Best Tent Camping near Whitewater, MO

Tent Camping Reviews near Whitewater, MO

375 Reviews of 13 Whitewater Campgrounds

• S

  Sadie R.

  Guide

  Oct. 7, 2020

  Giant City State Park Campground

  No privacy at tent camp, hike amazing!

  So first of all- I think it’s fair to state before I leave a review that my husband and I prefer primitive and private camping. The fewer people we see while we’re out, the better. We live in a city so when we camp, we want the opposite. If you enjoy RV camping or don’t mind not so Private spots, this is a decent spot to spend the night. If you like primitive/private camping- il fill you in below!

  We do tent camping and Saw there were walk-in sites and hike in sites at this campground. Usually walk-in sites are pretty private and dispersed well - atleast where we’ve been before. The 14 “primitive” camping sites were right next to eachothwr with little to no privacy at all. Good tree cover for shade but otherwise you’re basically setting up your tent and area in an open field. That was a little disappointing to us because it wasn’t what we thought we would find. The RV spots also seem super close together but again- we like things spread out so maybe it would be an OK place for some.

  The vault toilets near the tent sites were...as clean as vault toilets get! And we did not use tje shower facilities so can’t speak on that.

  If we had been just the 2 of us, we would’ve hiked in to do our camping along one of the hiking paths but we were meeting two other friends and were unsure if they would want to hike miles to a spot so we opted for the tent spots just after the RV campground. If you want more privacy for an evening of camping, you’ll need to come with your gear packed up decently enough to hike it out atleast a mile onto the trails. There is camping allowed along the trails as long as you are 100 ft from the trail so that was an option, but in certain spots along the trail it’s challenging to find a clearing (hammocks would be great along the trail). There is also an official primitive camping site halfway through the 12 mile loop of the Red Ceder Trail. We day hiked almost the whole loop but made a Weird little detour so we didn’t get to check these spots out.

  We were hoping to find a campsite that- as get as difficulty of accessibility level- was in between a 6 mile hike and the tent spots in the field but there isn’t any official spot like that even tho there’s tons of space and potential for it. Rant over about the campground. Let’s talk about the hiking! The hiking was truly awesome and felt like it balanced out my disappointment with the campground. Doing the whole 12 mile loop of tje Red Cedar Trail was a challenge for us! We really enjoyed it. In some spots, the trail markers are a little confusing, but overall it’s decently marked and the map is somewhat helpful just to kindve know vaguely where you are. The 2nd day, we went back and did about half rhe loop and also checked out the more popular section of the trails back there that include Giant City Nature Trail, Devils Stand Table, and a few others. Very cool rock formations. Pretty busy in the weekend over there but the test of the trails away from that area with those big landmarks was completely deserted and there are some super cool rock formations not on the map at all.

  Over all, this was a fun 4 days. We would return and plan on hiking out into the trails to camp for our evenings. If you like privacy around your campfire at night, I can’t recommend the campground.

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• M

  Madelyn H.

  Traveler

  Oct. 11, 2020

  Asher Creek Campground — Lake Wappapello State Park

  Gorgeous in the Fall

  My group and I camped in two of the basic sites in Asher Creek campground and we couldn’t get enough of the front-row lake view! The sites closest to the lake are very level, and everyone in the campground is only a short walk from the cleanest park restrooms I’ve ever seen. If you’re like me and are just doing basic tent camping, I’d recommend a pop-up canopy for the table area since there is not a lot of tree cover in those sites. Overall, an excellent place to camp!

• 

  Leah H.

  Guide

  Jul. 18, 2017

  Silver Mines

  Great Camping Near the River

  This camp site has RV hook-ups and tent camping. There are trees throughout the campground if you're looking to set up a hammock. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table and is a mix of grass and light gravel. Pit toilets, no showers. Water spigots throughout the camp ground. Keep an eye out for snakes though! I nearly stepped on a copper head in the outhouse! Camp sites are a 2 minute walk to the St. Francois River. Great hiking along the river and good fishing, swimming and kayaking in the river! Also not to far from the Castor River Shut-ins if you're looking to pack two rivers into one trip. We just celebrated my husband's birthday here last weekend, though we have been a few times before. Always a blast!

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• 

  Napunani

  Legend

  Jun. 26, 2022

  Trail of Tears State Park Campground

  Back-up to the Mississippi River

  PRO 

  Senior discount saving $6 

  Able to reserve on-line 365 days prior to arriving 

  Very friendly and helpful camp host 

  Unobstructed view of the Mississippi River 

  Great dark sky viewing 

  No highway/road noise, but... 

  Asphalt parking pad surrounded by grass 

  Metal fire pit with cooking grate 

  One hook lantern pole 

  Moveable wooden picnic table in the grass 

  Toilet/shower building.35 miles from campground very nice and very clean with ample TP and hand soap 

  Firewood for sale by camp host $5 

  Mississippi River Scenic Overlook was very nice V

  Visitor Center has small museum (no admission fee) on the Trail of Tears Native American tribal migration 

  Coin-operated laundromat on South Hope Street Jackson after the roundabout 12 miles from campground 

  Tractors Restaurant Main Street Jackson very good diner type restaurant 

  CONS

  $8.50 reservation fee for online self made reservation 

  Sites that back to the river very close to each other. We stepped out our door onto the neighbors stinky slinky. Insufficient space to deploy awning. 

  Electrical utility connection is on passenger side of the campsite#6 

  Sewer connection was high above ground so drainage was up hill. Camp host warned us upon arrival we may need to use dump station to get tanks totally drained. 

  Site 6 not level side-to-side 

  Lots of trains, day and night with train horn blaring due to road crossing at campground Lots of river barge noise 

  Only one single unisex pit toilet in campground 

  No park headquarters or entrance gate office for check-in. Sign in campground informing how to conduct virtual check in. 

  No security gate closed overnight 

  No ranger patrolling campground

  No WiFi 

  2 bars Verizon LTE

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• F

  Frank G.

  Guide

  Apr. 8, 2024

  Sulphur Springs Dispersed

  Beautiful River site for parking or dispersed

  We stopped here chasing the 2024 eclipse. Easy to find. No cost. About 20 parking spaces, a vault toilet, and a boat launch. Open for solar panels, but tree cover around the lot. Only about 5 parking spaces are not on a slant. Places in the trees for tents. Absolutely beautiful views up and down the river. A single fire pit on the river’s edge. No road noise to speak of because it is way in the distance and rare at night. Fireflies and owls into the night. Mist on the water in the morning: just beautiful. T mobile service has 3 of 4 bars. There is no apparent Verizon service.

• 

  Loren G.

  Guide

  Jul. 9, 2018

  Marble Creek Rec Area

  Basic campground near a creek

  The campground is an adventure to get to. Located on a winding road off of 72/21 just south of Arcadia. Nice campsites close to the creek. None are on top of each other so there is a nice bit of space between you and your neighbor which provides some privacy. Campsites are well maintained with fire rings and picnic tables in each site. There is a public pit toilet in the center of the campsites near the entrance. This is a nice location in close proximity to both Elephant Rocks and Johnson Shut-Ins.

• 

  Cameron

  Guide

  Oct. 1, 2020

  Bean Ridge Pond Campground

  Free, primitive campground, loud partiers

  Got here on a Saturday night in late September and both of the campsites were available. Campsites consist of a clearing with a fire pit and a picnic table. No litter. No toilets. Very slow and spotty AT&T service: I was able to text but not access the Internet. The area is very pretty. Soft ground for staking a tent. Bugs were alright, no need for bug spray. There’s water access at the pond, but it’s obviously stagnant and very brackish. Big downside was a convoy of Jeeps full of partiers rolled down to the pond at 12:30am and hung out down there blasting music for an hour, which is a real sleep ruiner. This might be a local party spot, so be aware and maybe pack earplugs if you’re coming on a weekend. Upside is that it’s in a National Forest, so if both sites are taken, you can always dispersed camp

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• 

  Stephanie O.

  Traveler

  Jan. 27, 2023

  Hawn State Park Campground

  Just About Perfect

  Took the youngest kids for their first camping trip, and it could not have been better. Plenty of space, site was level for our tents and had a nice, soft carpet of pine needles, facilities in great shape (didn't use the showers, but they looked decent and were fairly popular), nice sink in the laundry room we used to fill our dish-washing tubs, good neighbors, nobody too noisy and folks generally kind and friendly. Really enjoyed being on the tents-only side of the campground--allowed for a clear, wide view of the landscape and the fall colors. Hiking is some of the best in Missouri.

  I will say that the "walk-in" sites didn't seem to have much privacy and weren't very far from the parking lot, if that matters to you.

  All in all, you can't get much better for tent camping.

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• 

  Doug W.

  Ranger

  Nov. 4, 2021

  Greenville - Lake Wappapello

  A great COE campground

  If you've camped before at a COE campground you expect a quality experience. This one is no exception. It has paved drives and paved sites with a concrete pad for the fire ring and picnic table along with a hook for your lantern. They are also full hookups.

  The place is very clean as well as the restrooms. There are plenty of things to do right from the campground including a paved bike trail into Greenville. We spent two days in early November and just about had the park to ourselves.

  Cell service was adequate but not great.