Clinton State Park, KS, September 2024
Park Information
The campground is open year round, but some areas may close seasonally. Water is available April to November, and some frost free spigot are available year round. The park website is here.
Note: We do not recommend going to this park due to the number of permanent residents and degraded maintenance.
Warnings
| Poison Ivy: | Yes | Potholes: | Yes |
| Speed Bumps: | Yes | Narrow Roads: | No |
| Crime: | Unknown | Limited Bridge: | No |
| Camp Residents: | Yes | Maintenance: | No |
| RV @ Check-in: | Yes | Trees Trimmed: | Mostly |
| Car Fees: | Yes | Person Fees: | No |
- Speed bumps at the entrance shack near check-in
- The roads are fairly bad. There are some gaps in the asphalt, some deep potholes, and some repairs that leave a dip across the road. Watch your speed.
- There are a lot of permanent camp residents with dilapidated trailers. Rumor is that the City of Lawrence pays for campsite for homeless people to get them out of the city.
- There is a large parking area at check-in
- The car fee is $5 daily, but the annual car pass is $25.
- Maintenance at the park is not great. Mowing seems moderately regular, but the bathrooms were is bad repair. It seems like the middle row of Prairie Flower are all permanent volunteers. The repairs they do are not always great.
Infrastructure
| Office: | Yes | Boat Ramp: | Yes |
| Camp Store: | Yes | Shower house: | Yes |
| Rental Store: | Yes | Restrooms: | Yes |
| Nature Center: | No | Roads: | Poor |
| Museum: | Nearby | Bridge: | No |
| Historic Site: | No | Storm Shelter: | Unknown |
| Campgrounds: | 2 | Camp Sites: | 368 |
| Modern Sites: | No. | RV Sites: | 204 |
- There is a store at the office and marina
- Rentals at the marina include kayaks, paddleboards, fishing boats, slide boats, pontoon boats. There are also stand alone kayak kiosks.
- There is a Clinton Lake museum outside the park
- 34 Full hook up sites, 68 WE 50/30/20, 102 WE standard sites
Amenities
| Sites: | WSE 50/30/20 | Laundry: | No |
| Dump Station: | 1 | Washers: | N/A |
| Grey Station: | No | Dryers: | N/A |
| Water Station: | Unknown | Slop Sink: | No |
| Recycling: | Unknown | Power: | Stable |
- Dual or quad dump station across the street from Coneflower Loop
- Our site was full hookup, so we did not look for water stations
Activities
| Naturalist: | No | Hiking: | 25 miles |
| Friends of Park: | Yes | Kayaking: | Yes |
| Rentals: | Yes | Road Biking: | 9.5 miles |
| Pool: | No | Trail Biking: | 0 miles |
| Beach: | May – September | Mountain Biking: | 25 miles |
| Playground: | Yes | Disc Golf: | Yes |
| Archery: | Yes | Pickle Ball: | No |
| Shooting: | Y/N | Local Attractions: | Yes |
- There is an active Friends of the Park. They might be the ones that ran the annoying road golf with excessively loud music and annoying loud drunks.
- 25 miles of mixed use trails for hiking, trail running, and mountain biking. This may or may not include the CoE trails next to the park.
Park Overview
The campground is located next to Clinton Lake which has a dam managed by the Core of Engineers. The CoE also has two main campgrounds in the area being Bloomington East (30 amp and water sites) and Bloomington west (group sites).
At the campsite we have seen a large variety of birds including eagles and hawks. On the lake we have seen a large number of blue herons, egrets, pelicans and cormorants. Along with a black cat roaming around the campground.
The roads into the park provide a bumpety bump bump ride requiring slow driving. A new campground office building is in the process of being built. The bathhouses are old and could use some updating but workable.
The maximum stay at the park is 2 weeks but can be extended by switching to a different loop. This is how the transient folks have come to live at the park.
Cost wise the park is very affordable. Primarily because if you buy an annual pass or 2 weeks pass $10 is taken off each day stay. This becomes exceptionally useful staying in Kansas for multiple weeks.
Price increases are in the works for the park. This might be to improve maintenance or get the transients to move on.
There are a lot of local attractions of various kinds. Lawrence is a college town, so it is very liberal and over priced.
Prairie Clover Campground Loop
This is specifically for the Prairie Clover Campground Loop.
Campground Loop Overview
| Sites: | WSE 50/30/20 | Laundry: | No |
| Dump Stations: | 0 | Washers: | N/A |
| Grey Stations: | 0 | Dryers: | N/A |
| Water Stations: | Unknown | Slop Sink: | Unknown |
| Shower Houses: | 2 | Restrooms: | 3 |
| Private Showers: | Yes | Vault Toilets: | 0 |
| Hot Water: | Sometimes | Clean: | Meh |
- The dump station is at Coneflower loop. Our site was full hookups.
- The bathhouses have four private rooms in back with showers and gender split bathrooms in the front.
- The southern bathhouse is in bad repair with the shower room doors rusting out.
- The middle restroom was closed the last time we passed through. It might be permanent, temporary, or seasonal.
Site 97
| Type: | Back-in | Pad: | No |
| Utilities: | WSE 50/30/20 | Pad Length: | N/A |
| Length: | 65 ft | Pad Type: | N/A |
| Width: | 25 ft | Shade: | AM, PM |
| Driveway: | Gravel | Fire Ring: | Yes |
| Front Slope: | Flat | Restroom: | 450 ft |
| Side Slope: | Slight | View: | No |
| Difficulty: | Moderate | Quiet: | Mostly |
| Fits Cars: | Side-by-side | Channels: |
| Provider | Down | Up | Latency | Jitter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T-Mobile: | ||||
| Cricket Mobile: | ||||
| Starlink: |
- Fire ring is too close to the RV to use
- Sewer connection is oddly high
- Starlink has clear skies mounted on the ladder. It might take 4 poles instead of 3, but probably not.
- The side to side level depends on specific location in the campsite. It might range up to one thick board.
- People walk along the tall grass behind the trailer to the playground area.
Alternate Sites
- Not determined
Driving Directions
To the park
- Prairie Flower Campground, IA to Clinton State Park, KS
- Brushy Creek State Park, IA, to Clinton State Park, KS
From the park
Medical Facilities
- Not determined
Attractions
- Prairie Park Nature Center, Lawrence, KS
- Spencer Museum of Art, Lawrence, KS
- KU Natural History Museum, Lawrence, KS
- Watkins Community Museum, Lawrence, KS
- Farmers Market, Lawrence, KS
- Japanese Friendship Garden, Lawrence, KS
- Kansas Capital Building, Topeka, KS