Fenton Self Service Campground — Hotel in Benton

the year was 2011 I had vacation days and I had never heard of or been to LBL. I went here to do some astrophotography it was a 6hr drive from home. It was 11pm or so and I was working the scope about 100 yards from my van parked in the first spot of the camp when I was overwhelmed with something watching me. overwhelmed to the point ever hair was standing up on my body. As im walking back to my van I see two red eyes on the hill behind the van just watching me. I jumped in my van as fast as possible and hit the brake lights to light up the hill but couldnt see anything. eventually falling asleep awoken only by my pitbull going absolutely crazy with her hair standing up from something outside. as soon as the sun came up I went out and found a 10-12" long very bizarre footprints. It had been raining the past 3 days so the ground was soft. These prints are unlike anything I had ever seen. So then I went up on the hillside where the red eyes were and seen no sign of anything except a clump of dark grey fur in the bark of tree. about that time a ranger pulls in and I tell him what happened and showed him the fur and the footprint. he didnt say much. he told me I wasnt the first to report something like this. I packed my stuff and left LBL, never been back. this incident kinda slipped my memory...

It’s close to the highway so it’s very easy to get to, but with that comes a considerable amount of traffic noise. At the time of this review, the 110 outlets in site 27 aren’t working. I had my generator so we were able to use that. The sites are kind of close together but the people next to us were cool and said they didn’t mind the generator noise. It’s not far from Aurora or Murray, so if you need or want something it’s only a short drive. I had at least two bars of AT&T service here the whole time. Overall it was a good stay. The lake is nearby and there are plenty of places to hike or bike. I probably would have given five stars but I stayed here for the electricity and the electricity in my site wasn’t working....

Tent camped in early February, (yes it was quite chilly) the campground was nice, pretty well kept and not busy. One thing i would point out is, especially if you are tent camping, you will be able to hear cars crossing over the bridge. so if you are a light sleeper or just don’t enjoy the sound of cars, this spot may not be for you. There was a little creek near our spot which was a cool little addition, there was also plenty of available limbs which we were able to use for our fire. This spot was very easily accessible, and a great spot if you will be heading out on the lake while there. You can also take the path from the campground over the bridge (about a 1 mile walk) if you want a beautiful spot to watch...