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Best Tent Camping near Riverside, MO

547 Reviews

Tent campers seeking primitive sites near Riverside, Missouri can choose from several options within a one-hour drive. Woodridge Park offers both car camping in a gravel loop and several walk-in tent sites along a trail, with basic amenities like vault toilets and potable water. Agency Conservation Area and Bonanza Conservation Area provide free tent camping with minimal facilities, primarily in designated gravel areas.

The primitive tent sites at Woodridge Park require a short hike from the main parking area, with distances ranging from a half-mile to over a mile. Sites feature established fire rings but limited improvements. Agency and Bonanza Conservation Areas strictly limit camping to graveled parking lots only, with citations issued for setting up elsewhere. Most tent areas lack potable water, with Woodridge being an exception. During hunting seasons, particularly at Bonanza Conservation Area, tent campers should be aware of increased activity and wear high-visibility clothing for safety.

Walk-in tent sites at Woodridge Park provide greater privacy and a more secluded experience than the parking lot sites. The trail to reach these primitive campsites can become muddy after rain, making access challenging with heavy gear. The hike-in sites spread along the trail offer significant separation between campers, with some locations situated directly on the lakeshore. A camper noted that "even if every spot is full you still feel secluded." Tent campers at conservation areas should prepare for minimal facilities and possibly encountering hunters during seasonal periods. According to a review, Agency Conservation Area features "a small gravel pullout off the dirt road" that serves as the primary camping location.

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Best Tent Sites Near Riverside, Missouri (8)

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Recent Tent Camping Photos near Riverside, MO

8 Photos of 8 Riverside Campgrounds

Tent Camping Reviews near Riverside, MO

547 Reviews of 8 Riverside Campgrounds

  • Sarah H.
    Sep. 18, 2016

    Wallace State Park Campground

    Popular Park Tucked Away In The Hills

    My husband and I tent camped overnight at Wallace State Park. Woodsy tent camping sites were spacious and private. Large camping pads are lined with wood chips and are comfortable enough to sleep on without an air mattress. Covered picnic tables have an extra shelf for storage convenience. Even after setting up the tent and camping chairs there was still enough room for lawn games or for little ones to run around.

    Wildlife was abundant in the evening. We saw many deer, frogs and squirrels. At dark, nature sounds were unbelievable with songs of bullfrogs, owls, and flying creatures of all sorts. Be sure to bring bug repellant.

    Campground 1 had clean vault toilets, but the bath house near Campground 2 was even better. Showers were clean and in their own stalls with locking doors, shelves and ample hooks. The water got nice and hot and the shower heads were even and held good pressure. This bath house was seriously the best one we have ever visited and we have used dozens.

    For entertainment, there was a bustling playground, winding nature trails, horseshoes, lake swimming, and fishing. There was also a well kept laundry house with a dishwashing sink attached. Campground hosts and park rangers were friendly and busy keeping the park in great shape. Overall, this is a really nice place to camp!

    Gear Review: Lighthouse 250 Lantern and USB Power Hub We decided to try out our GoalZero lantern instead of our usual larger lantern. The lantern is compact enough to fit in a small bag with other electronics and is very light in weight. This saved us a little extra room which is a bonus since we take all of our camping trips in a tiny little Prius C. The Lighthouse 250 would be a good contender for bringing along on a backpacking trip, but you would want to pad it with some kind of protection as it seems that some parts might not hold up to a lot of banging around.

    We used the lantern 2 nights in a row without charging it and the battery life indicator still had over 1/4 of its power left. On this same charge, wee tested the phone charger by hooking up an iPhone 4 to charge for 10 minutes with the light on full turbo. The 10 minute charge boosted the phone's battery 12%. The hand crank charger was a little awkward, but would be sufficient in a pinch. Had we needed more power, we could have easily plugged the attached USB cord into our car charger. We don't usually pony up for electric sites, so on extended excursions, the Nomad 7 Solar Panel is a gadget we would consider purchasing.

    The directional lighting feature of the lantern came in handy for having dimmer light closer to sleeping times and brighter light for reading/boardgames in the tent. In the end, we will definitely bring the Lighthouse 250 lantern with us on future trips, and will leave our bulky older lantern at home.

  • Leni K.
    Jun. 6, 2022

    Wallace State Park Campground

    Good Weekend Getaway

    Campground 1 is the ideal tent grounds. Heavily wooded some with better coverage than others. Campground 2 is the most spaces RV site. Campground 3 had five total sites in an open area. No privacy at all. Campground 4 was a tighter RV set up. All campgrounds share one very updated showerhouse, which did lead to some lines at the showers Sunday, but the trade off for quality bathroom is appreciated. All campgrounds and day use areas are also connected by a series of trails, so you're not far off from getting to a hike at any point. Campground 1 has four walkins that range from 80 to 300 yards in, starting with 28 closest and 31 farthest out. We stayed at 31, and whole remote, during the day picked up sounds clearly from other sites and at night the highway was pretty clear. Overall though the seclusion tradeoff was nice and it was an easy adjustment for us as car campers. We had a raccoon visitor who is a frequent flyer, while he got away with some hotdogs, we adjusted and ensured he didn't get additional treats. The main showerhouse was closer than the vault toilet on 1, which was still really well maintained. Overall crowds here seemed very respectful of quiet hours, space on trails and made for an improved stay. Camp hosts were always available and polite and friendly. Trails were maintained. Definitely would return again, to a similar site as a walk in.

  • Whitney L.
    Jun. 6, 2022

    Bluffwoods Conservation Area

    lovely, quiet camping near St. Joe’s MO

    Love this little area for camping! It’s well maintained, quiet, easy to access, has lots of grass for the dogs to play and we always see wildlife. People often leave trash so be sure to leave no trace so it stays nice for all to enjoy <3

  • Leni K.
    May. 24, 2021

    Weston Bend State Park Campground

    Okay Campground for Tenting

    Campground is great overall, with a walkable trail just past the showers, clean restrooms and easy to access sites. There are only 3 basic tent sites, making it hard to nab. #4 had a decent amount of privacy, however most other electric sites do not. As an electric site, there was not a lot of ground space for tents, we settled on gravel with reflectix to buffer the ground. Check in was easy, and in walking distance. Site was pretty noisy, even after hours, a few kids running around with speakers on blast definitely were less than optimal.

  • Leni K.
    Apr. 7, 2024

    Prairie Clover Campground — Clinton State Park

    Relaxing Car/Tent Camping Spot

    Pros Off-season was quiet Open bathrooms were nice and well kept. Easy access to trails Lots of wildlife, vultures, deer, etc. Well marked and plenty of them spots Marina was a quick bike ride away and had a lot to offer during the season. Primate loops had some good spacing and tree cover, along with views of the lake. Inner loops not so much Potable water available year round. Was drinkable.

    Cons Signs marked closed bathrooms but not the closest open bathrooms. One per campsite was still open with heat and electric. Weirdly all vaults were closed Office and hosts were unavailable so we had to leave for Casey's for firewood. While before the season, someone told us it's typically impossible to get firewood because the office is usually closed. Signs to the entrance to park and n avigation were pretty small, impossible to read at night, not lit. Electric parking pass only issued one day pass at a time. Would do the paper pass across the parking lot next time. Spacing is definitely a bit crowded for tent camping privacy this time of year. Will be curious to see how it feels in the summer/fall.

  • Lady Phyre ☆.The Dyrt PRO User
    Jul. 4, 2025

    Pony Express Lake Conservation Area

    Pony Express is amazing!

    You can camp in one of several little inlets and nooks. It's a Fish & Game preserve with camping and fishing spots all around the lake. Many with picnic tables and most with vault toilets. It's on my top 10 list of best primitive/dispersed camping locations. Only con is the vault toilet at the inlet I camped in. It was unusable with fetus nearly to the top. I think some unscrupulous person put trash in it then other used it probably without knowing. Very bad etiquette! Be sure to bring your own camping toilet and/or check the vault toilet before setting up. I didn't see very many RVs but several vans, trucks, and cars were there. The wildlife is predominantly water fowl.

  • Freya
    Oct. 16, 2025

    Quail Run Campground — Hillsdale State Park

    Relaxing place to camp and enjoy nature

    All in all I really enjoyed tent camping at one of the primitive sites! My dad and I used two separate tents, each of which are six person tents, and it was easy to fit both on the campsite. I didn’t love the fire ring because the wall was pretty high and the grill part didn’t have adjustable height so that limited the height of the fire we could build when we wanted to cook over it. The nearby vault toilet was just OK, it was about as clean as a vault toilet could be but there was no way to use hand sanitizer or wash your hands nearby. The shower house with flush toilets, which was a little further away, was clean but didn’t have any hand soap, it only had hand sanitizer which was a disappointment.

    Those were really the only drawbacks to this campsite though! Everything else was lovely. I liked that there was a small camp store nearby with firewood for purchase during operating hours. The scenery was very nice and even though there were a lot of RVs in their section of the campground, I didn’t hear any noise coming from their air-conditioning thanks to the distance between that section and the primitive section.

    Being almost completely surrounded by the lake was so serene and we got to hear and see a lot of wildlife. The only other thing to know about this spot on the campground is that if you’re going to the primitive sites, you will have to park nearby and then walk the rest of the way with your gear. At the site I was in that was only a couple of yards but other ones were further away.

    Also, a note about spiders: there were way more than I’ve ever seen while camping before, so if large amounts of them bother you I suggest you not camp here in October! Most of them were small, but seeing them so often was still kind of gross. Such is life when camping though!

  • Jordan B.
    Jun. 7, 2020

    Louisburg Middle Creek State Fishing Lake

    Peaceful near KC

    I car camped here for one night early this spring and will definitely come here again. There was a big RV parked next to me, some other car campers, and then a group of tent campers. The sites are right on the lake and the vault toilet was clean. Each site has a picnic table and fire ring and they are spaced out nicely. There was a decent amount of traffic to and from the floating boat dock but it still wasn’t too noisy.

  • R
    Aug. 3, 2016

    Wallace State Park Campground

    Wallace State Park in Cameron, MO

    There are mixed RV and tent camping sites, including primitive and walk in sites. You can get water and electric at most sites. Each campground has an iron fire ring with a grill attached.

    There are nice hiking trails. Trails are well marked. There three levels to choose from based on distance.

    There is also a small lake to fish or swim in. The lake for it's size, had some nice fish.

    The community shower and bathroom houses are not air conditioned. The floors are slab cement, but the park staff clean them daily.

    Overall, I think that campgrounds are decent.

Guide to Riverside

Tent campsites near Riverside, Missouri range from basic graveled areas to more secluded hiking destinations. Located within the humid continental climate zone of northwestern Missouri, these camping areas experience hot summers with temperatures averaging 85-90°F and cold winters, making late spring through early fall the primary camping season. Most primitive sites in this region sit at elevations between 700-1,000 feet above sea level, with terrain characterized by rolling hills and deciduous forest.

What to do

Fishing access: Woodridge Park offers direct shoreline fishing opportunities for campers staying at the lakeside primitive sites. As Lloyd W. notes about nearby Bonanza Conservation Area, there's a "great fishing lake" adjacent to the marked campsite that provides quiet angling without crowds.

Trail exploration: The hiking paths at Woodridge Park extend well beyond the camping area. According to Josh M., the park features "tons of trails" for day hiking, making it possible to spend an entire weekend exploring the terrain beyond your campsite.

Wildlife viewing: During spring and fall migrations, conservation areas serve as habitat for various bird species. Whitney L. mentions that Agency Conservation Area has "some creek features" that attract wildlife, though cautions about tick and snake activity during warmer months.

What campers like

Privacy between sites: Tent campers appreciate the spacing between primitive sites at Woodridge Park. Alexandra J. reports that during a Labor Day weekend stay, she "didn't see a single other person on the the 1/2-ish mile hike to Primitive Site 4," despite visiting during a typically busy holiday period.

Lake views: Several primitive sites at Woodridge Park offer water views. Alexandra J. specifically mentions Site 4 as being "right on the lake" with "a beautiful view of the sunrise" that enhances the camping experience.

Shade availability: The tree coverage at Agency Conservation Area provides practical benefits during hot summer months. Whitney L. notes the site "did have tree coverage for shade" in the primary camping area, which helps moderate temperatures during peak summer heat.

What you should know

Strict camping boundaries: Conservation areas enforce specific camping location rules. At Bonanza Conservation Area, Kevin C. warns, "It is against their rules to camp anywhere but on a gravelly parking lot. We camped just off the road and got a citation. It's not really disbursed camping."

Trail conditions: After rainfall, access to primitive sites can become challenging. Carly H. cautions about Woodridge Park: "Keep in mind though that the trail gets very muddy if it has just rained!"

Seasonal wildlife: Insect activity varies dramatically by season. Harmony H. describes a mid-June visit to Woodridge Park where "there had apparently been some type of butterfly hatching. They were small but quite aggressive (who knew!?), constantly swarming us."

Tips for camping with families

Site selection strategy: When camping with children at Woodridge Park, Ashley F. recommends: "It's highly suggested that you explore off the trail though so that you can see all the creative campsites that campers have built and established."

Gear considerations: Primitive sites require planning when bringing family equipment. Harmony H. shares that reaching sites at Woodridge Park meant "lots of work with our regular gear for a family of four, but worth it!"

Low-traffic weekends: For families seeking quiet camping experiences, Nikki S. notes about Woodridge Park: "We very rarely run into anyone else while camping on the trail. We have myself, husband, son, and dog."

Tips from RVers

Limited RV options: Most conservation areas near Riverside offer minimal facilities for recreational vehicles. The Bonanza Conservation Area provides some RV-accessible sites, but as Will E. notes, it primarily functions as a "Deer hunting camp" rather than a designated RV park.

Gravel parking considerations: Agency Conservation Area provides only basic parking for vehicles. Whitney L. describes the area as having "a small (~1/8 of an acre maybe) gravel pullout off the dirt road" that serves as the primary camping location, limiting options for larger vehicles.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is the most popular tent campsite near Riverside, MO?

According to TheDyrt.com, the most popular tent campground near Riverside, MO is Woodridge Park with a 4.7-star rating from 13 reviews.

What is the best site to find tent camping near Riverside, MO?

TheDyrt.com has all 8 tent camping locations near Riverside, MO, with real photos and reviews from campers.

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