Camping sites in Southern IL.

Question

Does anyone know any good camp sites somewhere downstate IL: that has lakes, overnight boat storage/parking and allows drinking?

Thanks in advance!

-R

Answer 1

Rend Lake is very large and has plenty of water. You can pull up an aerial map of this on terraserverUSA. I camped there as a 9 year old when it first was open. Now it has some very nice camp sites. My brother-in-law and I drank plenty while there but them we didn't howl at the moon or turn all the badgers loose either. It is usually prohibited in State parks but I think they have an exception for your camp site.

Lots of fishing there also.The park information phone number is also available on-line . From Chicago, it will be about a 6 hour ride.

Answer 2

I'm not sure about the drinking part, but Rend Lake in Benton is nice. And there's lots of great spots in and around the Shawnee National Forest, Garden of the Gods is beautiful. If you want to go a little further south, Land Between The Lakes is AMAZING. It's on the KY/TN border. Tons of camping/boating stuff, and two huge lakes.