Mark Twain State Park

The week of September 20th, we visited Mark Twain State Park. It far surpassed our already high expectations. During the week, it was less than half full. Both the camp sites and restrooms / showers were spotless and in good repair. We liked the showers in the Puma campground the best. Each shower was in its own private room that was 3-4 times larger than those found in large RV’s. The showers are free and have excellent water pressure and all the hot water you want. The restrooms all had nice mirrors and not the shiny metal so many state parks use these days that are useless.

Over the past 2 years, we have stayed in state and national parks in 15 states. Mark Twain State Park is our top choice of all of those. It had the cleanest facilities, excellent hiking with well-marked trails, good panoramic views of lake on trails, lots of wildlife, quiet, spacious wooded sites, and only costs $13 / night for a basic campsite and $23 / night for a site with electric. Amazing place. No coin operated showers, no entry fees, or other hidden fees which drastically drive up the cost. We did not have to make a reservation and had the pick of top sites. On our wilderness hikes we saw: deer, white pelicans, vultures, flocks of wild turkey, sea gulls, blue heron, assorted ducks, and lots of other shore birds. More wildlife than we have seen anywhere else.

There were a few negatives among the large number of pluses. The fishing from shore was difficult due to getting down to the water’s edge. There were large amounts of stones one had to walk over. Not recommended for young kids or senior citizens. (My wife and I each fell on the rocks once with me ending up knee deep in the lake!) Having a small boat to launch would make the fishing easier. Missouri should invest in 2 floating docks so travelers without boats can easily fish as well. The second negative was there were few garbage cans. None at the campsites had a trash can, which we found to be unusual. There were 2 large bins at the campground entrance and 1 can in each restroom with the showers but these were not very convenient. It would be best to raise the camping fee a few dollars to cover more trash cans.

Overall, this state park is a real jewel! Far better and less expensive than most parks in other states. Missouri should consider charging non-residents a little more to finance some improvements like more trash cans and floating docks to fish from. Most other states already charge nonresidents a little more, especially in the New England states. $5 / night more would cover some improvements which would benefit everyone. We will definitely go back to this 5 star park. Best bargain in the country!

We took site 10 on the Badger Loop, putting us far from the lake. Sites have electricity and are separated by brush. They are shaded and surfaced with gravel. They appear to be re-graveling many sites this year.

Flush toilets with showers were clean. Cell service was nonexistent.

Our site was level. There appears to be a number of trails in the area. The hosts are friendly and helpful.

We stayed here for a quick weekend get away. Campground was tucked back in a wooded area close to the lake. We stayed in the Coyote loop which had sites that were fairly spread apart with a lot of trees separating most sites. Site was gravel pad with 30amp service, fire pit, and picnic table. Plenty of room for our 28' travel trailer.
The Puma loop definitely seems to be the popular spot as it's closer to the lake and boat ramp. Hiking trails were nice with views of the lake. This is definitely a nice spot if you're planning on taking a boat out on the lake.

Can't thank Bob, the camp host, enough. We pulled into our original site, 70, but it was horribly unlevel. Bob was there before I could think to find the host and moved us to site 96, which was amazing. Nice big park with great hiking trails. We visited Hannibal while there and had a great time. Nice dump station, sites with power, cell signal at best and again, washers and dryers at the shower house. A little out of the way, but worth it.

Stayed during the week in mid-Sept so the park was quiet. Staff was very friendly and helpful.
Easy access and maneuverability around park and into site. Gravel site, fairly level, lots of great trees. Bathrooms were decent; did not check out any other facilities (showers, laundry, etc.)
With Verizon service and being up "high" in the park, we actually had 2-3 bars of Verizon 4G service and were both able to work with no issues.
Recommend site 103 for motor homes; I'm not sure we would have fit it too many other sites. Big thanks to camp staff for working with us to select the best site for our rig as well as our work needs! 103 was perfect for both!

Camped 5/19/19 (Sun), electric site. Park has different areas, so turn left (coming from the south) off Hwy 107 when you see the campground legend on the sign. No state park entrance fee was charged. There were two sets of hosts (who took payment) for the 3 campground loops. We didn't have a reservation and on a Sunday night, it was mostly empty. Last loop is the largest and had slightly better partial views of the lake through the trees. There are also cabins in this loop, a showerhouse & vault toilet. The campground is wooded, on a bluff above the lake; sites facing the lake were real windy (at least when we were there). It is densely wooded, and probably because of so much rain, it was somewhat unkept (unmowed areas, weedy). A lot of sites were closed due to electrical issues.

Non-electric, electric & premium electric (50 amp) are offered. We had no cell service, but got 2 bars by the campground's amphitheater. Water spigots are in various spots. The middle loop had a clean vault toilet with hand sanitizer and auto-lights - inside & out - that came on when you approached in the dark. The first loop was smaller and had close access to the main road showerhouse that even had a laundry facility. There's a boat ramp, boat parking and a fish cleaning station at the end of the campground.

Sites are large with gravel pads and are back-in. There is a lantern/trash hook, picnic table & fire ring with grill top. Some sites have some shrubbery for privacy, most don't. Most seemed level, others were slanted. There is poison ivy about. Handicapped sites were nice - they had cement pads with connecting pad that the picnic table sat on. Showerhouses were clean, with hand soap dispensers. No trash bins around, just a dumpster & aluminum can recycling at the front, across from the dump station. There is a doggy poop bag dispenser at the showerhouse on the main road by the first loop.

The campground was very quiet, except for the birds singing (we were in the middle loop which had only 2 other campers). The last loop had the most campers, but also very quiet. Even though it was wooded, there were sites that were fairly open above, allowing sunshine in. We didn't have a problem with bugs and mosquitoes when we were there.

Very quiet state park campground in the woods. Not at all busy during week. Great hosts who keep Campground very nice. Showers were old, seemed clean but moldy smelling. Sites not level, so harder for bigger rigs. We choose higher priced 50 amp site to be closer to lake, although limited view/access. Had many 30 amp site, only electric on sites. In park Mark Twain things interesting. Fine to stay over when traveling through. Would stay again if needed to be in the area.