Sugar River Forest Preserve — Attraction in Shirland Township

This is a great place to come camp in the area for a weekend. It's only a 20 minute drive from my house but feels like we're hours away. It is usually very quiet (but depends on who's camping next to you). I've only camped at the primitive campground. About half of the 12 primitive sites are on the river, the other half close to the river, but your camp site will not adjoin the river. The pit toilets and water pump are within a very reasonable walking distance from the primitive sites. The sites are kept clean and the park attendants have always been very cordial and helpful. The price for a resident for the primitive sites are only $15/night. Firewood is $8/bundle. (2025 prices).

The ground is very level, smooth and stone free in my experience, which makes pitching a tent super easy. Each site has a fire ring and picnic table.

There are plenty of mosquitoes, so be sure to bring your bug spray and apply it liberally. Once we did that, we didn't have too much of a problem, but we definitely did go home with a few bites, a fair price to pay for the experience and memories made.

There is a hiking trail that routes right past the sites so you may have hikers walking fairly close to your sites, but in my experience everyone has either left us alone or been super kind...

Nice campground at County Forest Preserve. STAFF friendly and helpful. Best for smaller and lighter units but many sites large enough larger 5th wheels and Mororhomes. However with few exceptions sites are not paved or traveled so heavily vehicles will make ruts when ground wet and water table high. My 8k truck and 10k trailer was very near causing problems and with rain may well have gotten stuck. Not trashing campground only suggesting be aware of your vehicles ability and risk should wet weather soften the ground. Camping is good with nice sites in a wooded campground with great shade. Several hiking trails and of course the Sugar River for recreation (fishing, canoeing, kayaking and tubing). CAMPED Memorial Day weekend so all sites full. HOT weather and A/C units were running. We had a 50 amp plug but voltage often dropped below our EMS limits and shut our power down. My error in not reporting it as it well could have been resistance issues (like corroded breaker or outlet makes resistance causing increase heat at plugs) at power pedestal cause the voltage drop. I will need to contact office to have the do a...

The camping is really good. A lot of people complain about the walk, but they are exaggerating about that. It's not that bad. If you want to camp, you should think about bringing things on wheels to get to your campsite. Wood delivered to the campsite is really nice. One less thing to worry about and I've always found it to be cheaper than buying it elsewhere - which you're not supposed to do. The latrines are always surprisingly clean, but I'm terrified of spiders and of course, they hole up there. The metal "flushies" are the most frigid things in the world, though. If you sit on one, you'll automatically be frozen, no matter how hot it is! I enjoy the trails a great deal. If you want to use a cell phone, it's not the greatest place for that. Most phones don't work at all. If you're looking to get away from your phone, it's a great place to do so! The campsites are usually pretty far away from each other, but some of them are nearer than others. I wish campers wouldn't pick plots right next to someone when there are a bunch of other sites open that would isolate them more. But all in all, I really enjoy camping at...