Best Dog-Friendly Camping near Doniphan, NE

Popped in for a quick one night stay on our way west. Chose this place based on reviews on The Dyrt. It is mid week in October but it's so quiet, which we really like. Great pull through spaces with full hook ups and fantastic WiFi which allowed me to get some much needed work in. When I told the owner we had two dogs he put us directly across from the dog park which our pups really liked. Super cute touches around the place including bench swings at all the sites. Looks like the place could be great for families in the summer.

It is directly adjacent to the highway so there is some noise but it's not too bad. We actually felt it was quiet and relaxing.

Family and pet friendly campground

We’d passed through this area a few years ago when traveling I-80 and noticed there was a campground(CG) and golf course here in Waco, NE. We added this CG to our list and finally got a chance to stay here. The CG is a little ways off I-80 and easy to get to. Check-in was quick and easy and we were led to pull through site 303 with FHUs. There are separate prices for weekdays and weekends. The utilities were at the center of the long gravel pad. Water pressure was okay at around 40 psi. We got 2 bars on Verizon. The sites here are decently spaced especially for a private CG. The CG was clean and well-maintained. If there were long-term residents, you could not tell. We were here over a weekend, so there were families and a lot of kids using the swimming pool, mini golf, and the large playground area. Each site, along with a picnic table and fire pit has a bench swing. There’s a decent-sized dog park on the south side and larger one on the north side. The CG has its own tornado siren plus an underground tornado shelter. There’s one cabin for rent. They also have a well-kept laundry room with 2 washers and 2 dryers. York has your main amenities such as Walmart. The golf course right next door is a deceptively tough 9-hole course.

The only way to reserve a site is through camp spot and we have a little trouble with that because it did not let me pick my site number. We arrived Friday evening on Memorial weekend and it was crowded. The campsite is great on the pocketbook but you have to pay a $10 fee to lock in your site and I am so glad we did! There was only three other empty spots in the entire campground and they were all marked reserved when we got there. The campground was pretty busy We were a little disappointed in our site because it was very small and kind of sandwiched between two big campers so not a lot of privacy and not a lot of room. There were a lot of people fishing and kayaking and a lot of dogs. There are showers and bathrooms but they are up near the entrance to the campground although they did have porta potties near the campsites. Although the grounds were well maintained the grass was mowed there was volleyball net setup disc golf available a pet exercise area the fountain was beautiful and shady in most areas. We would probably return on a non-holiday weekend when it's not so busy.

Though located on the North side of the Missouri River, this campground is considered to be in Nebraska. Run by the US Corp of Engineers, there are no state permits required. We paid $16/night, but it’s possible that we could have gotten 50% off with our America the Beautiful pass. I just forgot to check and didn’t think to include the pass when registering.

The site was electric only and I don’t believe full hookups are a available at the campground. We snagged this site, in what is normally a fully booked campground, thanks to Campnab.

The site was paved and had an area covered with small rocks where the picnic table and fire pit were located. We had two trees at the north of our site that facilitated hanging the hammock with extended straps and also a tree on the west side of the site. The bath/shower house was a short walk (as was water access) and were very, very well kept and clean. Contractors live on site and clean several times a day. It was a great area for riding bikes and was very family and pet friendly.

Close to I-80 but you can’t hear the interstate traffic. Owners are super nice and the dogs had a great time playing in the pond.

We stayed here Sunday night of Labor Day weekend on a cross country trip. We arrived late, and were able to use after hours self check in. There were about 8 sites empty in the grounds, and we were happily surprised by how peaceful and well spaced the camping spots were, many backing up to a lake. There were also nice trails to walk with the dogs in the morning. 

Downsides: one of the electrical outlets didn’t work on our post, there were some crazy burrs we had to cut out of our dog’s fur, no recycling, and some amenities were hard/unable to find.

Campground Review

We pulled into The Double Nickel Campground off of I-80 at the Waco exit(360) in Nebraska and were pleasantly surprised. We had a pull-thru site with Electric and Water. The site was a level, gravel pad with a picnic table and a large fire ring and a cute wooden double swing.

We learned that the owners Jeff and Amanda had bought the campgrounds in 2014 and moved here from Georgia. They have been working hard to improve it and are going to be making all RV sites into full hookups this winter. They also had started decorating for a haunted Halloween at the campgrounds.

This campground had free putt putt golf, video games, volleyball, yard games, playgrounds, a swimming pool, kids toys and books, crafts, and even an outdoor movie. Lots to do for family fun. There was also a golf course right next to the campgrounds.

The campgrounds offered tent and RV camping with Electric and Water to full hookups. There was free Wifi. The owner brought our firewood to the site and there was trash pick up at the site. There was a fenced in dog run for the pups. The only con was the interstate noise which we got use to. Everyone was very friendly and we made new camper friends and enjoyed fellowship around the campfire swapping stories and listening to the coyotes chattering in the distance. We will definitely return.

Product Review

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, I get products to test from time to time. At this campsite my husband and I tested the Midland ER 210 Emergency Weather Radio and XTalker T31 Walkie Talkie Bundle. Some of great features and things I liked about the Emergency Weather Radio are

1. The ultrasonic dog whistle and flashing beacon to help aid search and rescue locate you in case you are lost or hurt.
2. Loved all the different ways to charge this Radio. You can use the solar panel, the crank, the rechargeable batteries, or 6 AA batteries, making it a great tool to have.
3. When we were listening to the radio, a siren went off to alert us that we were in a severe thunderstorm watch and that high winds were expected.

The XTalker T31 Walkie Talkies have

1. Split chargers making them easy to charge
2. A call or page button to call each other
3. Ease of use

September is Emergency Prepareness Month and this bundle will definitely be a great asset to have especially here in Nebraska where the weather can turn bad quickly. Please check them out at https://midlandusa.com

While camping at Morman Island, we went through one of the worst storms! 85 to 90 mile an hour winds with hail! It was bad enough to go through the storm but it really was bad that not one person from the campground came around to check on us the next morning! They really just concentrated on the clean up. The priorities were messed up. At the time of the storm there were only 25 campers in the whole place. How long would it have taken to check on the well being of those 25 campers! There was no prior warning of the storm from anybody at the campground. Other campgrounds that we’ve stayed at, we always have had a heads up. The pictures are from the morning after. Not just a little blow! Overall the visit wasn’t the best with the storm and all. There are several rules that are clearly posted throughout the grounds and at the pond. Dogs on a 6 ft leash. No floaties in the swimming area. No dogs on the beach. No parking on the grass. All of these were being violated and not one person from the staff could be seen addressing any issues. People were doing whatever they wanted to. I would have loved to let my dog go swimming but it was against the rules. The section we were in was a new section, but we could not even let our dog out in our camp site because of an abundance of stickers and burrs! She at one point just laid down because of her paws filled with burrs and could not walk any more. This was in our site. I’m not sure if anyone else had the same problem. The facilities were very clean. (They need a shower house in the new section). Making the reservation was very easy. The people we did talk to were very nice.

New owners as of Jan 2023! Super nice people! Bathrooms are in great condition, nice large area to walk your dog around to potty, very conveniently off I80 but not annoyingly loud from Highway.

Nice campground

• paved & level parking pads
• decent bathrooms
• Showers could use a cleaning.
• very few campers on a Tuesday in Oct
• nice paths for an after dinner stroll with the dogs
• att cell service is good
• no internet
• easy acces from the Highway
• lots of Highway truck noise

Nice trail around the outside that wove in and out of the trees for dog walking. Otherwise, I'm in an RV so no road noise. One caution for Verizon users who want to work during the day, the wireless is slow. Great after traffic slows but completely unworkable otherwise.

We stopped at this KOA on our way home from the Black Hills. It's just off the highway and pretty big. Nice pool and large playground for the kids, a small dog run (with all the room they had, you'd think they could make this a bit bigger), a pizza place that makes it right there and delivers to your camp site. We were impressed with the quality. Not the BEST PIZZA EVER, but certainly better than expected and nice when it's too windy out to grill. Plenty of sites and hook ups for everything from the biggest RV to the smallest tent. A good choice for a stop along the way. Watch the spring time weather though, it can get nasty!

I wasn’t going to write a review about the roughness of the campground, the very small and dirty showers and bathrooms, nor the very dirty museum(the pictures must have been when it was newer) until Mary, who checked me in, called my daughter a liar and told me I was going to have a life of disappointment because I don’t discipline her(texts attached). 

I’m a PA member and found this place on their app. I was excited as that’s what my 11 year-old and I have been doing this school year. In fact, we had just stayed two days at Laura Ingalls Wilder’s house! Mary took my reservation on the phone and let me know sewer hookups were reserved for non-PA guests first. This was fine, though three of those nine spots were vacant both nights we were there. 

We have two dogs with us. I let Mary know and she indicated that was fine as long as they were well-behaved. I told her they are. She told me they needed to be leashed, and I said, “Of course!” She continued to tell me a dog had been running loose that day for more than five minutes while she called it and while she understands sometimes they get out, this was just not ok. I agreed whole-heartedly. 

I was surprised when we got there because the pictures on PA and on their website look tree-lined, grassy, and well-kept. It is rough. The grass is patchy and it’s more gravel than not. There are buildings around the RV sites that look like they’ve been abandoned for decades and they are the motel! It’s certainly not $35/night nice. It did come with a free ticket to the museum, so that was cool. 

The museum has neat stuff. It’s very run-down and dirty; I was sneezy and some of the cooler buildings were very smelly. We’ve been in a lot of museums lately and this was both the most expensive and the least well-kept, which is too bad, because the stuff is cool. There are people restoring things and I hope that’s where the money’s going and it gets better. 

After we had been gone for more than 24 hours I received a message from Mary implying that I’m a bad parent and my child is a liar. Remember, there was a dog loose Mary was calling for the day we arrived. No one said anything while we were there, because I believe it didn’t happen the way she says. We have been traveling most of this school year. We’ve been in campgrounds ranging from National Parks to Disney; basic to fancy. Through 22 states no one has accused us of not cleaning up after ourselves. We are diligent about it because I highly dislike it in others.

Streeter park in aurora Nebraska, nice shade trees, sites were gravel/grass back in’s, was hot and glad to have free electricity and water, trash & dump station nearby, also water park across the road but didn’t use it, stayed 1 night,,