Canoeing/Kayaking

Camp Lakewood Campground

52 RV Sites, 3 Tent Sites

Camp Lakewood Campground in Effingham, Illinois, offers 52 RV sites and three tent sites within a mile of both I-70 and I-57, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 120 feet. Premium pull-through categories, including one with a patio, join full-hookup and water-and-electric back-in tiers, with an outdoor pool, boat ramp, and game room. Fifty-two sites span back-in 30-amp, back-in 30/50-amp, back-in water-and-electric, premium pull-thru, premium pull-thru with patio, and pull-thru 30/50-amp categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted with site WiFi, sized to 120 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. One hundred twenty feet is among the most generous capacities anywhere and accommodates anything on the road. Confirm your tier, as the water-and-electric category does not carry sewer at the site. Three tent sites round out the lodging. A laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. If you arrive after the office closes with a reservation, your name will be on an envelope with your site details. An outdoor pool anchors the summer, with a boat ramp for canoeing, kayaking, and fishing, and a game room, playground, and swimming filling the rest. Pets are welcome. Effingham is the crossroads city of downstate Illinois, where I-70 and I-57 meet — one of the most convenient overnight stops in the Midwest. Demand tracks interstate traffic rather than a season. Reserve ahead for holiday travel periods.

from $35/night

Sankoty Lakes

Sankoty Lakes Resort in East Peoria brings a genuinely exceptional resort experience to the Illinois River Valley — built on the crystal-clear waters of the Sankoty Aquifer, one of the deepest and cleanest natural water sources in the Midwest, where spring-fed lakes have the remarkable clarity of a mountain trout stream in the flatlands of central Illinois. Twenty minutes from Peoria and two and a half hours from Chicago, Sankoty Lakes offers resort-quality amenities and a natural setting that consistently surprises guests who didn't know this caliber of Illinois camping experience existed. Accommodations range from glamping safari tents and well-appointed RV sites to upscale lakeside cabins sleeping up to eight guests — each with fully equipped kitchens, decks, and outdoor fire pits — and the exclusive 1840 Ranch House, a private guest property suited for larger groups and special occasion gatherings. The Woolly Bugger, Sankoty's signature on-site restaurant and bar, provides full-service dining and evening atmosphere that sets this resort clearly apart from conventional campground food. A beach pavilion and bathhouse, outdoor fireplace, free bicycles for guest use, picnic spots, a 24-hour front desk, and a coffee shop deliver service quality alongside the outdoor recreation. Pets are welcome at Sankoty Lakes Resort. The Sankoty Aquifer lakes provide a water recreation environment of genuinely unusual quality — the kind of visibility that makes kayaking, canoeing, and swimming feel like engagement with a natural aquarium rather than typical Midwest lake recreation. A dedicated fly-fishing trout stream on the property adds a specialty fishing experience alongside the lakes' broader angling, birdwatching, and hiking trails that keep guests occupied from dawn into the evening hours. Peoria, 20 minutes from the resort, offers more cultural depth than its Midwest city reputation sometimes suggests. The Caterpillar Visitors Center chronicles the engineering achievements of one of the world's great manufacturing companies in an interactive exhibition that resonates well beyond industrial tourism. The Peoria Riverfront Museum combines natural history, art, and a giant-screen theater in a well-funded facility anchoring the riverfront. The Peoria Zoo and the Historic District's restaurants and live music venues fill an evening excursion with ease. Starved Rock State Park, roughly an hour east, provides the Illinois River's most dramatic canyon scenery with 18 canyons, waterfalls, and trails for a full day of hiking. Sankoty Lakes Resort operates through the Illinois camping and resort season, with summer representing peak demand for the lakes' swimming, kayaking, and fishing recreation. The Woolly Bugger restaurant and the resort's premium amenity level have created a devoted local following — Sankoty lakes guests often describe the resort as a destination in its own right rather than a base camp for elsewhere. Reserve early for summer weekends and cabins, which fill ahead of RV and glamping tent availability.

eXplore Brown County

11 RV Sites, 14 Tent Sites, 5 Onsite RV/Trailers

eXplore Brown County in Nashville, Indiana, offers 16 full-hookup RV sites, 14 tent sites, and five named retro camper rentals — Betty, Gladys, Lucy, Sophia, and Wanda — across 500-plus acres of hardwood hills, with 30-amp service and rigs accepted to 40 feet. Zip lines, a four-acre fishing lake, and an event gallery make this the most activity-dense outdoor complex in the state. Sixteen back-in sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30-amp, sized to 40 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables; water-and-electric sites are also available. Fourteen tent sites and the five retro campers round out the accommodations. A dump station, restrooms, showers, firewood, and WiFi handle the practical side. Recreation is the entire proposition. Fourteen zip lines, two sky bridges, and a rappelling tower run through the canopy above the forested ridges, including the longest, fastest, and highest twin zip line in Indiana. A four-acre lake supports fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and boat rentals, with mountain biking, hiking, walking trails, volleyball, horseshoes, corn hole, and a playground besides. A recreation center and cabins fill out the property, and off-roading is nearby. The Gallery serves as a wedding and event venue, seating up to 165 guests indoors with additional porch seating. Pets are welcome. The property sits within the landscape of Brown County State Park, Indiana's largest, 15 minutes from the artists' village of Nashville. Southern Indiana's hardwood hills make this one of the Midwest's most celebrated fall color destinations. October foliage and summer adventure programming drive demand. With 16 RV sites on a property this busy, reserve well ahead.

Muncie RV Resort

40 RV Sites, 2 Cabins, 10 Tent Sites, 2 Yurts

Muncie RV Resort in Anderson, Indiana, sits along a mile of White River frontage in Madison County — a campground with spacious full-hookup RV sites, cabin accommodations, and direct river access in north-central Indiana's Mounds State Park corridor, giving guests the combination of developed resort infrastructure and immediate natural river character that the White River's wooded Anderson-area banks provide in the agricultural Indiana landscape between Indianapolis and Muncie. The resort's White River position in the Tipton Till Plain's modest but genuinely pleasant wooded river valley creates the specific camping setting that distinguishes a riverfront property from the surrounding flat Indiana agricultural landscape's typical campground environment. Spacious full-hookup RV sites and cabin accommodations give guests the complete accommodation range from self-contained RV travelers to guests arriving without equipment for the Madison County outdoor and cultural experience. The mile of White River frontage gives the resort its defining natural amenity — river fishing, morning walks along the bank, and the sound of moving water that river-adjacent camping specifically provides — in a stretch of the White River that the surrounding conservation land and the nearby Mounds State Park's protected corridor keep in a natural character appropriate to its proximity to a major Indiana metropolitan market. Pets are welcome. Mounds State Park, immediately east of Anderson in Madison County, preserves 10 earthwork mounds built by the Adena and Hopewell cultures between 160 BCE and 1200 CE — the most accessible and most historically significant prehistoric earthwork site in Indiana, where the Great Mound's 9-foot height and 384-foot-circumference ridge earthwork represents a specific ceremonial landscape whose astronomical alignments and geometric precision reflect sophisticated cosmological knowledge. The park's 10 miles of hiking trails through forested ravines along the White River's scenic character give the historic site a natural recreation dimension that extends the visit well beyond the earthworks' historical interpretation. Conner Prairie Interactive History Park, 30 miles southwest of Anderson in Hamilton County's Noblesville, is the most immersive and most visited living history museum in Indiana — a Smithsonian Institution affiliate where costumed interpreters in the 1836 Prairietown village and the Civil War Journey exhibit engage visitors in first-person historical encounters that the museum's research-driven authenticity standards make more substantive than typical living history presentations. The adjacent Balloon Flight experience above the Hamilton County countryside provides an aerial perspective on the Indiana landscape that gives Conner Prairie a physical adventure dimension alongside its educational programming. Muncie RV Resort serves guests year-round in north-central Indiana's four-season climate, with the spring and summer season from May through September providing the most comfortable White River outdoor recreation conditions and the fall foliage season adding color to the river corridor's hardwood forest from October through early November. Indianapolis, 40 miles southwest, provides the major metropolitan entertainment access — the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the May racing season, the Children's Museum of Indianapolis (the world's largest children's museum), and the Indianapolis Symphony's Hilbert Circle Theatre programming — that gives the Anderson campground base a practical metropolitan day-trip dimension. Reserve sites ahead for the Indianapolis 500 in May and any major Madison County event weekends when north-central Indiana camping demand fills available accommodation.

from $27/night

Hickory Grove Campground & RV Park

11 RV Sites

Hickory Grove Campground & RV Park in Sheffield, Illinois, offers 11 full-hookup RV sites with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 90 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, in Bureau County's Illinois River valley. Back-in and pull-through categories join tent camping, cabins, walking trails, and a dog park. Eleven sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 20, 30, and 50-amp in back-in and pull-through configurations, sized to 90 feet. The 90-foot capacity is generous for a park this size and handles a long coach with a tow comfortably. Tent camping and cabins round out the accommodations. Clean restrooms, showers, and laundry handle the practical side. At 11 sites, reserve rather than counting on availability. Pets are welcome. A playground, dog park, and walking trails fill the grounds, with hiking, biking, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fishing, horseshoes, and picnicking from the area. Boating and a state park are nearby. Sheffield sits in the rolling agricultural and woodland countryside of north-central Illinois, between the Hennepin and Walnut river communities in the Illinois River valley's northern corridor. The Illinois and Mississippi Canal State Trail runs nearby, and the Bureau County landscape carries good hunting and fishing alongside day-trip range across the region. The campground serves the Illinois season, with summer travel and fall hunting both drawing steadily. Spring and fall deliver the most comfortable conditions in the river valley. With 11 sites, reserve ahead for holiday weekends.

from $63 $55/night

Elkhart RV Resort

36 RV Sites, 22 Cabins, 4 Tent Sites

Elkhart RV Resort in Granger, Indiana, provides full-service RV and camping accommodations in St. Joseph County's northwestern Indiana landscape — a campground positioned at the intersection of South Bend's urban amenities, the University of Notre Dame's nationally significant cultural and athletic presence, and the broader northern Indiana recreation corridor that encompasses Amish country, the St. Joseph River, and the Indiana Dunes coast along Lake Michigan's southern shore. Granger's suburban position adjacent to South Bend gives the resort a practical accessibility that suits both through-travelers on the Michigan-to-Indiana highway corridor and destination guests arriving specifically for the Notre Dame experience. Full-hookup RV sites, premium tent sites, and cabin accommodations give guests a range of lodging options within a well-maintained campground that takes practical hospitality seriously — an on-site restaurant provides sit-down dining without requiring a vehicle trip to town, a convenience store handles snack and supply needs between outings, and free Wi-Fi, clean restrooms, and showers address the daily infrastructure needs of guests on extended stays. A swimming pool provides warm-weather recreation on camp, and the playground serves traveling families with younger guests. Pets are welcome. The University of Notre Dame in South Bend, three miles south of Granger, is one of the most architecturally distinctive and culturally significant university campuses in the United States — the Golden Dome, the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, Touchdown Jesus, and the broader campus's Gothic and collegiate landscape are worth a walking tour independent of any game-day visit. Notre Dame football home game weekends are among the most intensely anticipated events in the college football calendar and drive accommodation demand across all of northern Indiana's capacity — campground sites for home game weekends require advance reservation months ahead. Shipshewana, LaGrange County's Amish community hub approximately 40 miles east of Granger, is the center of one of the largest Amish settlements in the United States and provides a genuinely different pace and character from the South Bend area's urban energy — the Shipshewana Flea Market, horse-drawn buggy traffic, and the handcraft tradition of the LaGrange County Amish community have made the area one of Indiana's most consistently visited tourist destinations. The Indiana Dunes National Park on Lake Michigan's southern shore, accessible west of South Bend, adds one of the most surprisingly dramatic landscapes in the Midwest to the day-trip roster. Elkhart RV Resort operates through the Indiana camping season, with the combination of Notre Dame football in September through November and the broader Amish country tourism through spring and fall creating a multi-season demand structure that distinguishes northern Indiana campgrounds from purely summer-seasonal operations. Notre Dame home game weekends require the earliest advance planning of any campground booking in northern Indiana. The summer recreation season — Lake Michigan beaches, the Indiana Dunes National Park, and South Bend's River Lights district — drives June through August peak demand through a different visitor demographic than the football and Amish country audiences.

from $48/night

Jellystone Park™ Pittsfield

90 RV Sites, 52 Cabins, 5 Tent Sites, 4 Glamping Sites, 6 Cottages

Jellystone Park Pittsfield in Illinois offers 90 RV sites, 52 cabins, five tent sites, and four glamping sites on a private lake, with 30 and 50-amp full hookups and rigs accepted to 60 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout, open all year. Back-in and pull-through categories at both amperages join a splash pad, beach, jumping pillow, and boat rentals. Ninety sites run in back-in 30-amp, back-in 50/30-amp, and pull-through 50/30-amp categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with site WiFi, sized to 60 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Fifty-two cabins, five tent sites, and four glamping sites make the lodging inventory unusually deep. A general store, boutique shop, laundry, propane fills and exchange, dump station, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. Day passes run 11am to 6pm and include the jumping pillow, wibit, pool, slide, splash pad, paddle boards, and kayaks. A splash pad and outdoor pool anchor the summer, with a private lake, beach, and boat rentals supporting swimming, boating, paddle boats, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, inflatable water toys, and fishing. A jumping pillow, arcade, game room, gem mining, sports courts, volleyball, gaga ball, horseshoes, golf cart rentals, walking trails, hiking, biking, a recreation center, playground, pavilion, dog park, bar, and snack bar fill the rest. Pike County sits where the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers define the western Illinois landscape. Summer is decisively the season. Reserve well ahead.

from $43/night

Sun Retreats Rock River

142 RV Sites, 52 Tent Sites, 7 Cottages

Sun Retreats Rock River in Hillsdale, Illinois, offers 142 RV sites, seven cottages, and 52 tent sites on the Rock River, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 55 feet behind a gated entrance. Deluxe waterfront and 50-amp pull-through categories join a splash pad, beach, mini-golf, and fitness center on concrete pads with patios. One hundred forty-two sites span deluxe water-and-electric 30-amp, deluxe water-and-electric 50-amp, deluxe water-and-electric 50-amp pull-through, and deluxe waterfront categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted with site WiFi, sized to 55 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Seasonal concrete-pad sites with patios are the property's signature. Seven cottages and 52 tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills and exchange, restrooms, showers, firewood, RV storage, and boat storage handle the practical side. The property was formerly Sunset Lakes RV Resort. An outdoor pool and splash pad anchor the summer, with a lake, beach, and boat docks supporting boating, paddle boats, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. Mini-golf, a fitness center, craft room, library, jumping pillow, gaga ball, tennis, pickleball, volleyball, basketball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and corn hole fill the grounds, with walking trails, a playground, dog park, snack bar, and on-site dining besides. Pets are welcome. The Quad Cities sit 15 minutes south, with the Rock River's limestone bluffs framing the property. Summer is the season. Reserve well ahead.

from $49/night

Natural Springs Resort

98 RV Sites

Natural Springs Resort in New Paris, Ohio, offers 68 RV sites across 46 acres around a 12-acre spring-fed lake, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 72 feet. Full-hookup and water-and-electric back-in categories at both amperages join a water park, splash pad, beach, and boat ramp — with scuba diving on the lake. Sixty-eight back-in sites span 30-amp, 50-amp, water-and-electric 30-amp, and water-and-electric categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted, sized to 72 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Confirm your tier before booking, as the water-and-electric categories do not carry sewer at the site. Seventy-two feet is generous for the region. A general store, laundry, propane fills, dump station, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. A water park and splash pad anchor the summer, with an outdoor pool alongside. The spring-fed lake is the property's centerpiece, with a beach, boat ramp, paddle boats, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, fishing, and scuba diving — the clarity of spring-fed water makes diving viable here in a way it simply is not on most Midwestern lakes. Basketball, volleyball, biking, golf cart rentals, and a playground fill the rest. Pets are welcome. New Paris sits in Preble County's western Ohio countryside, a few miles from the Indiana border and within comfortable driving range of Richmond, Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus. Summer is decisively the season. Reserve well ahead for June through August weekends.

from $48/night

Forest Haven Campground

39 RV Sites, 14 Tent Sites

On 70 wooded acres in Decatur, Michigan—in Van Buren County in southwestern Michigan's fruit belt where the hardwood forest, the pond-dotted agricultural landscape, and the proximity to the Lake Michigan shoreline, the St. Julian Winery, and the Paw Paw wine corridor create the rural wine country camping environment that the Van Buren County summer draws from the Chicago, Indianapolis, and Grand Rapids markets—Forest Haven RV Park and Campground provides 100 full hookup 30-amp sites and 10 water-and-electric tent sites on a 70-acre hardwood forest property, a pond for kayaking, paddleboarding, and fishing, a swimming pool, an 18-hole mini golf course, hiking trails, golf cart rentals, a game room, a dog park, laundry, and showers in a campground whose forested Van Buren County setting and southwestern Michigan wine trail proximity create the understated rural retreat that the Lake Michigan corridor's most wine-productive county provides within an hour of Indiana and two hours of Chicago. Seventy forested acres. A fishing and kayaking pond. Van Buren County wine trail outside the gate. The 100 full hookup sites and 10 water-and-electric tent sites across 70 forested acres create the wooded campsite density that the hardwood forest canopy sustains with the shade and natural privacy that the open-field Michigan campground market doesn't provide at this scale. The pond—stocked for bass and panfish and calm enough for kayak, paddleboard, and paddle boat recreation—creates the natural water amenity that supplements the swimming pool's controlled-water recreation in the forested setting that Van Buren County's agricultural and woodland landscape produces. The 18-hole mini golf course, hiking trails through the hardwood forest, and the game room create the on-property activity inventory for the non-pond and non-pool day, and the golf cart rentals provide the campground mobility and the forest road exploration that the 70-acre property's trail network supports. Decatur sits in Van Buren County on US-51 between Kalamazoo and South Haven, in the agricultural community whose position in southwestern Michigan's fruit belt—the peach, blueberry, and grape production that Lake Michigan's moderating effect on the climate creates in the narrow coastal band between the lake and the interior—supports both the fresh-produce farm stand culture and the winery corridor that US-12 and M-43's Paw Paw and Lawton wine trail sustains. St. Julian Winery in Paw Paw, 15 miles north—the oldest and largest winery in Michigan, producing award-winning Rieslings and sparkling wines since 1921—anchors the wine trail alongside Lemon Creek Winery, Free Run Cellars, and the 30-plus tasting rooms that Van Buren and Berrien Counties' vineyard concentration creates in the most productive wine region between New York's Finger Lakes and California's Napa Valley. South Haven, 25 miles west on US-109, provides the Lake Michigan harbor town's lighthouse at the Black River's mouth, the Kal-Haven Trail's 34-mile paved rail-trail from Kalamazoo to South Haven's lakeshore, and the South Beach and North Beach's Lake Michigan swimming that the Van Buren County lake tourism identifies with most completely. The Warren Dunes State Park, 30 miles west near Sawyer, provides the 240-foot sand dunes and 3 miles of Lake Michigan beach that creates the region's most dramatic lakeshore landscape. Forest Haven operates seasonally from mid-April through mid-October in Van Buren County's temperate Great Lakes climate, with the summer peak from Memorial Day through Labor Day the most active period and the fall color in the hardwood forest from late September through mid-October providing the most visually distinctive camping season in the campground's annual calendar. Reserve your wooded site at Forest Haven and let the 70-acre hardwood forest, the pond's kayaking and fishing, and Van Buren County's wine trail deliver the southwestern Michigan rural retreat that the fruit belt's most forested campground provides.

from $35/night

Jellystone Park™ Barton Lake

328 RV Sites, 65 Cabins, 26 Tent Sites, 21 Cottages, 1 Lodge

Jellystone Park Barton Lake in Fremont, Indiana, offers 328 full-hookup RV sites, 87 cabin, cottage, and lodge units, and 26 tent sites on a lake, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 42 feet. Lakefront standard, buddy, and buddy trio categories join preferred tiers, alongside a water park, indoor and outdoor pools, splash pad, and laser tag. Three hundred twenty-eight sites span lakefront standard back-in 30-amp, lakefront standard back-in, lakefront standard buddy, lakefront standard buddy trio, and preferred categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with site WiFi, sized to 42 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. The buddy trio category is unusual — three rigs traveling together, side by side. Note the 42-foot cap. Eighty-seven cabins, cottages, and lodges and 26 tent sites round out the lodging. A laundry, propane fills and exchange, dump station, restrooms, and firewood handle the practical side. A daily resort fee covers mini-golf, the playground, and the wider amenity program. A water park, splash pad, and both indoor and outdoor pools anchor the recreation, with a beach, boat ramp, boat docks, boat rentals, and kayak rentals opening the lake for boating, paddle boats, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and fishing. Mini-golf, laser tag, an arcade, jumping pillow, gem mining, sports courts, basketball, volleyball, a craft room, recreation center, golf cart rentals, playground, pavilion, on-site dining, and a snack bar fill the rest. Steuben County calls itself the Land of 101 Lakes. Summer is decisively the season. Reserve well ahead.

from $40/night

Sweet Minihaha Campground

26 RV Sites, 50 Tent Sites

Sweet Minihaha Campground in Brodhead, Wisconsin, is a riverside family campground with RV and tent sites on the Sugar River, and kayak rentals available on site. Sites accommodate rigs up to 27 feet, which makes this a better fit for smaller trailers and vans than for big coaches. The campground sits in Green County on US-14, about an hour south of Madison. RV sites take rigs to 27 feet, and tent sites serve campers who want the riverbank without hauling a trailer. Facilities are deliberately simple: bathrooms on site, firewood available, and recycling provided. Guests who need full hookups or extensive infrastructure should note that this is a riverside campground rather than a resort, and it is priced and equipped accordingly. The Sugar River is the reason to come. Kayak rentals are available on site, and the river's flatwater character makes it forgiving for paddlers of any experience level — a genuine advantage over the faster Wisconsin rivers to the north. Fishing and canoeing round out the water recreation. The Sugar River State Trail, a 23-mile rail-trail crossing five historic river bridges between New Glarus and Brodhead, runs close by for cyclists and, in winter, cross-country skiers. Pets are welcome. New Glarus is nine miles north on WI-69 — the most authentically Swiss village in the Midwest, founded in 1845, home to the New Glarus Brewing Company and the Wilhelm Tell outdoor drama each September. Monroe, 14 miles southwest, is the Swiss cheese capital of the United States and hosts Cheese Days in even-numbered years. Sweet Minihaha runs from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day. Summer river recreation and rail-trail cycling drive peak demand, and the fall cheese-country touring season follows through October and November. Reserve ahead for summer weekends and for the Wilhelm Tell and Cheese Days event dates.

from $43/night