turnaround. Don’t let this fool you. This area has an abundance of wildlife equestrian trails and hiking. Getting too hot paddle on the lake located on the left Forck after entering. The area has a handgun, and rifle range with vault toilets. The pictures speak for themselves. Love this spot and will be planning another trip soon.

Stayed here for a weekend during the hottest part of the summer. Most sites have decent shade.

Sites are back-in with a coarse gravel pad. Current bathhouse is adequate, but a new one is being built. New one looks to be about four times the size of the old one.

There is a raised fire-ring and a picnic table at each site. There is firewood available for purchase.

Grounds sit next to a state numbered highway, so access is easy. Don't expect a remote setting. The highway traffic can be distracting if you're used to camping in the woods.

Campground Review:

We stayed at this beautiful Missouri State Park on memorial weekend in 2019. This park is park of Pomme De Terre lake and 1 of 2 state parks on the lake, Pittsburgh and Hermitage. There are several local private campgrounds in the area but non match what you'll find at these two campgrounds. Pittsburgh is described as the more secluded of the two and thats just the way we like it. 

We arrived to find that the normal lake level had risen from 830 ft to 860+. needless to say almost all lakeside camground were closed. We arrived at our site and identified that we had 13 inches until our site was to be claimed by the lake. The campground hosts actually informed us that over half of their sites were flooded or in immediate danger of flooding. They were able to offer us a different site as most people apparently decided to no show. We were relocated to site 323 in the Pittsburgh campground. A side note that almost every loop in this campground had empty sites and all those who were displaced were able to be relocated in the park at NO ADDITIONAL FEE for upgraded sites. 

Site 323 was simply amazing. A level concrete pad with enough wooded area around to fully eliminate view of neighbors on either side. We camp out of a 95 Coleman Pop up so it was perfect for us. It is on a significant slope so tent camping would be hard. This site is walking distance to vault toilets, and clean water. After an impromptu wiffleball game broke out with the multiple campers across from us we decided to explore the campground.

Loop 100 is tightly packed RV sites with no real privacy but all your creature comforts . Loop 200 is electric sites well spaced with lake access to most. This appeared to be the most tent and camper friendly loop.  Both 100 and 200 loops are close to shower house and main playground.

Loop 300 is electric with most sites of the lake side coming with elevated gravel pads for grilling and watching the water. Most sites are on decent grades so the state park pics on their site would be a good idea to look at.

Loop 400 is the basic loop and from what I could tell stays fairly level with large grassy areas to tent in. 

All loops have a vault toilet placed evenly on the loop and access to water from a spigot. They all utilize the same road in and the same plumbed bathroom / showerhouse. To my surprise these were all very clean and stayed that way all weekend. 

There is only 1 trail for hiking and at 3 miles is worth the trip. It goes out to a point overlooking all of the park and most of Pomme De Terre Lake. We got to see this but in a little different way than planned. Due to flooding the trail was almost completely underwater. 

A small marina with rentals and fishing docks is just across the street. They serve normal pub food and were very happy to serve. Lines there can be long as it is also a very busy boat ramp. 

The state park has its own swimming beach and due to flooding it was closed. So instead we utilized the parking lot, Playground, and Pavilion as a launch point for our kayaking adventures. All in all this trip went from possible disaster to an amazing adventure on the water. The lake is very clear and paddling through the tree tops normally 20 feet off the ground was surreal. Pittsburgh won us over with customer service and a unique experience we will all remember. 

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt I sometimes get to test and evaluate quality products from amazing sponsors today I am submitting a review of my new Icemule Pro X-Large Cooler.https://icemulecoolers.com/collections/pro-coolers/products/the-icemule-pro-x-large

So as I said before I didnt get to hike with this bad boy but it did spend everyday as our family take and use cooler. 

First and foremost I have to say upon receiving this thing I was shocked at the size. It is definitely extra large. My 7 year old would not be packing this thing around but Icemule has several size options so no real issue there. I chose the xl specifically to use while kayaking on this trip. I would be providing food and drink for up to 8 separate people and would be on the water for  long periods of time. I currently own a Yeti and Wally World Rotomold but cant use them due to their size on our boat.  Well this is where it gets good. I loaded all three coolers and set out with my Icemule in tow. I left the two hard coolers with family at the pavilion. Similar contents and each cooler received 1 bag of ice in the morning. The Icemule stood stride for stride with the yeti in fact I will attach photos to prove it.  The Icemule form fit itself into the storage space on my kayak and at the end of the day had just a little ice left. The Yeti had a little more ice but nothing significant. I will also note that the Icemule was in the open sun on the back of a kayak in 90 degree temps. I was ecstatic with the result. This thing is amazing. 

Now for the nitty gritty. My Icemule comes in several colors. I chose black as it matched my yak LOL. I can say the 24 can capacity is definitely modest but I wouldn't recommend exceeding it by much as all that weight adds up. Not heeding my own advice I topped this thing off and really put it and my back through the ringer. All the stitching and seam weld held up very well. Not a single issue even when over loaded. All clips and straps are high quality and very durable.

All in all I made room for 6 different coolers in my garage as they will all be resting comfortably there. The Icemule is now our families go to for all our cooler needs.

I stayed the night here in late April, and it was absolutely gorgeous. The campground is in the middle of a forest with a large creek running around it. It was springtime and everything was so green, there were wildflowers popping up all over the place. The sound of the creek running right behind my camp site felt so soothing. I wish I could have stayed a few more nights; this place was a little bit of magic.

The campground: The road that loops through the campground is paved, and for most (if not all) campsites you park right at your site. My campsite included a large firepit with a grate that you could grill on, a picnic table, and a paved parking space to pull-in. Even though the place was over half full, it felt very quiet. I stayed towards the back of the loop, and the creek ran just below my site. There were clean vault toilets and a trash receptacle across the road from my site. The only downside: there are places where the creek runs over the road a little, so that might cause issues if there's heavy rain in the forecast.

The area: About a thirty minute drive from Rolla, where there are plenty of places to get food or supplies. I didn't have a lot of time to explore Lane Springs Recreation Area, but it looked nice.

Booking: I drove up to the sign at the front of the campground and put my payment in an envelope. I'm not sure if there are other options to book ahead of time.

Cell Service: Verizon worked fine.