Best Tent Camping near Sturgeon, MO

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!

This campground is very nice and offers lots of options,including two different types of electrical sites, basic sites, and walk-in basic sites, they do also have a number of family sites. They offer s firewood vending machine and ice for sale by the camp host. The marina is very nicely set up for handicapped accessible fishing from the fishing dock. Unfortunately the marina store was not open when we visited. We were too early in the year. The swimming beach looks very nice, although it was too cold to use when we were there. Some of the camping sites are more tent friendly than others. Some of them look like it would only be good if you were in a pop-up or a trailer.

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.

Stayed here for 4 nights and enjoyed my stay. There are 7 camp spots, most having fire rings (no tables). During the 4 nights, only a single night were there 3 campers. All other nights consisted of myself and another chapter. I imagine this place never gets full but you could be very close to other campers if completely full. There is a single vault toilet that was mostly clean and stocked with TP. During the day, 2-3 cars would head down the hill towards the trail and always left before dusk. Very quiet stay and enjoyed walks down the gravel path with the pup. There is no water, electricity or trash so please pack out your trash. There are trees everywhere so I wasn’t able to completely optimize my solar but was able to still get sun. I had between 2-3 bars of 5G via AT&T and could work efficiently. Definitely would stay again!