Fall colors along the trail

Hawn State Park Campground

Hawn State Park campground is one of our favorite campgrounds near the St. Louis area. One of my favorite things about camping at Hawn is that you can walk out of your tent or camper and onto the trail. Depending where your site is located within the campground, it may require a short walk down the campground road, but it’s great that you don’t have to drive to get to the trailhead (for Whispering Pines and Pickle Creek trails). There are times when this parking lot fills up because these are popular trails, so this is a nice bonus.

I also appreciate the natural setting with plenty of trees. Some sites back up to Pickle Creek. Most sites are well spaced too, although in some cases, one site’s firepit may be located near a neighboring site. The campground also has a playground and several open areas to play.

In addition to drive-up campsites, there are also walk-in and backpacking campsites at Hawn. We’ve only camped in the drive-up sites, but the other sites are very popular too. Backpacking sites are located along the Whispering Pines trail.