Tent Camping in Kansas

Lake Carl Blackwell

71 RV Sites, 9 Cabins, 60 Tent Sites

Lake Carl Blackwell in Stillwater, Oklahoma, offers 71 full-hookup RV sites, nine cabins, and 60 tent sites on a 3,370-acre reservoir, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service, ADA-accessible sites, and rigs accepted to 80 feet. Beaver Cove and Huntsmeadow back-in and pull-through categories join a beach, boat ramp, disc golf course, and golf cart rentals. Seventy-one sites span Beaver Cove back-in, Beaver Cove pull-through, Huntsmeadow back-in, and Hunts Meadow pull-through categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with fire pits and picnic tables, sized to 80 feet. Naming the loops rather than numbering tiers makes the property easier to picture, and 80 feet accommodates the longest coaches with a tow. Accessible sites are available. Nine cabins and 60 tent sites round out the lodging — a substantial tent inventory. A general store, laundry, dump station, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. A beach and boat ramp open the lake for boating, canoeing, kayaking, and fishing, with a disc golf course, sports courts, volleyball, golf cart rentals, walking, hiking, biking, horseback riding, a playground, pavilion, and picnicking filling the rest. Birding across the reservoir is productive, and a golf course is nearby. The land is owned and operated by Oklahoma State University — the only major lake in the United States under direct university management. That institutional stewardship shows in how carefully the shoreline and facilities are kept, and Stillwater is minutes east. Summer lake season and OSU football weekends drive the sharpest demand. Reserve well ahead for both.

from $25/night

Jellystone Park™ Keystone Lake

73 RV Sites, 21 Tent Sites

Jellystone Park Keystone Lake in Mannford, Oklahoma, offers 73 RV sites and 21 tent sites on a 26,000-acre reservoir, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service, ADA-accessible sites, and rigs accepted to 75 feet. A dedicated ADA-accessible back-in category joins premium, deluxe, and standard water-and-electric tiers, alongside a water park, beach, boat ramp, and boat docks. Seventy-three back-in sites span ADA-accessible back-in water-and-electric 30-amp, deluxe back-in water-and-electric 30/50-amp, premium back-in 30/50-amp, and standard back-in water-and-electric 30-amp categories, carrying water, sewer, and electric where noted, sized to 75 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Making accessibility a named category rather than an afterthought is worth noting; confirm your tier, as the water-and-electric categories do not carry sewer at the site. Twenty-one tent sites and cabins round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills and exchange, dump station, restrooms, showers, firewood, and a snack bar handle the practical side. A water park and outdoor pool anchor the summer, with a beach, boat ramp, and boat docks opening the lake for boating, paddle boarding, canoeing, kayaking, swimming, inflatable water toys, and fishing. A recreation center, craft room, sports courts, basketball, volleyball, golf cart rentals, walking trails, hiking, biking, a playground, and pavilion fill the rest, with live music and planned activities. Keystone sits 45 minutes west of Tulsa behind the Arkansas River's dam. Summer lake season drives demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $30/night

Lake Hudson Resort

63 RV Sites, 1 Cabin, 14 Tent Sites, 15 Glamping Sites

Lake Hudson Resort in Pryor, Oklahoma, offers 63 full-hookup RV sites, a cabin, 14 tent sites, and 15 glamping sites on 2,000 feet of Lake Hudson shoreline, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 80 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Back-in and pull-through categories join a pool, mini-golf, ball field, and kayak rentals. Sixty-three sites run in back-in, back-in 50-amp, and pull-through categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric, sized to 80 feet, with fire pits. Eighty feet accommodates the longest coaches with a tow. A cabin, 14 tent sites, and 15 glamping sites round out an unusually varied lodging inventory — glamping at this scale is rare in northeastern Oklahoma. A laundry, restrooms, and showers handle the practical side. Kayak rentals and 2,000 feet of shoreline open the lake for boating, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, water sports, swimming, and inflatable water toys. An outdoor pool, mini-golf, clubhouse, game room, ball field, bocce ball, shuffleboard, volleyball, and horseshoes fill the grounds. Pets are welcome. The extended lake frontage gives consistent water access from multiple points along the property, which matters more than total acreage when you are launching a boat or fishing from shore. Mayes County sits in northeastern Oklahoma's reservoir country, with Rocklahoma, the Born & Raised Music Festival, and Salina Highbanks Speedway all within a few minutes — a genuinely unusual concentration of events for a rural lake town. Summer lake season drives demand, with the festival calendar creating sharp spikes. Check the event dates and reserve well ahead.

Ballards Campground & RV Park

48 RV Sites, 4 Tent Sites

Ballards Campground & RV Park in Carthage, Missouri, offers 48 full-hookup RV sites and four tent sites on the Route 66 corridor, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted to 80 feet on a big-rig-friendly layout. Signature and standard back-in categories sit on level pads, with a hot tub, storm shelter, and pond on a quiet wooded property. Forty-eight back-in sites carry water, sewer, and electric on 30 and 50-amp in signature and standard categories, sized to 80 feet, with fire pits, picnic tables, and BBQ pits. Four tent sites and cabins round out the accommodations. A general store, propane fills, laundry, dump station, restrooms, showers, firewood, and site WiFi handle the practical side. A storm shelter on the property is a genuinely practical feature in southwest Missouri. A hot tub and sauna anchor the on-site amenities, with a pond for fishing, sports courts, a playground, dog park, and picnicking areas across the wooded grounds. The level pads are worth noting — they remove the setup hassle that uneven sites create on an overnight stop. Pets are welcome. Carthage sits in Jasper County at the crossroads of southwest Missouri, on both the I-44 and Route 66 corridors. The town's historic downtown, Civil War battlefield sites, and proximity to Joplin's regional services give it more destination character than the highway corridor's campground inventory usually acknowledges, and the Ozark border country and Four State region's outdoor recreation are within reach. The campground serves both through-travelers and longer stays year-round. Summer Route 66 travel is the peak — reserve ahead.

from $25/night

Marval Resort

85 RV Sites, 71 Cabins, 13 Tent Sites, 3 Lodges

Marval Resort in Gore, Oklahoma, offers 85 RV sites, 74 cabin and lodge units, and 13 tent sites on Lake Tenkiller, with 30 and 50-amp service and rigs accepted up to 90 feet. Site categories are named for what they offer — Park View, River View, and Premium River View, in both water-and-electric and full-hookup configurations — behind a gated entrance. Eighty-five sites run across 30-amp water-and-electric, 30 and 50-amp water-and-electric, 30 and 50-amp full-hookup with sewer, and Park View and River View variants of each, sized to 90 feet. Seventy-four cabins and lodge units carry a large share of the inventory, and 13 tent sites cover simpler camping. A general store, propane fills and exchange, and a gated entrance handle the practical side. The recreation roster is extensive. An outdoor pool and splash pad anchor the summer, with a lake supporting boating, fishing, canoeing, kayaking, and swimming, and boat rentals on site. Mini-golf, a clubhouse, game room, craft room, arcade, ping pong, pickleball, volleyball, basketball, gaga ball, and horseshoes spread across the grounds, with golf cart rentals, walking trails, a playground, pavilion, and dog park besides. Live music and planned activities run through the season, and the property serves as a wedding venue. Pets are welcome. Lake Tenkiller is one of Oklahoma's most pristine reservoirs — crystal-clear water, limestone bluffs, and the Cookson Hills' hardwood backdrop make it the most scenically distinctive lake in the eastern Oklahoma hill country, and one of the state's premier bass fisheries. Summer lake season drives demand. Reserve well ahead.

from $24/night

Basswood Resort

57 RV Sites, 5 Tent Sites

Basswood Resort in Platte City, Missouri, offers 57 full-hookup RV sites and five tent sites 30 minutes from downtown Kansas City, with 20, 30, and 50-amp service, cable TV, and rigs accepted to 85 feet. Deluxe, premium, and standard back-in and pull-through categories join an outdoor pool, disc golf course, jumping pillow, and lake. Fifty-seven sites span standard back-in 20/30/50-amp, standard pull-thru 20/30/50-amp, standard, deluxe back-in, deluxe pull-thru, and premium back-in categories, all carrying water, sewer, and electric with cable TV and site WiFi, sized to 85 feet, with fire pits and picnic tables. Eighty-five feet accommodates the longest coaches with a tow. Five tent sites, cabins, and trailer rentals round out the lodging. A general store, laundry, propane fills and exchange, showers, and golf cart rentals handle the practical side. An outdoor pool anchors the summer, with a disc golf course, jumping pillow, fitness center, clubhouse, gaga ball, pickleball, basketball, shuffleboard, horseshoes, corn hole, walking trails, hiking, a lake, playground, and dog park filling the rest. Fishing and planned activities round it out, with a golf course, casino, and amusement park nearby. Platte County feels genuinely rural — livestock pastures, creek valleys, and Missouri hardwood forest — while keeping Kansas City's barbecue, jazz history, and professional sports 30 minutes away. Kansas City International Airport is close, which makes this practical for fly-in guests picking up a rig. Summer drives the heaviest demand, with spring and fall the most comfortable months. Reserve well ahead for warm-weather weekends and Kansas City event dates.

from $46/night

Arrowhead Point RV Park & Cabins Campground

Arrowhead Point RV Park and Cabins in Osceola, Missouri, occupies a shore position on Harry S Truman Reservoir — the 55,600-acre Corps of Engineers lake on the Osage River in St. Clair County that serves as the primary water recreation destination for the southwest Missouri region between Kansas City and Springfield. The park's catch-and-release pond, pull-through full-hookup RV sites with high-speed Wi-Fi, cabin accommodations, and on-site paddleboard and billiards programming give guests a self-contained lakeside resort experience in a corner of Missouri that rewards those who find it with genuine lake recreation access, reasonable pricing, and the uncrowded atmosphere that a Truman Lake location tends to deliver compared to the more heavily trafficked Lake of the Ozarks to the northeast. Spacious pull-through full-hookup RV sites with high-speed Wi-Fi give the campground the practical infrastructure for comfortable extended stays, and the cabin rentals serve guests who want Truman Lake access without their own RV equipment. The catch-and-release pond provides an on-site fishing option for guests who want to wet a line within walking distance of their site, and paddleboarding on the pond offers water recreation without the boat launch logistics that the main reservoir access requires. The billiards room handles evening recreation when the lake-focused outdoor programming winds down. Pets are welcome. Harry S Truman Reservoir's 958 miles of shoreline through the Ozark border country of St. Clair, Benton, and Henry Counties provides a water recreation environment of substantial scale — bass fishing on Truman Lake, particularly largemouth and white bass, sustains a regional tournament fishing culture that draws competitive anglers from across Missouri and Kansas. The lake's size and relatively undeveloped shoreline character give fishing, water skiing, and cruising guests the uncrowded conditions that the smaller but more famous Lake of the Ozarks cannot consistently provide during peak summer seasons. Osceola's historic downtown, on the banks of the Osage River above the reservoir, preserves the character of a 19th-century Missouri river town with a courthouse square and the kind of settled small-city retail and dining environment that genuine lake communities — rather than purpose-built resort towns — develop organically over generations. The Harry S Truman State Park, on the reservoir's northeast arm, provides the primary Corps of Engineers managed public recreation area with boat launches, designated swimming areas, and developed campground facilities that complement the private resort experience at Arrowhead Point with public land access to the lake's best coves. Arrowhead Point RV Park and Cabins operates through the Truman Lake recreation season, with the primary water recreation window running from late May through Labor Day and the fishing season extending spring and fall with excellent bass activity during the pre-spawn and fall turnover periods that Missouri reservoir anglers specifically target. The Stockton Lake area to the southeast and the Pomme de Terre Lake to the east extend the southwest Missouri lake country day-trip range for guests interested in exploring the full Ozark lake system from an Osceola base. Reserve sites and cabins ahead for the Memorial Day weekend and summer holiday periods when Truman Lake's regional visitor market from the Kansas City and Springfield metros fills the available accommodation at lakeside properties.

from $33 $29/night