Pinewoods Lake Campground

This may be the most beautiful primitive camping area I've ever stayed in. Nice tall pine trees, nice fishing lake, nice walking/ biking trail around lake. Wildlife everywhere you look, butterflies, turtles, geese, birds. Paved camping spots with a couple vault toilets (no water, trash, or trash cans). Lots of fallen trees that someone has cut up and placed in every camping spot.

I'm traveling through the area and needed an overnight spot (thanks campendium!). Granted, it's the middle of February but I'm the only one here except for a few locals fishing and hiking around the pond.

All spots seem nice and well spaced from each other.

Asphalt parking, concrete hiking trail, pine forest.

I hesitated to write a review and disclose how cool this spot is, but I hope this helps another traveler.

Please note...there are no services other than vault toilets. But it's exactly what I wanted.

We stayed here back in Oct 2021 (sorry so late reviewing this) and LOVED it. It was a FREE campsite complete with picnic table, fire ring, lantern pole, vault toilets at a small lake. There are no hookups or trash. There were a couple of friendly dogs that visited one morning. It appeared they lived in the area.

We did make a brief video about the campground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKcAr4QUFKU

As others stated, there are 15 paved sites, each with a picnic table, fire ring and a pole to hang a lantern. Some sites are double width. There are two (nice & clean) vault toilets, one in the campground near the entrance and the other at the day use/boat launch site, no water or garbage. Pack it in and pack it out. There is a 1.3 mile paved trail along the lake and a dock. There is some noise from 60 but it’s hardly noticeable. My time here is been quiet except for some drunken yahoos one night.

The only negative is there are a LOT of ticks! They are easy to spot on my white dog but I have to do tick check every time he goes outside, and I always find some. Avoid the vegetation and you’ll see less. Make sure you tick check yourself.

Stayed from November 23 to November 26, 2021 – This campsite is on a small lake in the Mark Twain National Forrest and is dry camping (no electric/water/dump). The campground is directly off of US 60 and has paved roads and pads. There are 2 sets of pit toilets in the camping area and 1 in the day use area.

There are 15 marked sites on a paved loop around the park,. The Pinewoods Lake Campground is adjacent to a day use area which is open (per their website) year-round for Day Use Activities only, (6AM to 10PM) with a managed season of May 1 through October 1. You can reserve the group picnic site (very large pavilion) for large groups.

I stayed in site 7 (double). The single sites where narrow and I did not feel I could back into them safely. There where about 5 other campers there when I arrived and where fairly well spread out leaving at least one space in between campsites. It was quiet and relaxing.

There is a 1.3 mile hiking trail around the lake, partially paved. Being so close to highway 60, I was expecting more road noise. Maybe it was because I was at the far end of the campground next to the lake, but I heard nothing. I do sleep with earplugs, so that may be the reason.

All the campers were considerate and obeyed the quiet hours (10pm – 6am).

I have to say that I really enjoyed my stay here.

Video Review (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpSYhbbfekE