Camping

Parks and trails lace Missouri like cracks in cobblestone, places where you can escape from urban life and commune with nature among windswept glades and shady forests. Missouri’s wilderness beckons exploration.

Greg and Danita Wood, owners of Missouri Life magazine, take a once in a lifetime horseback riding adventure out West. They headed to the mountains of Wyoming and a horse-riding adventure on the Bitterroot—a working cattle ranch that is nested at 7,200 feet in the Absaroka Mountains.

Spend a few days at Big lake State Park. There is so much to do from fishing to camping to boating. Big Lake is an oxbow lake and among the largest remaining natural oxbow lakes along the Missouri River. It is one of the largest natural lakes of any type in the State.

Missouri is all about adventure. That must be why our state has spawned two terrific outdoor equipment companies. Everyone knows about Bass Pro, but there’s a family-run outdoor equipment company, too.

Camp Long Creek at Big Cedar sits on the lakeshore, next to Bass Pro Shops Long Creek Marina, and features 64 units that include shepherd’s huts, luxury “glamping” tents, and couples’ and family cottages. The campground is set to open in May.

Here's our guide to Missouri campsites for summer 2018. Where are you pitching a tent this summer?

Life on the river carries its own unique lessons. Here, the senses are on overload in this peaceful environment. There were times when the only sound was of the paddles dipping and lifting in the current.