Eldon Hazlet State Park

If you can get one of the handful of sites that are directly on the lake, this is a perfect campground. I think my site (9) had the best views in the entire park. I could see the lake in three directions and had massive amounts of privacy, with the exception of the groundhog hanging out in my backyard. There was only one other camper nearby when I was there, but reservation slips indicated that all the lakeview sites were booked over the upcoming weekend.

I'm not sure any of the interior sites are worth visiting unless you're just stopping for the night or plan on spending all your time on the lake. They seemed closer together, with little-to-no privacy and no view to speak of.

Other details: Electric only sites, but there was a really convenient water fill station (with hose attached) at the entrance to the campground and several water spigots scattered throughout. No bathhouse or laundry or anything fancy--just vault toilets, where spiders are born. Dump station at the exit, across from the water fill station. Plenty of dumpsters located throughout the camp.

There's not a ton to do in the surrounding area, but if you're camping here it's probably for lake access. There are several boat ramps and a swimming pool (open after Memorial Day) in the state park and there are swimming beaches in other locations around the lake.

Stayed here in New Years Eve. We were the only ones on the south end of the park. Super quiet, and our site was awesome and right on the lake. Pit toilets nearby. We had electric but no water. I bet this place is packed in the summer.

This campsite was amazing, mostly attributed to our particular site, which we reserved in advance. If you can get a water front spot in this state park, you will be very happy. We were able to access the water in front of our camper for a swim. Also, our site had extra privacy since it was on the end and we had a grassy area on one side, with additional water access in a small cove on the lake. There is no water hookup at the site, but there is a potable fill station and easy dump station near the entrance/exit. This campsite was really easy access to St. Louis too… only an hour away on route 50.

Stayed only one night while traveling through. Large level sites. Not very crowded for a larger state park. Electric hookups only, but great access to potable water and a dump station.

We stayed here with a number of good friends and we had nothing short of a fantastic weekend! This park has become our new favorite. The only drawback is that there is very poor T-Mobile reception.

We wanted to see the Arch but didn't want to stay near any cities. This park is about an hour from St Louis. We self checked in and found our site ok. The layout is cool. Each loop is on a hill top with valleys between. Lots of woods, trees for shade and some have a water view. Site 24 is maybe the best, we were at site 26 which was close to the water but our camper faced the other way. We found ourselves sitting next to the slide to get the best morning view. Unfortunately the host allowed tent Campers to take up 2 sites right next to us, even though there were designated areas for tent people. They had 7 adults and 4 kids in 5 tents. At one.point there were 5 cars and music playing for the entire evening. Fortunately they were quite at about 9:30 so we.coild sleep with the windows open. Anyway the site was level, driving in and backing In was easy. All in all a good weekend. The facilities on our side of the campgrounds were just vault toilets. No showers. We filled up with water on the way in and had 30 amp service at our site.

This was our second attempt at camping at an Illinois State Park, and I’m hoping it will be the last. Making the reservation was easy, the campsite was right on the water at the end of a loop with a beautiful view of Lake Carlisle. The problem occurred when I attempted to use the outhouse. First problem was I had to walk through a vacant campsite to even get to it, not even a pathway leading from the road. When I got there the door was propped open and was something straight out of a scary movie. The paint inside and out was peeling off in long sheets blowing in the breeze, and the same with the shredded toilet paper on the rolls. There was an indoor bathroom facility over in the next loop, but this outhouse was all we had available to us. This is the second time we have had horrendous outhouse experiences at Illinois state parks, so now we will drive the extra hours to avoid camping in these facilities.

Hosts were very friendly. All sites were first come first serve. We arrived around dusk. It was eleven days before Halloween. Only four sites were supposedly still available. There was no map and several other campers searching for these elusive sites. In reality over 50 percent of the sites were only occupied by empty campers or tiny pup tents. Many were decorated for Halloween. It was a virtual ghost town. Yes we were tired from a long drive and frustrated to see almost all of these full sites actually unattended. The lake is beautiful and many Pelicans were swimming around in the clear water. But the bathrooms had been vandalized by some campers. Mud all over all of the sinks , walls and floors. Muddy footprints not only on the floors but on the mirrors and walls. ( and these were not created by small feet) . There was no soap or paper towels available in the bathroom. It is so sad to see an area of such beauty misused by the people of the local area. Wish we could be more positive about this state park.

Check in was a breeze and access to campground is easy. Our site was electric only but they do have water spigots (from what I could see) throughout the campground and at the entrance to fill up.

The campground also had a nice camp store and laundry services.

Our site had gorgeous views of the lake. We highly recommend this campground!

Illini Campground is very typical of Illinois State Parks. The campground is set along the west side of a large lake, the Carlyle Reservoir, so the sunrise over the lake was lovely. There are other recreational opportunities, including a hike around the Illini Ponds, with an opportunity to see numerous birds and other wildlife.

The main roads of the campground are paved, but sites are gravel and moderately level. Sites are somewhat close together and from what I could see, mostly back in. The showers were closed (late March, although Ohio was much colder and had theirs open...) and the only available potable water was at the entrance. There are plenty of restrooms, but they are only pit toilets; no flush toilets or sinks/running water. I had only electricity at my site, which worked fine. As no other amenities were available, I’m not able to comment on them. The night was quiet, no road noise was evident. I found the park attractive and would certainly return, especially once the showers are in operation.