Starved Rock State Park Campground

Sites are very tightly packed, so no privacy and (on a weekend in fall) it was very loud in the evenings (although not unbearable I could see it being miserable in peak season). The bathroom situation is beyond terrible - porta potties were disgusting, the shower house didn't look like it had been cleaned - ever - with only one functional shower on the ladies side. It was surprisingly far away from the actual state park which was pretty but very crowded with selfie seekers and also had limited bathroom facilities. We enjoyed some good food in Utica and Oglesby which were not too far away.

Stayed in the east loop on 8/15-16. Actual sites are great. Couldn’t ask for a more beautiful place to stay for a night. The facilities don’t seem to be kept up well. They really needed to be cleaned and had 1/3 flush toilets working. Just a note if you are looking to stay here.

The site I booked was SO INCREDIBLY SMALL! It had plenty of shade, but wasn't even big enough for our large tent let alone a second one! We could have squeezed everybody into the one large tent, but would never have been able to have a fire as the tent tie outs were staked next to the fire pit, others were literally in the woods. We were forced to go pay for a second site just to fit our small tent and be able to have a fire, luckily the one connected to ours was available. I CANNOT BELIEVE I had to pay the same price for these 2 INCREDIBLY SMALL sites when others were twice the size and when booking there was no indication that it was going to be so small. The bathrooms are pitiful as well. Port a pottys mostly. Shower house had 2 leaky, clogged toilets and one working shower on the side we were on. If some 3 million people visit yearly, why is it so poorly taken care of?! You can see from the picture, how close our large tent had to be to the fire pit.

Was not impressed with the fact they have tire spikes at the exit, meaning security issues. Did like a few spots but all spots have trails running through them. I guy came walking through the site we were at while we were there. Trails are well beat down and it appears this is normal practice. Small shower building, run down. Plastic privy outhouses. Not going back.

It's really sad that with how much money this campground has raked in over the years, that they have THE WORST bathrooms ever and I've been to many campgrounds in Illinois. The showers are full of mold. The toilets are 50 years old and barely work and there's only 2!!! For the whole campground and 2 showers no where to hang your stuff no benches no space. It's literally rotting away inside. It's the same from 25 years ago. This campground is always booked because starved rock is a popular place and they have a decent amount of nice sites but it's just pathetic that with as much money as this place makes, they haven't built another shower house. I thought it needed upgrades 15 years ago. This one should be torn down and rebuilt triple the size. I don't want to give you my money anymore because you aren't maintaining this place and it's just disgusting!