State Park / State Forest · Missouri campground guide
The numbers
Fee range
Free
Season open
Year-round (day-use)
RV size limit
Tent-only
Reservation window
Use adjacent Lake of the Ozarks SP for overnight
The insider read
Castle ruins (1906) atop a 250-ft bluff over Lake of the Ozarks. Day-use only — camp at Lake of the Ozarks SP 5 mi south. Underground stream + sinkhole geology rare for the Midwest.
Original analysis from PickRV — synthesised from public sources you can verify, pulling the operational details competitor guides typically skip.
Verify at mostateparks.comOn site
Book it right
PickRV doesn't handle campground bookings — reserve direct through the official channel so policies and cancellations flow through one record.
Opens mostateparks.com
Every fact above is sourced from the managing agency's canonical page. Cross-check fee, season, and size limit before you depend on them.
Match the campground's size limit and hookup level to a vehicle category, then plan the rest of the trip.
Keep exploring
Near Kaiser
StateInsider tip · Largest MO state park (17,400 acres). Two campgrounds: 1 + 2. Loop 1 has the hookups + closer to swim beach. Loop 2 is quieter wooded.
Near Belleview
StateInsider tip · Granite boulders (1.5-billion-year-old) as big as elephants. Day-use only. The 1-mile Braille Trail is one of the few in the country accessible to blind hikers. Camp at Johnson's Shut-Ins SP 30 min south.
Near Middle Brook
StateInsider tip · Volcanic-rock 'shut-ins' (natural waterslides) on the Black River. 2005 Taum Sauk reservoir breach destroyed the original campground; rebuilt 2009 modern. Required to wear water shoes in the shut-ins.
Near Willow Springs
USFSInsider tip · Quiet 26-acre lake — no-wake. Trout-stocked weekly April-Oct. The North Fork River nearby is the cold-water spring-fed paddle. Cherry-stone agate beach unique.
Your next step
Ha Ha Tonka State Park (no overnight camping on park grounds) is tent-only, so the rig question here is what you sleep in on the nights either side of it — most Missouri loops that include this stop are driven in a rented motorhome.
Nothing in Missouri is bookable today — PickRV opens for bookings on October 25. Dated requests are what we take to owners, so give us the window you actually want — you get one email the day a rig covers it, and nothing else.
Nearby & related
Sourced costs, campground directories, and the places worth a detour — the next layer of Missouri trip planning.
Before you go
Missouri rules
Verified 2026-05-10
