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2025

Spots with keyword: check-in

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  • Natural Falls Campground
  • Oklahoma State Parks, Siloam Springs OK
  • The park is pretty cool. It's an easy walk from the campground to the little waterfall, and the boardwalk makes some quite dramatic bridges over the chasm. Yes there is a chasm! Oklahoma State Parks did a very nice job with this. And across the chasm is a frisbee golf course!

  • Buckhorn Campground
  • Army Corps of Engineers - Black Butte Lake, Orland CA
  • Due west of Chico, about 12 miles on the west side of I-5 is Black Butte Lake. There are two ACE campgrounds. This one is the main one, with a nature preserve and large recreation area. Open all year, on a point of land jutting into the lake, quite scenic. This campground is closer to the lake.

  • Meeks Bay
  • Lake Tahoe Basin, Meeks Bay CA
  • On the lake side of 89, a little harbor and campground next to the Native American-owned resort next door. The marina is closed because of the lake level. The highway to the south curves around the campground, so you are closer to the noisy trucks and fleets of motorcycles than you would at first think - not a good thing.

  • Richardson Grove
  • California State Parks, Benbow CA
  • In the redwoods where 101 narrows and winds through the big trees. Next to where Reggae On The River used to happen. The campgrounds are west of the road, the Eel River is to the east. Once you're past the kiosk and in the park, there is an underpass to connect the two. The coolest part of the campground used to be over a little bridge on the Eel River on the east side. It seems to be closed permanently, which is too bad.

  • Springhill Campground
  • Army Corps of Engineers, Ft. Smith AR
  • Really nice place, good bargain. Quiet and natural, but close to civilization. A Loop is more open, on a point of land in a calm little estuary of the Arkansas River. B Loop is in the forest above the actual river. They have showers.

  • Albion River Campground
  • private business Albion CA
  • Looked good on the internet, and probably is good if you're a fisherman with a boat and a huge-ass RV as big as a mobile home.

  • Watauga Dam Campground
  • Tennessee Valley Authority, Valley Forge TN
  • A really nice spot, a fisherman's dream I imagine. This a tailwater campground, that is to say build below the dam on the river. Most of the campsites are right on the river, so folks were fishing right out of the back of their campsites.

  • Toulumne Meadows Campground
  • Yosemite National Park, Lee Vining, CA
  • At 9,300', so a short season. A dusty, cramped, low-amenity national park campground that's in a REALLY cool place.

  • Kern River Campground
  • Kern County Park, Bakersfield CA
  • Quite a nice place, despite the $8 "registration fee". Peaceful and quiet and quite close to Bakersfield. Very pleased to be here.

  • Devil's Lake Campground
  • Oregon State Park, Lincoln City OR
  • in the heart of Lincoln City, tucked away on the northeast corner of the bridge over the teeny-weeny "D" River. Site assigned by front office guy. Sites are close together with little shielding, but everyone is mellow and into their thing, so it's cool.

  • Brierfield Ironworks State Park
  • Alabama State Parks, Brierfield AL
  • A remote, slightly shabby historical park with campground in the hills of Alabama. Nice folks running it. Along with the Ironworks, there's also an historical church and a baseball field.

  • Grover Hot Springs
  • California State Parks, Markleeville CA
  • The springs at Grover gurgle out of the hillside into a beautiful U-shaped alpine meadow. So it should be a groovy, enchanted place, but sadly it is managed by the State Parks system, who do their darnedest to make it prosaic and institutional. The pools are a couple of rectangular concrete tubs - a big one with lukewarm water, and a shallow (3 feet) one, maybe 40x20 which they keep at a pleasantly toasty 104°. You can look over the fence on the uphill side and see the water burble out of the ground and down a sluice to you. There are showers and cubbyholes to store your stuff. There is a campground, which I have never used since it's CA State Parks expensive and there is boondocking three miles down the road.

  • Kankakee Campground
  • Kankakee State Park, Kankakee IL
  • large and pleasant, had to check in with the host

  • Sheridan Lake Campground
  • Black Hills National Forest, Hill City SD
  • I am in Thumper Loop! A lovely, very well maintained large campground. The area is thick grass, but a wide area is mowed around each campsite. Very pleasant place to be out of the madness of Black Hills traffic.

  • Morefield Campground
  • Mesa Verde National Park, Cortez CO
  • National park campgrounds with check in are the worst. The campground is by definition huge, or else they wouldn't pay a staff to check you in. It takes forever because they have to explain the world to each and every guest and it creates a high stress level that is the opposite of what you're there for. However ... once that's over, it's a nice campground! There three different hikes to take from the valley where the campground is back up to the mesa. There are free showers, wifi and food at the check-in place, which is pretty far from the campsites.

  • Arch Rock Campground
  • Keyhole State Park, Moorcroft WY
  • Keyhole State Park covers quite an extensive corner of the Keyhole Reservoir, and there are 6-ish separate campgrounds. The main road is paved, but the campground roads are gravel, leading me to deduce that the bigger the loop, the more gravel dust will cover you as the diesel trucks go round and round. So I am at Arch Rock Campground, the first loop and one of the smallest. Also, no boat ramp means fewer trucks.

  • Fahnestock State Park
  • New York State Parks, Cold Spring NY
  • pleasant but too close to New York. Check in was confusing and a pain. You know you're too close to civilization when there are pizza delivery numbers at the campground office.

  • Myre - Big Island Campground
  • Minnesota State Parks, Albert Lea MN
  • Not real happy here. I am tired and there's no other good options around here, but this is a lot to pay for a place to park. Once I get past check-in, it turns out that the mosquitoes are almost too vicious to deal with. Despite the heat and humidity I live with all doors closed. On the other hand, it's nearly full moon, and along with mosquitoes they have fireflies! So I bundle up i my long pants and hoodie and go on a delightful moonlight walk around the gravel roads of the park. Staying in the open fields of course - the bugs are truly unbearable when you venture into the wooded areas.

  • Cave Springs Campground
  • Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff AZ
  • The largest of the three USFS campgrounds between Sedona and Flagstaff in Oak Creek Canyon. I think this is the least cool. Manzanita is the coolest but always full (11 sites in this giant tourist attraction0), Pine Flat is right next to this one, and looked to be the second coolest. This one's still pretty sweet though ... although I find myself worrying about evacuation routes if this dry, hot canyon was swept by a forest fire. We would all be screwed I think.

  • Bennett Spring Campground
  • Missouri State Parks, Lebanon MO
  • Fourth spring in a row! This one has a fishery. It's very spread out. Long drive up the hill to pick a site, drive back and check in, then later drive back to fish or walk or just see the sites. Swimming not allowed in the park, but just outside and across the bridge is river access where you can swim. Despite the reliance on driving, a very nice place. People were catching lots of fish!

  • Grant Village Campground
  • Yellowstone National Park, Grant Village WY
  • Huge, the overflow lot for the Yellowstone camping system. Annoying check-in procedure where you wait in a long line to be assigned one of 300-something spots by a functionary who does nothing but that all day.