Riverfront Campground & Canoe

I have stayed here since I was a little kid and they are a great place to stay, it is my second choice when I go down here. They have cleaned up the place a lot in the last few years and it is a much quieter place than it used to be. In the middle of the summer you still get some of the party crowd but they are not bad and most of the time very friendly. If you are primitive camping you can camp right down on the river and have a nice wide open space to setup and expect on the busiest days be as close or as far as you want from other people. The rv sites do go pretty fast in the summer so if you want hookups, plan ahead. They do offer float trips but be warned you will most likely have to drag to the spring, but that is not a big deal unless the water is really low. If you are looking for a party float they have the best since you can float to the mud slide and then take out at NRO but they also have good relaxing floats that are longer.

This was our first real camp trip in our RV and it was exactly what I envisioned when I thought about diving into the full-time RV lifestyle. Huge property, plenty of space between sites, friendly staff, on the river, shade in the afternoon, and good enough cell signal to work. We had solid 2 bars of Verizon and we were able to work during the week (lots of video calls!) and stream netflix. We arrived on Saturday night and it was probably 3/4 full but cleared out on Sunday. Seems like a nice family campground for weekenders and we didn't have any issues with noise or lights. There was only one other couple besides us in a TT during the week, so we had the property basically to ourselves. Bathrooms are clean & decent (it's nothing fancy), roads were well maintained, and the office has some basic supplies. I can't wait to come back next year!

We have visited about 10 times. We always include weekdays in our visit. We had two good trips. Both those trips were not in the summer and were a spring and a fall trip. The staff was very friendly, the shower house and restrooms nicely maintained, Beautiful land though most of the riverfront does not really show the river due to the Overgrowth but it did the first couple times we came. Unfortunately, this is a party area, just like other places with the party reputation such as NRO. We came here to get away from that and enjoy traditional primitive camping. It has been overrun by the obnoxious loud partying crowds. There is supposed to be security and for the first time I actually saw them coming through in the evening likely because there had been a lot of complaints. Unfortunately after the last round of coming through all the partying just gets even louder. I have seen behaviors out of people that have just blown me away. It seems like this is going on in a lot of places and it really saddens me that normal people cannot enjoy camping anymore. I do not blame the owners or the staff. It is just what it has become.

Our site overlooked the meandering Niangua River and was so peaceful during our Sunday-Thursday stay, especially at night. Most RV sites are large concrete+gravel pads with grass yards, water/electric, picnic tables, and fire rings with plenty of space in between. Some sites overlook the river (and are shadier in the afternoon), while others back up to the woods. Several RV sites at the top of the hill before coming down into the campground offer more privacy (but no views of the river) and large enough for big rigs. The road in is gravel/dirt and goes down several hills before reaching the river level. The office is about mid-level with lots of room for parking/driving. The campground also has cabins available to rent and bathroom/showers near the office with portable toilets scattered throughout the campground. Very clean property all around. Dump on site.

The rest of the 200 acres is wide open grass available for primitive (tent) camping, whether in an open field, under a tree, or along the river. The campground also offers canoe/raft/kayak rentals for floating down river and they will bring you back. We had our own kayaks but no extra vehicle to bring us back so we just paddled up river from our RV site until a small rapid area forced us to turn around and leisurely float back. Lots of birds and turtles enjoy the river.

Campground is near Bennett Spring State Park that is beautiful to explore and popular among trout fishermen (it's basically a trout farm). Lebanon is about 20-25 minutes away for groceries and other incidentals. Only complaint was LOTS OF FLIES! The area has had lots of rain this year so perhaps that caused the fly explosion? And the only trash cans were at the office meaning a bit of a walk (or drive) to dump trash.