Best Cabin Camping near West Plains, MO

This is probably an excellent site in spring or fall. However summertime is hot at the site because of the lack of shade trees. Site 15 is by the water and has a large area for dogs or family. There is a staircase down to the water next to site 8. The fishing is good. It’s a pet friendly site however if your dogs bark neighbors will complain. The manager is friendly. They do not have trash pick up service; you just take your trash to a dumpster at the end of the camp, which is not a big deal. No grill available but has picnic tables and fire ring. WI-FI aid very good.

We are trout fishers. This place is perfect for easy stream and running water fishing. We stayed in loop 3, site 325. We walked over to the "river" about 75 yards from our campsite. The water is shallow and clear. it was perfect. You are off grid in this park with Verizon (our service) or T-Mobile (another guest looking for connection). The lodge has Wi-Fi and I was able to pick up signal to text and call when standing outside. No connection for any data at our camp site. No Over air TV stations. One FM radio station. I you want to have any entertainment, BRING DVDs.

This is a really nice spot for tent camping - even though it’s clearly geared towards RV camping. Make sure to book a walk-in campsite if you’re tent camping, otherwise you’ll be in the lot with the RVs (no trees, no privacy etc see first picture). You’ll have to carry your gear to your site, but not too far. Each walk in site is fairly isolated and separate from the other site by trees. Each site has a wood tent pad, picnic table, and fire ring with grate. If you want you could even go to the lodge (walking distance) for a meal and skip the cooking! Book your spot in advance as it seems like they fill up quickly.

We stayed here to utilize their shuttle services for kayaking the 11 point. It was the week before the Memorial Day holiday and we had the place to ourselves! There are bathrooms available and hot showers, awesome people to chat with and a cool dog named Dan. We stayed in the primitive camping section but were informed there are also cabins available. Our site was just what we needed with a Rim fire pit and a couple of picnic tables. Richards definitely catered to us as we decided at the last minute to take another float and they jumped right in and made it happen for us. The convince of having your own vehicle waiting for you after a long day of floating is worth every dime you pay for it! I would highly recommend Richards for their shuttle services and camping area.

I had heard that Bull Shoals- White River State Park was beautiful, but I didn’t fully understand until I saw it. All of the campsites face white river and there’s plenty of space between sites to allow for some level of privacy. All the campsites are flat with nice concrete pads. Each campsite has a fire ring, picnic table, and trash pole.

There is a newer section of the campground that is north of the marina. These campsites have newer asphalt and fire rings and have better access to the updated ADA bath houses. These bath houses are the single-quad bath houses where the toilet and shower are individualized into four quadrants. They are excellent for those campers that might not have travel trailers or self-contained units.

We were able to hike and fish most days. there is a playground and a basketball court that are functional and easy to access for families. The campground is mostly flat which makes it very easy to ride a bike. There were a lot of kids and adults riding bikes or scooters in the campground. There are also three trailers that have been converted into mobile homes near the marina for those campers that don’t have access to a pop-up or a camper for rent. They look very nice. The marina is also very nice and has a lot of simple supplies and merchandise.

When the dam is not releasing generators, you can wade out into the river from your campsite and fish; however, when they release the generators this is going to be very difficult. The only drawback is that you are inundated all day long with boat motors going up and down White River. It is very tranquil and peaceful in the mornings and evenings.

There are many different outfitters that do fishing trips. We chartered the afternoon with a local outfitter and had a great time. We caught a number of trout and were able to eat them for dinner on our last night. If you like to fish, enjoy camping, and enjoy doing both of those things, Bull-Shoals-White River state park is the place to go. I will definitely be going back!

Tent camped here with a group of private boat paddlers from all over the country. Campground operations had not really started for the season. I arrived after dark and could not find the tent campsites. Nearly drove into deep mud on gravel road past RV sites. Fortunately had just enough cell signal to access their website. Found a campground map three layers deep on reservation page and located my group. 

Tent sites were well-located along the river with basic tables and fire rings. I never found the store to be open so paid camping fee at bar and cafe at entrance. Great breakfast. $25/night for tents.  Grass had not been mowed and was deep in tent area. RV sites appear to be a work in progress with much erosion around the new pads and access road. What may have been a shower house had key code locks but there was never anyone to ask. Bathrooms near the entrance lacked tp in some stalls. All one afternoon and evening a group of kids with gas weed trimmers  noisely worked on a slope adjacent to the RV area. 

This campground should improve over time a the management appears to be developing the grounds.