Pet Friendly

Hickory Haven Campground

50 Tent Sites

Situated on 27 shaded acres just north of Keokuk, Iowa, Hickory Haven Campground has built a devoted following since 1993 by offering a well-rounded, family-friendly camping experience at the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers—one of the most historically significant waterways in the American Midwest. Half a mile off Highway 61/218 with quick access to both the river corridor and Keokuk's attractions, the campground combines full hookup sites, a well-equipped pavilion, and a range of activities that make it easy to fill a long weekend without leaving the property. The river culture of southeastern Iowa surrounds the entire experience. Full hookup sites are shaded and well-maintained, with water, electric, and sewer hookups, picnic tables, and clean restrooms complemented by laundry facilities and a general store. A pavilion equipped with a fridge, griddle, BBQ grill, and gas fire pit makes group gatherings comfortable, and outdoor movie nights with popcorn add a social dimension to summer evenings. Walking trails wind through the property's wooded terrain, and a serene fishing pond provides immediate angling access. Pickleball courts, cornhole, a playground, a dog park, EV charging, and community fire pits round out an unusually complete amenity package for a property of this size. The natural setting of southeastern Iowa has a quiet, river-valley beauty that rewards attention. The campground's heavy shade canopy—hickories, oaks, and cottonwoods—creates a cool, dappled atmosphere even on hot summer days, and the sounds of the property carry the character of a Midwestern camping tradition that goes back generations. Stargazing from the campground on clear nights is excellent, and the general pace of the grounds is unhurried in a way that contrasts pleasantly with busier resort destinations. Keokuk sits at the confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi Rivers and offers genuine historical depth. Lock and Dam No. 19, the largest lock on the entire Mississippi River system, is a local landmark worth visiting for the engineering spectacle alone. The Mississippi River National Wildlife Refuge flanks the corridor with outstanding birding—bald eagles winter along the Keokuk stretch in impressive numbers—and the broader Great River Road connects to river towns in both directions. Mark Twain's hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, is less than an hour south for a deeper dive into Mississippi River literary and cultural history. Hickory Haven Campground is a warm-weather operation that books up for summer weekends through a combination of loyal returning guests and destination campers drawn to the river country. The combination of full hookups, recreational amenities, a shaded natural setting, and proximity to the Mississippi makes it a standout campground in an often-overlooked corner of Iowa. Whether you're following the Great River Road, exploring the lock and dam culture of the upper Mississippi, or simply looking for a well-run campground with good shade and solid amenities, Hickory Haven delivers. Reserve your site and discover what southeastern Iowa's river country has to offer.

from $25/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

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.

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

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

Jellystone Park™ Monticello

188 RV Sites, 8 Cabins, 9 Tent Sites

Jellystone Park Monticello in Iowa offers 188 RV sites, eight cabins, and nine tent sites on the Maquoketa River, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service, ADA-accessible sites, and rigs accepted up to 120 feet. Premium riverside, full hookup, and electric-only categories join a splash pad, disc golf course, and beach in Jones County. One hundred eighty-eight sites span 20/30-amp electric back-in, 20/30/50-amp electric back-in, 30/50-amp full hookup back-in, 30/50-amp full hookup pull-through, and premium riverside categories, sized to 120 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. The 120-foot capacity is exceptional, and the electric-only tier gives self-contained rigs a lower rate. Accessible sites are available. Eight cabins and nine tent sites round out the lodging. A general store, boutique shop, laundry, propane fills, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. Day use runs $10 per person, with WIBIT passes $20 Sunday through Friday. A splash pad, outdoor pool, and inflatable water toys anchor the summer, with the river and lake supporting boat rentals, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, fishing, and a beach. A disc golf course, jumping pillow, basketball, gem mining, golf cart rentals, a playground, on-site dining, and a bar fill the rest, with live music and planned activities through the season. Pets are welcome. Monticello sits between Dubuque and Cedar Rapids, near Maquoketa Caves State Park. Summer is decisively the season. Reserve well ahead.

from $31/night

Jellystone Park™ Mark Twain Lake

7 RV Sites, 33 Cabins, 12 Tent Sites, 1 Lodge

Jellystone Park at Mark Twain Lake in Monroe City, Missouri, delivers the full Yogi Bear resort camping experience on the shores of Mark Twain Lake—a 18,600-acre reservoir on the Salt River in the northeastern Missouri prairie—creating a destination that combines one of the Midwest's most comprehensive Jellystone activity rosters with the fishing, boating, and natural exploration opportunities of a major Missouri reservoir set in the landscape of Mark Twain's boyhood territory along the Mississippi River's western bank. The park's extraordinary amenity depth and the lake's recreational resources combine to make this one of the Jellystone system's most capable Midwest family destinations. The park's resort infrastructure is exceptional even by Jellystone standards: a water park with splash pad, lazy river, and pool, mini-golf, a snack bar, bar, boutique shop, general store, golf cart rentals, boat storage, RV storage, full hookup sites, and cabin rentals form the physical plant, while the activity calendar delivers gold panning and gem mining, jumping pillow, gaga ball, horseshoes, corn hole, laser tag, volleyball, basketball, biking, stargazing, live music and entertainment, and the signature Yogi Bear character experiences that define the Jellystone brand's family entertainment identity. The pond and lake access extend the fishing and non-motorized water recreation opportunities beyond the water park. Mark Twain Lake, completed in 1984 by the US Army Corps of Engineers, was named in honor of Missouri's most celebrated literary son—Samuel Clemens, who grew up in Hannibal on the Mississippi River approximately 35 miles east of Monroe City—and the reservoir's name celebrates the connection between the northeastern Missouri landscape and the American literature it produced. The Salt River's impoundment created a diverse fishery for largemouth and striped bass, white crappie, walleye, and channel catfish in a reservoir whose numerous coves and points provide structure that supports one of Missouri's most productive multi-species fishing environments. Mark Twain's Hannibal, on the Mississippi River approximately 35 miles east via US-36, is the defining pilgrimage destination for American literature enthusiasts—a small Mississippi River city where the Mark Twain Boyhood Home and Museum, the cave that inspired Tom Sawyer's adventures in McDougal's Cave, Cardiff Hill, and the riverfront that shaped Clemens's imagination are preserved and interpreted in a heritage district that draws visitors from across the world. The Mark Twain State Park on the lake's shore provides additional fishing access, camping, and hiking in the surrounding oak and hickory woodland. Jellystone Park Mark Twain Lake operates seasonally from spring through early fall, with summer's school-vacation peak filling the water park and Jellystone activity programming from June through August and the fall fishing season extending meaningful outdoor recreation through October. The summer holiday weekends—Memorial Day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day—represent the most competitive reservation periods, and families targeting these windows should book as early as the reservation system allows. The lake's consistent bass fishing, the water park's multi-activity recreation, and the Mark Twain heritage day trip create a vacation package of genuine depth for Midwest families within driving distance of northeastern Missouri.

from $25/night

Lakeroad Village RV Park

11 RV Sites

Located in Kirksville, Missouri, in the rolling agricultural countryside of Adair County in the state's northeast quadrant, Lakeroad Village RV Park offers a quiet and well-maintained full-hookup camping experience in a region where the pace of rural Missouri life, the culture of Truman State University, and the natural resources of Thousand Hills State Park combine to support a surprisingly varied visitor experience. The park's emphasis on clean sites, wide site spacing, and open-air conditions suited to sunset viewing and stargazing gives it a comfortable baseline experience that rewards the patience of guests taking time to settle into a slower northeastern Missouri rhythm. Full hookup sites with 50-amp electrical service, water, and sewer connections provide the practical infrastructure for extended stays as well as overnight travel stops, and the park's wide site spacing gives guests the individual privacy that can be scarce at more densely developed campgrounds. Clean restroom and shower facilities are maintained to a standard that reflects the park's commitment to basic comfort, and on-site amenities support self-sufficient stays without requiring guests to make daily trips to Kirksville's retail corridor. The park's open character and elevation allow for evening horizon views that support the stargazing experience highlighted in the property's natural setting. Thousand Hills State Park, approximately three miles from the campground, is the region's primary natural recreation destination—a 3,215-acre park centered on Forest Lake that provides fishing, boating, hiking, swimming, and camping infrastructure in a setting of rolling Missouri Ozark transition landscape that contrasts productively with the flatter agricultural terrain of the surrounding county. Forest Lake supports fishing for largemouth bass, channel catfish, bluegill, and crappie, and the park's trail network traverses the wooded ridges above the lake with scenic overlooks and wildlife observation suited to guests interested in birding and natural area exploration. Kirksville itself offers more cultural depth than its size might suggest to first-time visitors. As the home of Truman State University—one of Missouri's premier liberal arts universities—the city supports a bookstore culture, arts programming, and campus events calendar that give it a college-town energy in the middle of a rural northeast Missouri agricultural landscape. The A.T. Still University Museum, which documents the history of osteopathic medicine founded in Kirksville by Andrew Taylor Still in 1892, provides a distinctive heritage experience available nowhere else in the state. Novinger Coal Museum and the Adair County Historical Society offer additional local history programming. Lakeroad Village RV Park is open through the spring-through-fall camping season, with the Missouri climate supporting comfortable outdoor recreation from April through October. The fishing season on Thousand Hills State Park's Forest Lake drives consistent spring and fall visitor demand, while summer months bring family camping traffic from across northeast Missouri. The park's quiet character and relatively uncrowded market position make it a reliably accessible destination even during summer weekends when larger Midwest campgrounds may be at capacity. Advance reservations are recommended for summer holiday weekends when the Thousand Hills area sees its peak visitation.

from $45/night

Starlight Trail RV Park

Starlight Trail RV Park in Kirksville, Missouri, offers oversized full-hookup RV sites with water, sewer, and electric, plus cabins, on a quiet country property minutes from town. A stocked fishing pond, billiards, and a general store serve guests staying a weekend or settling in for months. Full-hookup back-in sites carry water, sewer, and electric with fire pits and site WiFi. The sites are generously oversized, which gives large rigs room to spread out rather than parking tight to a neighbor. Cabins serve guests without a rig. A general store, propane fills and exchange, laundry, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. The park suits weekend getaways, family vacations, hunting trips, business travel, and extended stays equally — that flexibility is much of what it offers. On-site recreation is calm by design. A stocked pond supports fishing, billiards fill indoor hours, and a campfire and the quiet of the surrounding countryside handle the evenings. A golf course, river, and boating are nearby. Pets are welcome. Kirksville sits in Adair County in northeast Missouri, home to Truman State University. The surrounding attractions are more varied than the location suggests: Thousand Hills State Park, the Kirksville Aquatic Center, West Winery at Jackson Stables, Jacob's Vineyard and Winery, the Sugar Creek Conservation Area, the Adair County Historical Society, and the Del and Norma Robison Planetarium are all close. The park operates through the northeast Missouri season, with summer travel and fall hunting both drawing steadily. University event weekends tighten Kirksville lodging — reserve ahead if your stay overlaps one.

from $45/night

Coconut Cove RV Resort

52 RV Sites, 10 Cabins, 4 Glamping Sites

Coconut Cove RV Resort in Hazel Green, Wisconsin, offers 52 RV sites, 10 cabins, and four glamping sites on a lakefront property in the Driftless Area, with 20, 30, and 50-amp full hookups and rigs accepted to 72 feet. Five categories include deluxe waterfront back-ins, alongside a water park, jumping pillow, bar, and live music. Fifty-two sites span standard, premium, and deluxe back-ins, deluxe waterfront back-ins, and premium pull-throughs, all carrying water, sewer, and electric on 20, 30, and 50-amp, sized to 72 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Ten cabins and four glamping sites round out the accommodations. A general store, laundry, RV storage, restrooms, showers, and firewood handle the practical side. Two wristbands are included with each reservation for the pool, sandy beach, and beach playground; additional wristband access is required beyond that. The amenity scope is exceptional for the region. A water park, outdoor pool, sandy beach, and jumping pillow anchor the summer, with a lake supporting boating, kayaking, paddle boats, paddle boarding, and fishing, plus kayak and boat rentals on site. A clubhouse, recreation center, arcade, bar, on-site dining, and snack bar cover meals and evenings, with live music through the season, golf cart rentals, a playground, pavilion, and dog park besides. Pets are welcome. Hazel Green sits in Grant County near the Mississippi's Wisconsin shore, in the unglaciated Driftless hill country. Dubuque, Iowa and Galena, Illinois are both close. Summer is decisively the season. Reserve well ahead.

from $50/night

Whitetail Bluff Campground

46 RV Sites, 5 Cabins

On the bluffs above the Mississippi River in Grant County, Wisconsin, Whitetail Bluff Campground and Resort occupies one of the most visually commanding positions of any campground on the upper Mississippi corridor—elevated above the river, with hiking trails that lead to views across the valley floor and the bluffs of the Iowa shore beyond. The combination of a well-equipped family resort operation and direct access to the Mississippi River's natural and recreational resources makes Whitetail Bluff an especially well-positioned destination for families and couples who want both camp-resort amenities and a genuinely spectacular natural setting. In the Grant County bluff country, the scenery earns its billing. The campground's 47 sites include 32 full hookup configurations, five electric-only sites, and 10 primitive tent sites, with deluxe and sleeping cabin rentals available for guests who prefer enclosed accommodation. A zero-depth beach-entry swimming pool is the warm-weather gathering point, complemented by a swimming pond with large inflatable attractions that give the aquatic recreation a different character for different moods. A jumping pillow, playground, basketball court, volleyball court, and pedal carts provide land-based activity options. The family-friendly clubhouse with its restaurant, bar, and game room functions as the campground's social hub, with live music programming through the summer season adding an entertainment dimension. Laundry, a dump station, WiFi, and a camp store handle the practical needs of an extended stay. The bluff-top setting translates directly into hiking trail quality. Trails from the campground wind through the forested blufftops and descend to river-level terrain, providing views of the Mississippi that reward the elevation change with the kind of panoramic river-valley perspective that explains why this stretch of the Great River Road is consistently ranked among the most beautiful drives in America. Wildlife is abundant—bald eagles, great blue herons, white-tailed deer, and wild turkeys are daily presences in the bluff-and-floodplain ecosystem—and the river itself is an enduring backdrop to every activity. The Grant County region extends the experience beyond the campground property. Kayak, tube, and canoe rentals on the Grant River provide additional paddling access to the river system just downstream from the Mississippi confluence. The Potosi Brewing Company—one of Wisconsin's most celebrated craft breweries, occupying a beautifully restored historic building in the river town of Potosi—is a short drive for guests who appreciate a well-made beer in a genuinely historic setting. The Dickeyville Grotto, one of Wisconsin's most distinctive folk art sites, provides a remarkable roadside attraction of national significance. Wyalusing State Park, a few miles away, adds state park hiking and camping infrastructure to the region. Whitetail Bluff Campground operates through the Wisconsin camping season from spring through fall. Summer weekends fill the campground quickly, with live music weekends and holiday weekends booking fastest. Fall foliage on the Mississippi bluffs is among the most spectacular in the upper Midwest—the combination of river valley hardwoods and the bluff-top perspective produces color displays that bring leaf-peepers specifically to the Grant County corridor each October. Book early for fall weekends and summer holidays, pack the kayak gear, and let the Mississippi River bluff country deliver what it promises.

Pecatonica River Trails Park

30 RV Sites

At 400 Washington Street in Darlington, Wisconsin—in Lafayette County in the rolling driftless landscape of southwest Wisconsin where the glaciers of the last ice age missed the Driftless Area's ancient terrain and left the Mississippi River tributary valleys in a ridge-and-coulee topography that the Cheese Country ATV Trail and the surrounding Lafayette County trail network has made the most specifically mapped ATV recreation landscape in southern Wisconsin—Pecatonica River Trails Park provides 32 electric campsites along the Pecatonica River with direct access to both the Cheese Country ATV Trail and the Darlington ATV Club's local trail system, a canoe launch, a handicapped-accessible fishing pier, restrooms and showers, a dump station, a playground, and a lighted walking path in the Lafayette County park configuration that trail users and river paddlers find the most practically positioned camping option in the immediate Darlington trail corridor. The direct Cheese Country ATV Trail access and the Pecatonica River canoe launch at the same property define what makes this park specifically useful for the multi-recreation visitor. Thirty-two total campsites include 8 electric sites in a grove of walnut trees with 30-amp service and 22 open electric sites with 50-amp service, plus 2 non-electric sites. Each site provides the open space for the RV plus the tow vehicle and the ATV or UTV trailer that the park's trail-access orientation specifically accommodates with the additional ATV day-use parking for trail users not camping overnight. Restrooms and shower facilities serve the hygiene infrastructure. A dump station handles the black-water disposal need for the RV camping population. A handicapped-accessible fishing pier on the Pecatonica River provides the bank and pier fishing access to the river's bass, catfish, and rough fish population without requiring boat launch access. A canoe launch serves the paddling guest with the flat-water access to the Pecatonica's southwest Wisconsin corridor. A playground and lighted walking path complete the non-ATV recreation options. The park operates on a first-come, first-served basis with self-registration, reflecting Lafayette County's practical management of a rural park resource without reservation system overhead. Maximum stay is 14 nights in any 21-day period. The Cheese Country ATV Trail—accessible directly from the campground—is one of the most celebrated multi-use recreational trail systems in Wisconsin, covering 47 miles through Lafayette and Iowa Counties on converted railroad right-of-way that the trail authority paved and graded for ATV, UTV, bicycle, and snowmobile use through the driftless southwest Wisconsin landscape. The trail passes through the small communities of Blanchardville, Mineral Point, and Calamine, with the trail-access restaurants and bars in each community providing the mid-ride destination that organizes the all-day trail itinerary into an out-and-back or loop structure around a midpoint lunch stop. Darlington's Lafayette County Courthouse Square and the surrounding small-town Wisconsin commercial character represent the driftless region's agricultural community heritage, with the Pecatonica River's historic mill sites and the county's dairy farming landscape providing the context for a region that the Cheese Country trail name accurately describes as the productive agricultural center of Wisconsin's southwest quadrant. Pecatonica River Trails Park is open seasonally through the ATV trail season and into the hunting and late-season outdoor recreation calendar. Summer represents the peak ATV and paddling season. Fall brings the hunting activity and the driftless landscape's hardwood foliage color in the ridge-and-valley terrain that the glaciers' absence left in a more topographically dramatic state than the glaciated plains to the east. Arrive early for peak summer ATV weekends when the walk-in sites fill by midday, launch the canoe at the Pecatonica, and let the Cheese Country Trail earn the southwest Wisconsin ATV reputation that 47 miles of converted rail corridor makes available from the park's Washington Street gate.

from $25/night