Mounds State Recreation Area

This is a great park Wonderful swimming beach, boat launch, hiking, fishing, wildlife watching, and camping, both modern and primitive. I'm especially fond of the Wildlife Wander Trail, which is a short loop through the woods with signage identifying trees and other points of interest on that trail. Staff has always been very friendly here. We visit as often as we can!

Had another wonderful stay here at Mounds. It's quickly becoming a favorite stay for me. Campground is big and enjoyable, but some of the parking pads are quite unlevel, so be prepared for that. Boat ramp is easily accessible. Water pressure in the showers is comparable to that of a garden hose, but you can make it work. Hiking wasn't bad, didn't do a ton of it as it was very hot when we visited. The dam is a nice walk, especially in the morning. Beautiful views. Fishing was great. What more can you ask for?

Mounds State Recreation area, a Corps of Engineers campground run by the DNR, is a great place to stay. Upon entering, we stopped at the attended entrance gate, followed by the attended campground gate. Multiple trash dumpers before entering the campground. A couple areas for water fill and dump for campers using electric only. Our site, a full hookup back-in spot with a fire pit and a picnic table, was not far from the second gate. The campground host was close to us, too. With over 400 campsites from which to choose, the park has hiking trails, boating opportunities, a nearby beach, multiple bath/shower facilities, playground areas for the kids, a camp store with one washer and one dryer, it is pet friendly (no pet fences allowed...FYI), and peaceful, beautiful scenery. Sunflowers galore, too! We would definitely come back again.

Camped in tents, RV and pop up for our group. Kids had fun, rode their bikes alot. Visited the beach and the boat dock. Every site has electric, picnic table, and fire ring.

Mounds state park is just CROWDED and not very relaxing (among other issues). We stayed at camping site 139 which is pet friendly and near the woods because we didn't want to be surrounded by people, instead we were surrounded by poison ivy (it's everywhere at this park). I would at least think they'd maintain their sites to keep poison ivy away from guests. The sites that aren't just surrounding one another in the grass were all very small. We only had 1 vehicle and 1 tent and our camp was more than snug. Rules are NOT followed or executed here. All the neighbors were blaring their own music like it was some sort of concert competition well after "quiet hours" and our direct neighbors decided to loudly shoot BB guns at tin cans most of the night (good luck trying to sleep through all this). BB guns aren't even allowed to begin with. The restrooms were "alright" at the campgrounds. (Disgusting everywhere else in the park). There were plenty of restrooms and they were mildly clean. (They had hand soap which is something i've seen other parks do without.) There is also a little camp store on site that is well supplied with a bit of everything. The only beach here is ten times worse to experience though. First off, pets aren't allowed on the beach AT ALL....only the grassy area so enjoy baking in the sun well away from the water and away from your family who does want to swim....It's noise and constant boats zooming by, people yelling to talk and more blaring music. We were supposed to stay Fri night and check out on Sun but we left a night early because of all the people and noise. There's nowhere to relax here unless you go on a hike. Do not come here if you want time away from people and noise or come in the off season or something. We will be camping elsewhere next time.