van meter state park

We were so pleasantly surprised at how lovely this park is. The staff at the visitor center were very helpful and welcoming. The Indian Center is very professionally done and full of interesting information -- great for adults and kids. While we didn't camp here, we did drive through the camp grounds and found them very attractive and inviting. Nice to have the shower house near by. We walked on several of the trails and again were very pleased. We will definitely return to this great resource.

Hi, we just stayed at this campground and must say on the positive note, the park is well mowed and the lone shower is clean. On the downside, there is no supervision, and a loud party moved in around our site and we were literally surrounded by beer drinking, loud music, and car doors slamming constantly for our last day there, and I do mean our last day there ever. There is no dump station, you had probably be better off staying in your back yard. Nice location, very secluded, which I guess is what makes it a great party place if that's what you're into instead of a nice quiet camping trip.

This state park camp site is very well maintained. Grass is mowed. The shower house is probably the nicest we have used. Clean showers and bathrooms. Good water pressure and plenty of hot water. The campsite is very handicapped accessible. All the sites are very level and spacious. Some nice scenic trails with river and lake views. Friendly and helpful ranger and camp host. We were tent camping, but also had nice RV spots. Back in and pull-through. Would camp their again.

Van Meter is a nice state park located along the Missouri rivver and contains a lot of native american history. We stayed over a holiday weekend at their campground and we were really impressed. The campground was smaller than many of the other state parks which we appreciated. It was quiet and all of their camp sites have nice shade. There were a few trails to hike and a lake just down the street for fishing. What is really nice is that the park is in an area where a lot of birds travel so there were lots of colorful ones to watch while having a snack. Another plus was that there is a full playgorund to keep the kids entertained but it was off to the side of the camping area which allowed the area to remain relatively quiet. Everything was well maintained. The only short fall I could think of was that there is only one shower for each side. We just showered on off hours and had not problems.

We went Easter weekend, and tent camped one night, for the first time with our small children. We had a wonderful time! The campsites are very nice, the one we chose was large enough for two or three tents! The site was back from the road and wooded, with a pull-through drive, and behind the wooded area was a marsh. The sun set right behind our site and there were tons of birds in the marsh that sang until the sun went down and then again when it came up the next morning. The whole campground is beautiful with open, flat, nicely-mowed common areas with trees and with plenty of room for kids to play or the adults to play ball or other sports. There's even a playground that you can walk to. The bathrooms were clean and the shower was nice, too. There's a museum to visit if you need to do something indoors. It has some wonderful exhibits, including a large canoe that my kids thought was awesome. There's several trails and a lake but we didn't do any of them. We had such fun at the campground we decided to save them for another time.

We camped at Van Meter for three nights. It has a small 22 site campground. Nice shower house and playground but the dump station is in Marshall about 10 miles away. The visitors center was also quite nice especially if you have an interest in native Americans. I walked most of the trails; there were several of different lengths and difficulty. We will likely return!!

When we stayed at the Van Meter State Park campground on the Wednesday night after Labor Day, we were the only campers in the whole place! We reserved a spot through the Missouri State Parks website, and paid a extra for a reserveable space near the restrooms. One thing about the photos of individual campsites on the Van Meter website - all of the trees are bigger now than they were when those photos were taken. The website makes this place look almost like a grassy field with a few saplings but it's prettier now that the trees are more grown. Because we use just a pup tent, privacy for dressing is important and I look for a site bounded on a few sides with trees and bushes. The website seemed to show site #2 as having good privacy, but once we saw it in person we noticed that sites #3 and #11 also have excellent privacy. Site #20 was not secluded but it had many nice tall trees for shade and was close to the restrooms as well, and looked like a very attractive site to get as well.Van Meter State Park has the Missouri Native American Cultural Center which is a nice little museum. It is located near the park entrance. There are hiking trails and a playground. If you like an uncrowded, very well-kept and clean campground, you will like this one.

Not a lot to do, but there are good walking trails, small lake, lots of pick-nic areas, and good playground for the kids. A few camping sites as well.