Camp Bullfrog Lake

In 2015 Cook County (Chicago) invested $22 million into bringing camping back to 5 locations in the county's Forest Preserves. They built brand new campgrounds that are now the closest campgrounds to the city. The new facilities are of very high quality and were kept clean during my visit there.

For residents of Chicago, it's worth the visit due to proximity and being able to be back in the city in 30 minutes. For non-locals, this same proximity makes it a solid basecamp to head into the city via I-55, the Orange Line (Chicago Transit Authority "L") at Midway Airport or one of the nearby Metra (commuter rail) stations.

The camping does not at all feel urban, but also does not at all feel rustic. It's a nature setting, but the new facilities and effort to make camping accessible to city residents lead to a very polished feel.

There is very little shade at Bullfrog Lake due to the trees being so new. The lake itself is small, and the campground is surrounded by many forest preserve trails. Airplanes can be seen often overhead as they head to Midway.

Needed to find something close to family in Oak Park Il and this fit the bill perfectly. Campground run by Cook County and you can to book on line but we had to eventually do it by phone. Campground has been open for only 3 years and doesn't have many mature trees. Small lake with kayaks to rent but no swimming. lake is only 10 ft deep. Plenty of small pan fish in like and lots of hiking trails around. Grocery store and more just a few miles away. Sites are mostly level and back in was easy. Plan to use this place again when we visit family. Only draw back was the water is from well and has high iron content. Construction has started on a water filtration system to mitigate that.

Quiet and family friendly on a beautiful lake. Easy access from downtown Chicago. We did not check out the bathrooms but based on the condition of campground I’m sure they’re nice.Definitely would stay here again in a heartbeat.

But I didn't get a welcome cocktail, just a tight site in a beautiful setting. I guess nature comes at a cost in Cook County. Hard to believe this forest preserve is a mere 5 miles from the interstate hell of the Tristate Tollway. I was most interested in checking out the trails as they looked pretty good, and they were - very popular with local hikers and MTBers. The upper part of the camping loop had several substantial-looking "cabins", a play area, restrooms, RV sites 1-5, and the dump station. The lower section was tight with RV sites on the left (away from the water) and tenting sites on the right. The RV sites electric hookups only. There are no water spigots. I had to ask and ended up having to drive back to the campground office where an unmarked green hose tossed in the grass as the only source. The attendant in the office had to turn it on and off for me. That seemed like a very odd arrangement. While trimmed along the edges, a lot of areas in the campground could have used a good weed whacking to give it a more tended-to appearance. My site rated at 30' was narrow but backed all the way in there was plenty of room to parallel park my tow. I had to raise the front about 4" to get level. One site had a trailer in it parked quite crooked with yellow caution tape surrounding it, giving it the appearance of a crime scene. The preserve has lots to offer in the way of recreation (horse trails, boating, fishing, history) and I didn't see any indication a day-use pass was required. I'd come back for the trails but probably not shell out that kind of money for a mediocre campsite again. Surprisingly T-Mobile was nearly non-existent but AT&T worked fine with 42 down and 10 up overall.

We’ve tried to stay here twice. The first time we stayed in 2020 during the pandemic. We stayed in site 1 for five nights. The dump station didn’t work - there was no running water there and the staff (except for John) was rude. They locked the gates at arbitrary times (sometimes it was 8, sometimes it was 11pm.) Things were still dicey due to Covid so we gave them a pass.

Fast forward to 2021. We made our reservation for June back in April. We were traveling from Texas and needed a place to park our camper while visiting family. A couple of days before our stay someone called me and said that the site we reserved doesn’t exist. They said they’d work something out. They called me back and gave me a new site. No sweat. The day before were supposed to stay there they call again and tell me we’re double booked again. They say they can get us in for one night then we have to leave. Never seen such a poorly run camp site.
Cook county should get their money back.

Don’t like leaving poor reviews but this one is a good warning to others who hopefully won’t learn what we did the hard way.

Location is a plus. Campground is pretty nice. But you can’t count on having a site even after you’ve paid for it! Really? After 12 hours on the road we were told they double booked. Now what? Can’t trust these guys.

The one big downfall for us was that we were here for a wedding and they lock the gate at 10 pm and no way of getting in after that time. So we had to make sure we were back in time. Restrooms were very clean.

No Water At Dump Station. Showers Are Gross And Hot Water Only Lasts A Couple Minutes. Sites Are Not Level. Gates Close At 10:00

little uneven.

Cute campground with beautiful lake views. Has a nice walking path around the lake and campground, as well as two docks, one fishing and one boating. Easy access to Chicago and we were able to easily get a Lyft to the city for a day of exploring. The site we were in was uneven enough that we couldn’t get level with our jacks. Fairly quiet as well, you could hear trains in the distance and could hear planes coming into Chicago pretty clearly. But overall noise was not terrible.