Mahoney State Park offer Full Hookup, Electric Plus and Electric campsites. There are a total of 148 campsites. Lakeside Campground (100-148 campsites) are located close to Baright Lake and Owen Marina. Little Creek Campground (1-99 campsites) is close to a playground, basketball court and the coin operated laundry facility. Both campgrounds have drinking water, showers and modern restrooms. A dump and fill station is located conveniently near the park entrance.

Tent camping is available at Mahoney State Park in the two modern campgrounds. Tent campers will use the grassy area next to the pad site to set up their tent. Those tenting will pay the camping fee applicable to the site occupied. If making reservations, look for the site description of “tentable.” This means there is a level grassy space for a tent.

Reservations are accepted for half of the campsites in Lakeside and Little Creek campgrounds up to 180 days in advance of arrival date and paid in full at the time the reservation is made. All other camping at Mahoney State Park is first-come, first-served. Campers with advance reservations and those camping first-come, first-served must stop at the Lauritzen Administration building located at the park entrance to check-in or register to camp prior to setting up on a campsite. If arriving after hours, campers must go to the Peter Kiewit Lodge customer service desk and check in or register for a first-come, first-served site.

This modern state park is the perfect year round destination for a family escape. Families can visit the aquatic center and indoor playground, explore the park’s hiking and biking trails, adventure through the treetop ropes course, climb the observation tower and, when the weather turns cold, enjoy indoor rock climbing, sledding and ice skating. The jewel of the park is Peter Kiewit Lodge, which offers 40 guest rooms, most with balconies that offer a stunning view of the Platte River valley. The park also offers an arts and crafts center, an array of cabins, as well as camping opportunities. Mahoney State Park is located midway between Nebraska’s two largest cities, Lincoln and Omaha and is open year round.

Eugene T. Mahoney State Park Campground

This campground is crowded with significant interstate noise. However there are many activities for kids including paddleboating, a wave pool, horse riding, ziplining, and playgrounds. Modern restrooms with showers and power are available.

Busy campground with kid-friendly activities

This place has it all....but books up months I’m advance and the crowds can get a bit annoying! Hiking trails, frisbee golf, horseback riding, driving range, fishing, tennis courts, river views, cabins!

Has it all!

If you are looking for a place to stop for a night of for a few nights with family or traveling alone along I-80 don’t miss Eugene T. Mahoney State Park. There are challenging trails overlooking the Platte River and railroad line. Bring your camera. Visit the horseback riding area ($), water park ($), nature center, and newly added Zipline and treeline obstacle course ($$). There is a nice place to eat at the clubhouse. The staff are friendly and helpful. Cabins for rent can facilitate even large families or get togethers. Book cabins well in advance for holidays. Fishing and kayaking opportunities also exist. Visit the Marina for paddle boat rentals also. The only downside to this park is its proximity to I-80\. You will hear interstate road noise at night but if you’ve camped right you will be too tired to care.

Biggest, best state park in Eastern Nebraska

I picked this campground as a stopping point on the way to Yellowstone primarily for the pool for the kids. The pool is awesome. It was, however, expensive. $10 for adults (even as a non swimmer) and $8 for kids plus $3 to rent a tube for the wave pool. My only real complaint about the campground were the bathrooms. They were all shut down except for the bathhouse, which was a real pain. can hear the highway loud and clear. Right next door to the Air and Space museum. 

Good and bad

Very shaded

This park has a little of everything. Great sites— different loops to stay at. Nice bathrooms. Hiking trails and bike trails. Water park, horse riding area, fishing pond and more. This place does get packed so might have to make reservations early depending on weekend of course. 

So much to do here

This is the Walmart of camping grounds. The campsites are stacked on top of each other and are always packed! 

Don’t go here

The camper spots are pretty nice, but if you have not reserved a spot beforehand, get out to the park early as the first come first served spots fill up quickly! Every spot is equipped with a nice fire ring, and there is plenty of scrap wood laying around if you forget your firewood. The only downfall would be the interstate noise. You can hear that all the time while sitting out around the fire.

Comfortable Spots

**Campground Review:**

Eugene T. Mahoney State Park in Nebraska is on the Platte River off Interstate 80 about halfway between Omaha and Lincoln.  I will preface the review stating that the review is receiving four stars primarily because of the amenities at the park.  The campgrounds themselves are fairly basic.  There are areas to tent and park your RV within the state park.  The RV campground has about a dozen full hookup sites and the rest of the campsites have electric hookups.  There is not much room between the sites, so you do feel that you are stacked on top of the other campers.  There is a wait list for the campgrounds much of the year.  We were able to score a walk-up thankfully.  The site does have water fill stations and a dump station.  Their shower house is also decent enough.

  

But, as I said you are not coming here to hangout in the campground.  There is something for everyone at this state park.  They have hiking on paved and un-paved trails, which we utilized both.  There is an activities center for kids to make different arts and crafts.  They have horseback riding, a theater, paddle boating, parks, minature golf, etc.  During the summer you can have fun at the big water park they have on site.  They also have cabins and lodge rooms available for rent.  The cabins book quickly, and can get pricey at around upwards of $400 a night during their peak season for one of the newer cabins.  The lodge houses a decent restaurant with some great views of the Platte River. 

  

At the main activities area they have a massive indoor play area for kids.  This building also houses their new and extremely fun 40ft. climbing walls.  Outside this building during the winter they have a covered ice rink and they also produce their own snow for the sledding hill.  All-in-all it is a nice place with plenty to do onsite.

  

**Product Review:**

As a Ranger for The Dyrt I occasionally get to test products.  While out at the state park we got the opportunity to test out Banner &amp; Oak hats. https://bannerandoak.com/ 

  

My boys and really appreciate good hats.  We found the Banner &amp; Oak brand hats to be really exception hats.

  

The hats my sons wore were the Banner &amp; Oak Eagle and the Banner &amp; Oak Sierra.  These two hats were made in the United States.  I wore the Banner &amp; Oak Switchback which was not produced in the United States.

  

All three hats are really quality hats.  The stitching is tight around the sweatbands and the bill, which is usually a sign the hat will last a long time.

  

The mesh used for the back of the hat appears to be an older heavier duty mesh.  This mesh reminds me of the mesh found in older hats, or the hats of my youth.  I still have a couple of these hats, so this is another good sign of lasting quality.

  

The overall designs of all three hats are really just cool.  They look cool and they feel cool, and I am really surprised by how much I like the flat billed hat, since I usually cannot stand them.  The boys and I are really impressed with the construction and feel of the Banner &amp; Oak hats!

Ranger Review: Banner & Oak Hats at Eugene T. Mahoney State Park, NE

Our stay was the weekend of Oct. 26. I prefer primitive camping in secluded areas. Not the case here. Sites are small and very close together. Luckily we stayed at the end of the season so the park wasn’t very busy. We did have semi close RV neighbors and their lights at night illuminated our surroundings. It was windy that weekend so the sound of the leaves and Interstate mostly drowned out the sound of the neighbors. Another downside was how close the park is to the Interstate. Park pricing wasn’t bad and staff was friendly and professional. 
I picked up more trash than we created during our stay, that was unfortunate. Even the fact that someone threw out plastic flower pots, there are dumpsters close by. SMH.

It’s meh

This site backs to trees. Very skinny pad with a large slope and erosion on the way down to your fire pit. They were trying to get grass seed going, but it was a muddy site after the torrential downpour one night. Won't stay at this electric only site again, but will definitely be back for the park. Workers are so polite and friendly. The park itself is beautiful, gorgeous views, beautiful trails and landscaping with many amenities that should be opening back up this weekend with loosening Covid-19 restrictions.

RV site 133

This was a great place to find!  Close enough to Omaha and the zoo, but you really don’t even need to leave the state park to find entertainment! Fishing, paddle boats, pony rides, an aquatic center, mini-golf, playgrounds, and even a ropes and lines obstacle adventure! Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum is also right next door and was a nice place to visit. Full hookups with nice, spacious sites. Could hear the interstate and a train at night, but didn’t really bother us. Everyone here was super friendly. Would definitely be back if headed out this way again. 

Don’t Look Any Further

I have a love, hate relationship with this park.  There are things I like, and things I don't like.  There is plenty of things to do. Swimming and slides at a pool, paddleboats, fishing at some spots, bicycle rentals, ziplines, rock climbing, and other similar activities.  However there are no tent camping,  and the spots are not level, and are small.  The place to me is not relaxing and not quiet, and everytime I have been there it is always packed.  I will say I am probably to only in my family that feels this way.  So if your more of an outdoors men type of person you probably will feel the same way I do.  But I would not dismiss the idea of going to this park.

Love, hate 

My buddies and I rented cabin in the area. Lots of options when it comes to cabins tent areas and RV pads. There is enough here to keep you busy for a long time my favorite is the eagles nest you can see miles down the river. If you have a family I would strongly recommend a visit. Might be biased due to having a bunch of birthday parties here growing up but it’s one of my favorite places to take my son. Photos are taken from river looking at Mahoney.

Mahoney review 

There really is so much to do, from putt putt to iceskating, climbing, the water park, this place has it all. It can be pricey depending on what you're looking for. Cabins are cute and spacious but book up very quickly. Tent camp sites are open more often than not. It is always super busy is the only real downfall.

Fun for All

Probably the nicest State Park I’ve ever stayed at.  We were just there for one night and we arrived after the guard shack had closed.  After hours registration happens at the lodge and it took us a little bit to find it.  The signage is small and hard to read especially at night.  Camp sites were very nice.  We had electric only site and the total was $33 which included $8 park entrance fee.  Bathrooms were dated but adequate.

Beautiful State Park

This is easily the coolest state park I’ve ever visited. On a walk from my campsite, I went by the marina, disc golf course, conservatory, activity center, stables and ropes course. It’s a bit pricey for camping and, my biggest pet peeve of a campsite, I can hear the interstate from my tent. But, overall, it’s a nice site, and I’d probably return. 

Oh, bring bug spray!!!!!

Great state park!

New camper, first trip. Picked up our pull-behind and drove straight here on a recommendation from the dealer. Great location, pretty grounds. Site is good but we didn’t realize it was on a hill when we picked it so the picnic table and fire pit set-up were a bit awkward. We could hear the noise from I-80 pretty well but it wasn’t a deal breaker.  Had a great time!

Eugene T Mahoney SP

As full-time campers we stay at Mahoney quite often as it is close to the Omaha-metro and there are so many things to do within the park: swimming, golf, zip lines, arts &amp; crafts, trails, nature, horses, etc.  Huge amount of walk up sites all year long.  Little Creek campground is the best place to stay for amenities: laundry, hot showers but avoid any campsite located at the bottom of the hill so you are not washed away by rain water or have a site full of mud. 

Great state park with lots of camping and tons of things to do

Had a great time at this state park. Nice clean facilities. Great friendly staff. The fishing was good. Had great neighbors. Plenty of things to do and geocaches were fun. Took part in a birding adventure put on by the state. Learned a lot. Raccoons were going thru the trash cans at night and they were as big or bigger compared to some of the dogs in our campsite. 

Great Location

This is a really nice state park. There are plenty to do. My son and I camped for one night. We went paddle boating, swimming, and horse back riding. The only not so good thing about camping in this park is that it is so close to the interstate. My son was unable to fall asleep. We ended up leaving at 4am. Thankfully, we live close to this place. Overall, it’s a nice campground. It’s serene but not quiet. Also, the men’s restroom, per my son, is dirty and stinky.

Very close to the interstate

We stayed here on a whim while passing through. The woman at the lodge was very helpful with the booking. We stayed at site #94 in the Little Creek campground which had electric hookup. The campground was a nice change of scenery from all the farmland and corn we had to endure in Iowa and in the rest of Nebraska. We saw a couple of white-tailed deer wandering through in the early morning hours. There seems to be a lot more to offer here than we had time to enjoy. Nice state park, would recommend to others and would stay again if ever in the area