Missouri State Parks: Johnson's Shut-Ins

Located in Lesterville, MO, Johnson's Shut-Ins is probably one of the top 5 most popular State Parks in Missouri. Do not quote me on that, I am completely making that up, but I really would be shocked if it weren't one of the most popular in Missouri. Here's why:

1) It is completely new and updated. Back in Dec 2005, the Taum Sauk Reservoir had a major failure which resulted in over a billion gallons of water from The Black River flooding the entire park. Read about the flood and how the park changed here. The campground was totally destroyed and had been located near the river in the floor plains. It is now across the highway in a new area. And it is nice. These campgrounds opened up 4 years after the flood.

2) It is nature's own water park! How can that not draw a humongous crowd?! Playing in rivers is fun. Playing in a river full of boulders creating waterfalls, pools, and awesome rapids? Amazing. Dangerous if you aren't careful, sure, but amazing. 

3) Location. It is not a far drive from Saint Louis (2 hours) so it can easily be a day trip if you are not wanting to camp. If you are "day camping" here, though, be warned. It gets crowed fast in the summer months so come early to stake out your spot. The Shut-ins parking lot only allows for 100 cars so plan accordingly. If camping, it is close to Elephant Rock State Park and near Taum Sauk State Park. Elephant Rock SP does not have camping, but the hiking there is amazing. Taum Sauk also has some of the prettiest hiking in Missouri, plus you get to be on the highest peak in Missouri. 

Gotta catch 'em all! 

My sister (R), her husband (M) and the baby (PX) and I just went here this past weekend to camp. This is where I wanted to camp for my birthday weekend campout, so I am glad I got to go there before the camping season ended! This was PX's first EVER camping trip! He is not even 2 years old yet, but he is quite the adventurer. He loves being outside and playing in the dirt and running around, so this weekend was perfect for him. 

We opted to camp in the "walk-in sites" which are located in loop 5 within the park. We did these because by the time my sister went online to reserve the campsite, these were all that were left for the weekend. I was shocked since I would have thought the school year starting would make camping on weekends easier. However, this ended up being the best thing ever, and I would recommend these walk-in spots to anyone who needs a basic campsite (no electricity, no water, no sewer hook-up). 

We got to our part of loop 5 and the showerhouse was right across from the parking area. The facilities consisted of 2 shower stalls and 2 bathroom stalls. Not the best for the 8 campsites the bathroom was for, but not too bad either. The only issue was this was also for the special use area, which happened to have 20+ Boy Scouts between the ages of 11 and 16 and their parents. Oh, well. We never had to wait in line all too long. We purposely chose the closest campsite to the parking lot that we could, number 513. The only closer one was the handicap site, 514. The walk to the bathroom was about 250 yards. Not bad. 

We saw a push cart in the parking lot. It was like a giant wheel barrow with bike wheels on it. This thing was genius and kudos to you, Johnson's Shut-ins for providing such an amazing tool for your campers. We loaded it up and wheeled it to our campsite. The entire walk to our site my sister and I oohed and awed over how beautiful the area was.

Most helpful thing and a happy surprise!

Then we saw our campsite, dear 513. The thing was HUGE! And secluded! And, well, just look. Click on the picture below to make it bigger. 

and

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We couldn't see any of the other campsites from our campsite. We had tons of space to spread out within the campsite plus they put in wooden deck areas for the tents to go on since the terrain is uneven and rocky. My biggest suggestion to people camping in these campsites would be to bring an air mattress. We only had camping pads and we all had ache and pains from sleeping on a wooden surface. However, the platform was really nice for other reasons. It was awesome not having mud right outside the tent. It gave us a designated area for the tent so we didn't have to search for the most level, best area for the tent. I have camped in the normal basic campground here before and it was nice, but like every other popular state park in MO, you are pretty much on top of each other. This felt so isolated and I will be coming back. 

The visitor center is located in the part of the park where the shut-ins are and it is very nice. It was built after the flood and has all kinds of information on the park, the history, the flood and more. I wish there had been better information on hiking, but for all I know the people working in there had maps behind the front desk. I just never asked. It is a bummer that you are no longer able to walk easily from the campground to the river since it is on the other side of the county highway, but at the same time I appreciate not being in a flood plain. 

We went down to the river and despite not being much above 75 degrees it was crowded! I cannot even imagine how crowded it must be during the hot summer days. Since it wasn't very warm, none of us besides PX had swimsuits on so we more so waded in the water as he played with his bucket and shovel and threw rocks. He loves throwing rocks. 

One complaint: There is a sign as you take the hike from the parking lot to the river and it states No coolers, yada yada yada, and no dogs. In fact, it is a rule for all of the state parks that no dogs can be in state park/historic site buildings, beaches and swim areas. There were so many dogs by the river! Not sure why this bugged me so much, but it did. Oh, well. 

We also spent part of the day at Elephant Rock State Park, but as this post is already getting really long, I will talk about that in another post. 

In conclusion, some things I learned:

1) If camping with kiddos, know that they will get dirty. There is nothing you can do about this. It is just dirt (or fire pit ash for PX) and it will wash out. Just let them get dirty.

2) Walk-in campsites are not as scary as they sound, and now I am super excited to go check out other walk-in sites elsewhere. 

3) If the weather says the weather will have highs of mid 70s and lows in mid 40s, do not stupidly only pack one light jacket. A long sleeve shirt or two would be useful. Maybe a heavier sweatshirt.The nights got really, really cold. I normally hate wearing socks to bed but I was grateful I had packed my wool socks. Those multiple pairs of shorts I brought were a waste and weren't worn at all. 

4) I am ready to put up a fight if necessary. We are all mostly asleep Saturday night when suddenly we heard (human) footsteps stop in front of our campsite. Then turn and go into our area. We then heard rustling. I grab my glasses and my flashlight and jump out of the tent to confront who was in our area (my adrenaline was pumping, I do not normally confront people) because it sounded like they were going through our stuff. But they were no longer there and we concluded they were just grabbing sticks around our space.  

5) Overhearing the conversations of young Boy Scouts is hilarious. "I've got my underwear!" or "You will lift the toilet seats up when you pee." Thank you, Scoutmaster for the sound advice. The rest of us sharing that bathroom with you all really appreciated it.