Midwest Camping

DutchmenSport wrote:
My wife and I have camped in almost EVERY state park and State Recreation area in Indiana (except for 4... which we have visited, but never camped there before, so this next summer we are scheduling those State Parks). I say this because we have not been in any bad State Park or State Recreation area anywhere in Indiana. All of them are great! Pick your choice!

X's 2 for Indiana State Parks. Indiana Dunes is one of our favorite but there are many more just as nice. Into Michigan and up around the lake there are several nice places also. For the kids, you may want to look at Holiday World amusement/water park in Santa Claus, IN. It's in southern Indiana and it's a very nice place with a CG right next to it. Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio is another fun amusement park with a CG. Good luck on your search.

What are you calling the Midwest? Including the Great Lakes? Great Plains? Southern Plains?

One area in Wisconsin would be the Dells, my favorite park in the region is Devil's Lake SP. It is a Great Lakes state, but more a midwest part of Wisconsin than a Great Lakes part, being a short drive from northeast Iowa.

You have good access to areas at or near shore of Lake Michigan: Indiana Dunes, Warren Dunes, Grand Haven. Or on up to the NW corner of the Michigan LP, Petoskey to Ludington, where the glacial processes that created Grand Traverse filled the area with some long, deep lakes. Much of the waterfront property has been occupied in summer by wealthy families from Chicago and Detroit areas, but there are state parks (Interlochen a favorite of mine) and commercial resorts as well.

If you include southern Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, in your Midwest, then Land Between the Lakes where the property confiscated when lower Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers were dammed has now been turned into public recreation area, both Federal and state.

But most regional maps now put the name Midwest on what is between the Mississippi and the Rockies, and usually north of Texas. Oklahoma can be either a Midwestern or a Southern state, depending on who is making the map

In your closest part of Missouri (that's usually considered Midwest today) you'll find family fun along the Mississippi River in Hannibal, and water recreation on Mark Twain Lake. Deeper into Missouri, most of the river systems feeding into the lower Missouri have been dammed for flood control, forming large reservoirs like Lake of the Ozarks, which is a huge resort area, water sports and tourist trap fun in addition to the state parks.

There is another complex on the Arkansas River and its tributaries, resort and retirement areas in SW Missouri and NW Arkansas from Springfield/Branson east through the Bentonville/Fayetteville area to Sallisaw, Oklahoma. Resort towns, a kind of "country" Las Vegas, lots of camping on the water in state parks and Corps of Engineer recreational access facilities.

If looking for mountains instead of rivers, the Ozark Mountains will be found in Arkansas between the Missouri line and Arkansas River/I-40, NW of Conway. The rest of what is called the Ozarks is a deeply carved low plateau, but common south off of the flat cornfields, those rocky river valleys make the plateau look like mountains to flatlanders.

For mountain ranges, there are the Ouachita mountains in SW Arkansas and SE Oklahoma, with camping in forests and valleys, scenic drives running on the ridges, looking like a little bit of the southern Appalachians.

Go deeper into Oklahoma, there are more reservoirs on the Arkansas and Illinois rivers and their tributaries, mostly east of I-35. Grand Lake of the Cherokees, Tenkiller Ferry Lake, Lake Eufala being the largest, but many more. CoE Tulsa District manages 29 reservoirs in Oklahoma, Kansas, and N. Texas, as well as Oklahoma's only natural lake, with something more than 200 parks. There is RV camping at another 50 state parks in Oklahoma, most on reservoirs or rivers, and another 25 state parks in Kansas, many on Corps reservoirs or waterways.

I can't help you with Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas, there are enough camping places within a day's drive in Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas that I don't get much further when my purpose is just finding a place to camp.

A real nice state park just outside of Ste. Genevieve, Mo (about 60 miles south of St Louis) is Hawn SP. Small quiet with a small creek and ample hiking trails. Just a few miles west is the Pickle Creek Rec Area with a great hiking trail, day use only. Ste. Gen is a quaint, historic town worth the visit.
Mo State Parks are, IMHO, the best in the nation for what they offer, especially at the price, no day use/admission fee. There are also a slew of COE parks to choose from.

Black Gold,

We're located right outside of StL and really enjoy the camping we have right in our backyard. It sounds like you've already done Rend Lake, but keep in mind there are several different campgrounds to try. Since you seem to enjoy camping around the lakes there are COE campgrounds at Carlyle Lake, Johnson Shut-Ins (Mo), Sam A Baker (MO) is a great park, the kids may enjoy Elephant Rocks State Park (MO) if they are not too young, I think someone has already mentioned French Lick (IN), and you can't forget Lake Rudolph Campground in Santa Claus (IN).

Hope these help.

Doug

Some great Iowa locations: Amana Colonies, Iowa Great Lakes (Okoboji), Des Moines during the state fair (best in the USA), and many nice state parks.

Clearwater lake near Piedmont, MO is excellent! There are two Core of engineer parks with a 2 week limit. We spent a whole summer there just flipping back and forth between the two. Also there is a great Mo State Park.

If you like lakes, you might look into the Great Lakes. As Dutchmen Sport said, Wisconsin has some wonderful state parks, a few of which are on Lake Michigan. They are very popular, so you might be a bit late finding a site (reservable 11 months in advance) but try Kohler-Andrae State Park or Point Beach State Forest. Both very nice wooded/partially wooded campgrounds with electric hookups at many sites. Both are just across a dune or two from the beach. Point Beach has some good sightseeing in the area - some ships and boats (a submarine) to tour, and close to Door County for a day trip.

Another good state park is Indiana Dunes SP near Michigan City, Indiana. It's also on Lake Michigan, and has a view from the beach of downtown Chicago. You can take a commuter train from very close to the park into the city for sightseeing if you wish, or just hang out in the campground and on the beach there. Nice park, electric sites for the most part. Again, very popular - reserve early! Next door to a national lakeshore, with trails you can hike, etc.

Thank you all for the great responses!

With two very small kids, we're still trying to figure out what our "interests" are. We've really enjoyed staying on lakes (Prizer Point KOA - Lake Barkely, Rend Lake, etc.).

We'd prefer to stay at parks with least electric hook-ups.

We're new at this, so we would be up for checking out about any place at least once!

My wife and I have camped in almost EVERY state park and State Recreation area in Indiana (except for 4... which we have visited, but never camped there before, so this next summer we are scheduling those State Parks). I say this because we have not been in any bad State Park or State Recreation area anywhere in Indiana. All of them are great! Pick your choice!

Wisconsin has some really nice State Parks too. Places like the Wisconsin Dells has so much activity, you will come home stone broke! Take lots of money!

One year, for our "big" vacation of the year, we started in Southern Indiana, stayed about 3 nights, then moved to the Central Western part of Indiana and stayed for about 3 nights, then moved to Northern Indiana and stayed for 3 or 4 nights. What were we doing? We searched out Rail Road museums and decided to visit all 7 Rail Road museums in Indiana. We also rode the train at Connersville, French Lick, and Noblesville on that trip. It was quite a fun time. I was into the model railroading at that time, and this gave us actual destination points and activities. It worked out fantastic for us.

What I'm saying is ... if you have a special hobby, or a special interest, maybe you could run a circuit similar to what we did. Your interests might be miniature doll houses, or maybe base ball museums, or race car tracks, or you might be interest in the Civil War, or anything like this. Search your area of interest, see what's located geographically, plot a route, and then look for campgrounds in the area. The Mid West has a lot of STUFF!

How about ghosts? Haunted houses? UFO sitings.

Here's one for you .... "Weird Illinois" or "Weird Indiana" (the series of books).

After we did the train museums, I stumbled into the book called "Weird Indiana". It jam packed full of oddities, like the gigantic pink elephant holding a martinee glass with his truck on Pendleton Pike (Highway 67) east of Indianapolis, or the Masonic Lodge in Indianapolis with the lodge number 666, or the rotating round jail, or the motel that some deranged fellow decided to rent a room, built his own gillitene, drugged himself up, and let his invention chop off his head! I mean "Weird Indiana" is a great book. We keep in the camper all the time now, and when going to a different campground, I pull it out and see if anything is within a reasonable drive. I'm hoping to eventually see everything in that book. The "Weird America" series are a great guide if you run out of places or things to do or see.

Ghost stories and UFO sighting are fun too. Too many take it too serious, but if you go with a light-hearted attitude, it's really a lot of fun. There are books gallore on these subjects and locations.

What I'm sayin' is, pick an area of interest, and try running a circuit. You'll have a blast!