Mississippi Palisades State Park — Attraction in Savanna

We really liked the park. Two areas that might deter me the next time though to choose this campground. Poison ivy big time all around the campground. If you have children that like to explore I would not choose this place. We just got back yesterday. During our visit several children in our families got it while we were there and were able to wash it off. On our way home my five year old started to complain and now has it big time. :( Call me a bad parent if you want. The kids did not venture far. But in my opinion ( i have gone camping with children several times and this had not happened to this scale) poison ivy in this amount should not surround campsites and directly around trails that are super narrow and overgrown.

And secondly their hand soap in the bathroom is watered down suds. The three day camping trip had that very poor quality soap. During Covid especially the ones area you have to maintain well and where a business can do their part is providing hand soap thay can prevent the spread of the disease.

To to sum up, your kids are at risk disr too their natural desire to explore and their height on narrow over grown trails. This place may not be your first choice if you have kids. In addition, the soap is terrible so for sure bring your own soap.

Other than that I loved the place. Great variety of trails. The trails are poorly marked though. The camo grounds do not have signs that lead you in the right direction of hope to find your site. It took us a long time to find our site. I think it is cool how many of the trails are interwoven with in the camp and to each other so as as adults you could really get a good back packing kind of experience if you wanted with a decent shower and bathroom sometimes even along the trail or at least the end of it. The outlooks are awesome.

Hope this helps paint a better picture for people interested in this...

The sites are well maintained, the staff is reasonably helpful, and the trails and shelters are beautiful. Shower houses, dump stations, and water pumps are also functional and accessible. One complaint is that I've visited during the late summer/fall and the early winter and in every case the bathrooms have been pretty foul, with an overbearing stench and full of bugs. The proximity to the Mississippi also ensures that you will get mosquito bites in the park until there's been at least a couple of good frosts. There's also a train line that runs fairly close to the front of the park, but most of the noise was at night and not enough to wake me, at least. Having stayed in at least one other campsite along the Mississippi between Savannah and Galena, I can also say that the train noise, even near the front of this park, is mitigated more than in other parks by the fact that there is a road and trees between the tracks and the park entrance. In other parks I have stayed at the tracks run right along an outer edge of the campground, with nothing but a fence separating campsites from the noise. Some of the campsites tend to be very close to one another or straddle a trailhead, but most/all of the sites I saw were mowed and had the picnic table and fire pit. About 2/3 of the camping sites are non-reservable, so there tends to be open, quality spots available for walk-up even on busier weekends. It is also a very quick, maybe 10 minute drive to the stores in Savannah, and a slightly longer, half hour or so drive to...

Really wanted to give five stars on this one people but a few things pushed it back down to 4. Labor Day weekend camping in a tent with little kids was a fantastic time but the kids got covered in poison ivy! Some of the park just seemed to be lackin on the maintenance side of things or maybe it’s a funding thing. Labor Day weekend and the park store was closed. Couldn’t get any souvenirs for the kids. Couple of the big main trials by the entrance seemed to be in good shape but every smaller trail was pretty over grown to the point of single file lines while dodging tons of poison ivy. Injured 3 year old. Area by the boat dock by a info sign with birds on it. My kid goes to touch the sign and fell straight down into a gap between the side walk and the sign pinning and scrapes up both legs. Area has been eroded away and easily could be back filled with stone or something. Few of the overlooks the sides were getter overgrown and blocking the views. Camping there were no tent pads and only one tent per site. Every site by me was on sloped ground. If you’re going to make tent camping sites on a hill, make a flat area for a tent to go on on each site. Did have a great time! Great views from tons of spots and tons and awesome birds! Met a ton of great people in the campground. I highly suggest going here and I hopefully they put a little more maintenance on in...