Book Description
From the Mark Twain National Forest to the northern reaches of the Show Me state, camping in Missouri and northern Arkansas has never been better. In an area abundant with clear rivers, tall bluffs, deep forests, and aquamarine springs, some of the most beautiful campgrounds in the country can be found. The Best in Tent Camping: Missouri and the Ozarks will help to not only locate the perfect campsite, but also lead to the backcountry pleasures available in this land of hundreds of miles of trails and thousands of miles of rivers. With camping possible every season of the year, this guide is essential for planning that perfect trip.


From the Back Cover
If you subscribe to the opinion that televisions, Japanese lanterns, and electric guitars are not essential camping equipment, The Best in Tent Camping should be your constant companion.

From the Mark Twain National Forest to the northern reaches of the Show Me state, camping in Missouri and the Ozarks has never been better. The Best in Tent Camping: Missouri and the Ozarks is a guidebook for tent campers who like quiet, scenic, and serene campsites. It's the perfect resource if you blanch at the thought of pitching a tent on a concrete slab, trying to sleep through the blare of another camper's boombox, or waking to find your tent surrounded by a convoy of RVs.

The Best in Tent Camping: Missouri and the Ozarks will guide you to the quietest, most beautiful, most secure, and best managed campgrounds in Missouri and the Arkansas Ozarks. Painstakingly selected from hundreds of campgrounds in the two states, each campsite is rated for:

o beauty o noise o privacy

o security o spaciousness o cleanliness

Each campground profile provides essential details on facilities, reservations, fees, and restrictions, as well as an accurate, easy-to-read map making the campground a snap to locate.


About the Author
Steve Henry grew up on a farm in the rolling hills of central Kansas, spending much of his youth working under the blue skies of the plains. After earning Bachelor's degrees in Marketing and Agricultural Economics at Kansas State University, he served a seven-year sentence in the offices of an insurance company. Missing the outdoor life, he escaped in 1985 to cycle across the continent twice, including one trek from Anchorage Alaska to Key West, Florida. Since then he has organized triathlons, led bicycle and backpack tours, written articles for Cycle St. Louis (a local bicycling publication), and enjoyed many camping trips.


Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
With more than 5,000 caves, Missouri has more subterranean beauty than any other state. And Onondaga Cave State Park has one of the most beautiful of these caverns. In 1900 a mining company bought the cave and planned to mine onyx and banded calcite. Fortunately for us, the project proved too difficult and this beautiful cave next to the Meramec River remained undamaged.

Onondaga Cave opened to the public during the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It became an especially popular attraction when Lester Dill operated it in the 1950s. Before he died in 1980, Dill hoped the cave would become a state park. In 1981, through purchase by the Nature Conservancy and a subsequent transfer to the Department of Natural Resources, Onondaga became Missouri's newest natural gem.

The campground at Onondaga is especially laid-back for a state park. You can choose either an open and grassy camping loop next to the Meramec River or a more shady and secluded loop away from the stream. Sites 1-17, where all the electric sites are located, are in the riverside loop. Although only a few sites here are shady, a cooling dip in the Meramec River is only a few feet away. All sites are level and spacious but not very private. Grassy and open, they are best for campers with several tents.

FROM THE PUBLISHER