Crab Orchard Wilderness

We stayed at a primitive site with 2 tents and 5 people. The GOOD: Beautiful location, there is a beach with a restroom hut with showers, a small store with basic needs, good quality firewood. The campground is quiet, fire pits and picnic tables are maintained. Could use a few more trees for shade in the primitive site. The BAD: Parking, trash, potable water, distance to restrooms, we think pri... We stayed at a primitive site with 2 tents and 5 people. The GOOD: Beautiful location, there is a beach with a restroom hut with showers, a small store with basic needs, good quality firewood. The campground is quiet, fire pits and picnic tables are maintained. Could use a few more trees for shade in the primitive site. The BAD: Parking, trash, potable water, distance to restrooms, we think primitive camping here is a back burner for the management team. We were not very happy with the management. They were pleasant enough but when we asked about potable water none of them knew what we were talking about. Once we told them what it meant, they said we could go to a local gas station…. The primitive-only area shows a gravel road on the map that no longer exists. You are supposed to park your cars at a small lot and walk over to your site which technically makes it a pack-in because of the distance. The road used to be there but was grown over by grass under the previous owners and the “new” management never fixed it. We were told to park our cars on the gravel so we pulled onto the field area where the grown over gravel is and they came by later told us to move our car to a gravel parking area 100m away. They really need to re-gravel the existing road there. The closest restroom is a 6 minute walk away by the beach. Or a 7 minute walk in the other direction. But there is plumbing at a fish station by the primitive site, so I’m hoping they add in a single all gender toilet on the back of it. The paved roads by the rv/beach area are not super well maintained and can be a bit treacherous at night. The primitive site has holes all over the place , including an old culvert that was left there after the ditch was filled in which led to big holes, and tree stumps cut just above ground that weren’t removed making it dangerous to walk without a flashlight at night or even when you aren’t watching your feet in the daytime. There was trash that hadn’t been picked up all over our site, including glass pieces, a few deck screws, and various metal and plastic debris. Overall, we won’t be coming back here but we did have a good weekend.

Our very first time camping here at Crab Orchard Lake this past weekend. It is my new favorite campground! The host were excellent in every aspect. The sites were great. When they say you can see water from most rv sites, they mean it! The bath houses were the cleanest I've ever seen at a camp ground. The fishing was awesome! We fished at night also but the catfish were of good size and kept break... Our very first time camping here at Crab Orchard Lake this past weekend. It is my new favorite campground! The host were excellent in every aspect. The sites were great. When they say you can see water from most rv sites, they mean it! The bath houses were the cleanest I've ever seen at a camp ground. The fishing was awesome! We fished at night also but the catfish were of good size and kept breaking our lines. Next time I'm bringing a better pole. If you forgot something, they probably have it in their office/store. We needed ice and worms and of course the kiddo "needed" and ice cream sandwich. Yep they had it. I was gonna close up our lil travel trailer for the winter, but I think I'm going to convince the hubby of one more trip here before we do.