Best Campgrounds near St. Joseph, MO

Crows Creek Campground is fine if you’re just looking for a place to get out of the house, be outside, and hang out with family, but it’s not great for anyone hoping to feel truly “out in nature.” The campground is huge, with several loops and tons of sites. The RV loops were packed and felt really crowded, while the tent site loops were almost empty during our July visit.

One big downside for me was the lack of trees—there’s maybe one tree per tent site and even fewer around the RV spots. Shade is minimal, and there’s really no sense of being in the woods. To top it off, the campground has a lot of rules, like no fires past midnight and no tying hammocks to trees (not that there are enough trees to even try).

If your goal is simply to camp near the lake with a big group or family, this place works fine. But if you’re looking for a quiet, natural setting or a campground that feels like an escape. This just doesn't feel like camping to me.

We were traveling and was looking for an overnight stop. This was very easy off the interstate but once there you felt like you were miles out in the country. Yes.. if you were listening for it you could hear some road noise. But it really wasn’t invasive at all. The sites appear mostly all level and gravel. We had a pull through and it was perfect for overnight. Full hook up and shade. We travel with a dog and so much lush green grass to explore and walk was a plus for us. There is a dog park but I didn’t look for it so can’t comment on it. Didn’t use the bath house either. Owners were great and met us even after hours when we arrived to make sure we were in the spot correctly. Would definitely recommend. They have a few tent sites that looked very nice. Site A was really tucked into the back and had lots of vegetation and privacy. The pool was small but was clean and fenced.

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.

I took my skoolie there, and I thought we were supposed to park near the cabin, however, it's the part to the left of the cabin that we are supposed to camp at. The website actually forbids anybody camping around the cabin, so you need to use the campsites directly to the west, where there's a bunch of piers, sites, and bathrooms. We drove down 322nd Rd. to get to our site near the bathrooms across from the maintenance building. That road is gradual enough that I was able to get my short bus down it safely without tipping over.

The management guy here is pretty cool and he let me know that it's a 7 day stay not 14 hung out and pet my dog and talked to me for a little bit. That was pretty nice.