Camp Bullfrog Lake — Attraction in Palos Township

I had read a lot of great reviews about Bullfrog Lake Campground, so we were excited to book the large cabin at an affordable price to visit family nearby. It really seems like it could be a great place, but maintenance is really lacking. We checked in and were pleasantly surprised to know we got our first bundle of firewood delivered to the cabin for free that evening. Except, it never came and we finally just asked for it to be handed to us a day later. ||||When we got to our cabin, we were extremely disappointed with the condition of the inside. It appeared to have been half cleaned. Trash was removed, but there were empty toliet paper rolls hanging on the rod and no toliet paper to be found. The floor appeared to have been swept because there wasn't obvious dirt on it (the corners could use some attention, but we weren't surprised by that). Other than that, the rest of the place was covered in dust and dirt. The toliet looked used, the counters needed wiped down, there were large cobwebs over the back door and the air conditioners are going to end up broken down because they did not appear to have been touched in years (except the on/off buttons which were grimy). We did mention the condition to the office and he seemed surprised. He looked at some paper and said it should have been cleaned. He did offer to come wipe it down in "a little while", but we decided based on the fact our cabin was supposed to have already been cleaned, that we were better off doing it ourselves. We did get toliet paper from the office. After purchasing gloves and cleaning wipes, my husband and I spent 30+ minutes wiping down every surface we could reach. We aren't clean freaks, but when you arrive to a cabin you expect it to at least not indicate other people had just used the toliet! And it isn't that big or that hard to clean, so I'm not sure why they are leaving it in such poor condition.||||I just read a person's review about the water from 2017. They stated back then that they were trying to put in a system to filter the well water. I guess that process ||isn't finished yet. They still use well water that you can not drink. Due to the high amount of minerals in the water, the shower stall and toliet are stained brown. We realized what this was from and is not part of our cleaning complaint, though it does look bad. And our children would not shower in the water because of the strong smell. And I could smell it in my hair.||||The sinks in our cabin had extremely hard streams of water. You could not wash your hands without splashing yourself in the face and it would also splash all over the mirror. I attempted many ways to try to make this better and there just wasn't any way to wash your hands without spraying yourself. It was even worse for the kids.||||On our last night, we also arrived back to the cabin to realize someone had come in while we were gone. We've rented many cabins and never had anyone come in when were were away or even approach us to come in. We assume they came in to get something out of the storage room, but it was uncomfortable coming back and knowing someone had been in there without us being aware that they would do that.||||The one thing we were pretty sure of going in to this rental was that the beds were "camp" beds. So, we were not surprised to find the thin mattresses on plywood. But I thought I would mention it for others that might not realize the set up. The kids loved the bunk beds.||||The cabin is roomy. There are lots of hooks for towels (don't often find that). The outdoor fire ring and picnic tables are nice. Once we had everything cleaned up, we felt comfortable in the cabin, except for the water issues. ||||I hope they can fix some of the issues because the campground itself was pretty, quiet and close...

We were excited when we first learned Cook County Forest Preserves was offering camping with tent sites, RV sites and cabins for rent. We reserved a large cabin which sleeps ten and an RV site for my daughter who has a pop-up at Bullfrog Lake. We reserved for a Friday and Saturday night. Check-in begins at 3pm and check-out is at noon. The large cabin includes air conditioning, heat, and bathroom with a shower. Since the camp uses well-water, there are iron stains from the water in the toilet and showers (to be expected) but otherwise the cabin was very clean. Staff was very helpful, and you receive free firewood for your first fire. After that the firewood costs $5.00 a bundle (you cannot bring in your own firewood due to possible insect infestations). Our unit had four bunkbeds and two twin beds (which are in a separate room). Basic plastic mattress so make sure you bring either sheets or sleeping bags. Each campsite comes with a firepit and a movable grate for grilling food. The camp store (where you check-in) has items for sale and rent. Water, ice cream, bait for fishing. Although the store closes at a certain time, camping personnel are available by calling the number on the door (available 24 hours). We even called around 11:00pm for more firewood and they came within 30 minutes (they delivered!). When our garbage can was full, they came right away to empty it. Great service. There are kayaks for rent and there is a dock for fishing. We caught bluegill, channel catfish, bullheads, and largemouth bass. The camping personnel have activities too. We attended the marshmallow roast, nature trivia games, and we also went on a supervised night hike. Great fun. We loved the fact that we can now go camping so close to home. When we need more ice or drinks, it was a short ten-minute drive to hickory hills to the stores. Campsite does not allow glass containers, so we had cans and plastic. I did suggest to the staff that they should have recycling containers. The camping is designed for families, but there were other uses. The cabin to our left was having a bachelorette party. The cabin down a couple of doors were having a birthday party. Banners and Christmas lights were hung. Fun for all. We had a great time and we are looking forward to our camping trip next year. I like that they limit reservations to six nights, so more people have the opportunity to enjoy this...

5-star location due to proximity to Chicago. We took the train from La Grange Road 25 minutes away and that worked well (20-40 minutes to Union Station, 12 hour meter parking suitable for standard vehicles, not anything larger than a van); however, we also drove our 3/4 ton truck to Chicago and were able to find parking in areas around Wrigley Field fairly easily so that is also an option with L train access to other downtown areas. Note the gates close at 10pm so if you arrive after this time you will need to park outside the gates.

Campground area is very quiet and peaceful. Spaces are spread apart compared to commercial campgrounds. It was about half full during the week but got busier toward the end of the week. We did not stay during the weekend. There are wonderful limited amenities like a fishing dock, kayaks, trails and decent bathroom facilities (could be cleaner and better maintained but were usable). You can definitely hear the bullfrogs at night! There was quite a bit of wildlife including diverse bird species, a bit of a surprise for us as we were expecting a more urban environment.

We were in a travel trailer and most other campers were in class C rentals or tents. A lot of first-time campers. That isn't typical for us but likely due to the proximity to the city. This is great that people are camping but does have its downsides. Some campers had loud music, burned things other than wood and didn't know how to work the facilities. One big problem is they do not have water past the entry gate and tanks must be filled at the gate. While this would be okay, and we did fill our tank upon arrival, the lack of water included the dump station. Also due to the inexperience of campers the dump station was an absolute disgusting mess. Black tank spillage all over the place and no way to clean up due to lack of water. Also lack of water for flush means potential damage to your black tank as failure to properly flush will lead to nasty gung buildup in the tank. Luckily we had the capability to dump and flush again soon after but I would hate to be the folks receiving the rental class C units after a weekend at this place!

In all, we would definitely come back during visits to Chicagoland. We hope they at least fix the dump station water situation by the next...