Lake Waveland

Families with kids, BEWARE! How this place is still open and has 84% positive reviews is beyond me. Most of these reviews must be from people who are related to the owners or are rough locals who don’t care about a clean campground and just want to party. From the moment my family and I pulled in we had a bad experience. Rough looking people running the check-in. We only wanted one site with two tents and they charged us double the price because we had 8 people and they only allow 6 people per site. That is discrimination against families with more than 4 kids. They also charge you a $7 car fee on top of the camping fee fyi. Everything about the campground is rundown, dirty, and scary. It looks abandoned and like it should’ve closed down 20 years ago. This was probably a really neat place in the 90s and it’s sad to see how it has just been left to rot. Huge dumpsters overflowing with metal rubble, the shelter roofs are caving in, picnic tables are rotted, the playground had no swings, just the frame, monkey bars were old, rusted and falling over, junk and trash all over in piles, the camp store is abandoned and closed. We never did see a “shower house,” there was a building unmarked with tons of garbage and old rusty vehicles next to it, but it was unmarked and we were too scared to even check it out. We saw a man with a group of people at a shelter, standing in the grass and peeing in broad daylight. This is not the place for families with children. It seems to be a place for the drugged out locals to get together and party who don’t care about it not being clean and having no amenities. At one time it looks as if they had a small putt putt course and a water slide for the lake, but that is now rusted and falling apart. The campsites themselves are not labeled. No parking spots or site markings. People just drive in the grass to a wooded area and camp wherever. One of our biggest concerns are all of the huge rotting trees with big dead branches hanging over where we were camping and the kids were playing. We had to move all of our tents out of the woods because we were scared of a big limb breaking off and falling at any time. We had people driving and walking through where we were camping which is concerning and unsafe. We had had questionable characters driving by, yelling out and being loud. People camping next to us had cars coming and going all night, they were playing loud music, and partying well past 1:30 in the morning. There is no DNR patrolling this place so there is definitely a sense of unease. My family and I did not feel safe at all and we will not be returning.

Very large area. Lots of spaces. Shower house was clean. Vault toilets are ok. The reason for the 4 star vs. 5 is that the fire ring was full of ash and burnt cans.

We really enjoyed our stay here. The grounds are kept up well. There are many great primitive and rv camp sites. Lots of relaxing spots for picnics. The beach/sand area is kept clean. The main bath house by rv sites need some updating as well as the kids play areas. Quite an issue w wasps on most buildings/shelters but bugs are expected, so just be aware. Definitely will be coming back. Great location.

Lake Waveland is on a huge property with a place for fishing and a separate area with a dock. There are plenty of restrooms, showers, seating areas, play grounds, store, beach, parking and campgrounds for RVs, campers and trailers. This is an excellent spot.

Nice lake. Great primitive camping areas that are well spread out. The fishing was off this weekend, but I hear it's a great crappie lake. Check-in and payments at the booth were more difficult than necessary. Everyone in our party had that entrance booth experience.