South Marcum: The perfect Corps of Engineers park (almost)

Even a disappointing campground run by the Army Corps of Engineers is pretty darn good, and that’s not just the Senior Lifetime Pass talking.

Yes, for us old coots, the pass cuts an already reasonable fee in half. 

But the parks are always in beautiful places, often are on or near the water, and are usually pretty accessible.

For travelers, full-time or not, COE parks and some other federal sites are the first choice. In Arkansas and Texas, as well as the parks out West that we visited last year, most sites are water and electric, with a dump station down the road. That works, even in a two-week stay. We just have to go dump the grey tank halfway through, unless the shower houses have too many bugs and we shower in the camper. 

Previously, our favorite was Fort Peck in eastern Montana. Incredibly beautiful site and CLEAN bathrooms. Still a favorite even if we had to unhook from power and go and fill up the onboard freshwater tank.

But once we headed north into Illinois, we found something … wonderful: Sewer connections!

Those who live in traditional sticks-and-bricks homes cannot fully appreciate how nice this is. You do your business in the toilet, flip the lever and never think a second thought about it.

We RV-dwellers must store the “black water” in a tank under the floor and periodically dump it into a campground sewer line or storage tank. 

I call it the dark side of camping.

Full hookups are common in the expensive RV resorts and private parks, but they are rare perks in our price range.

But again, the water and sewer connections are not the only benefits of the South Marcum campground, which is on Rend Lake in south-central Illinois. We saw deer regularly, even right in the camping area itself. I only saw one spike, but there were lots of does, with speckled fawns, and they seemed to travel in packs of four or more.

Back home, when a deer crossed the road, I always told myself to watch for the second one to come bounding across my path. Here on Rend Lake, you might lose count.

There were also wild turkeys and what I assume to be beaver.

Two downsides. 

1. The full hookup sites seem to be only a portion of the whole campground. We had four days in an electric-only site before moving across the road. Plan in advance as much as possible.
2. The paved parking pads are nice but NARROW. I had trouble backing the van into the sites, so you can imagine how hard it was to back the trailer into the site. We managed, however.

This is one that will definitely stay on our list of favorites.