We stayed one night in this park on the way east toward Missouri. Located in the heart of the Smoky Hills, Wilson State Park is considered by many to be the most beautiful in the state. Wilson Reservoir features a rugged shoreline punctuated by scenic cliffs and rocky outcrops.

Wilson Reservoir offers excellent white bass and striped bass angling. The Cedar Trail in the Otoe area is a one-mile loop with a concrete surface and is great for a leisurely, low-stress walk. The 24.5-mile long Switchgrass Bike Trail is popular with mountain bikers to pursue this challenging activity.

Wilson Wildlife Area is located on the upper end of 9,000 acre Wilson Reservoir. The 8,069-acre public hunting area is made up of 5,000 acres of rugged rolling hills of native prairie, approximately 2,000 acres of cropland, and 1,000 acres of riparian timber along the Saline River, Cedar Creek, Turkey Creek, and Elm Creek. The area has a waterfowl refuge that was established in 1996.

Rating: 
Location:  Wilson, KS
Site Quality / Amenities: Asphalt roads and gravel sites. There were a few small trees to sit under that that provided a small amount of shade. Restrooms and showers were provided although we did not use them. 50A electrical service with full hookups.
Type: State Park
Access: Easy access about 5 miles north of I-70, and west of K-232.
Staff: We had minimal interaction with the staff but when we did they were efficient and professional.
Cellular/Wi-Fi: AT&T was reported as marginal but Verizon speeds were great.
Restaurants: We did not eat out while here.
Nearby parks: We didn’t look at any other parks in the area.
What we liked: Unlike much of the state, this area included many rolling hills.
What we didn’t like: The site we were in was not very level. No shade over the site.
Verdict: This is a nice park with lake views and rolling hills and is a good option for a few days when travelling through the area. We’d stay here again.

Rating:  (for an overnight)
Site Quality: Gravel pads and roads. The site (115) was plenty long enough for our RV and truck.
Type: Commercial
Access: Right off of I-70 on US 83 north of Oakley Kansas. There is a convenient gas station / truck stop right across the street from the park where we could fill up on the way in so we didn’t have to unhook to go get fuel. It was a good thing as we were down to 50 miles of fuel left along with a low fuel warning.
Staff: Due to COVID and being a small park, we didn’t need to interact with staff. We just picked up our envelope at the front door.
Amenities: Onsite restaurant, splash pool, hot tub and public fire pit. There was also onsite laundry facilities and restrooms although we didn’t use either one.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon and AT&T were both very strong. AT&T reached 12 Mbps while Verizon was about 19 Mbps.
Restaurants: One of the places mentioned on the park website was Cap’n Jack’s Pub which is onsite. We weren’t completely sure but Cap’n Jack and his wife may be the same ones who run the RV park. It was highly rated, particularly for seafood and steaks (although they have burgers and other things) which surprised us since this park is in the middle of nowhere. We decided we’d try it not expecting much but to our surprise it lived up to the hype. Anna got a steak that was one of the best we’d had in some time. I had crab cakes and they were equally awesome. It came with a price (each meal was about $26) but both were as good as you would find in a large city. As mentioned there are also less expensive options as well. If you stop at the park or are just driving by, you have to stop here!
What we liked: Easy access to both the park and fuel right off I-70. Cap’n Jack’s Pub.
What we didn’t like: There is a good bit of road noise from I-70. There are also numerous “Kansas” thorn bushes in the grass between and around the sites.
Nearby Parks: None
Verdict: We would absolutely stay here again when travelling through. This park although basic and gravel was much better than the places we stopped in 2019 in Hays and Limon.

Fort Hays was an important frontier military fort built in 1865 to protect the Union Pacific Railway. As you might suspect from the pictures below, the buffalo was important in this area. Some of the famous characters around the area when it was known as the most lawless town on the frontier were George Custer, Wild Bill Hickock and Buffalo Bill Cody.

We stayed at Creek Side RV resort one night while travelling West toward Colorado for Christmas.

Rating: 
Site Quality: Gravel roads and pads. Our site was long enough for our rig and truck with room to spare. There is a pretty good amount of space between each site but there are no amenities like picnic tables.
Type: Commercial Park
Access: Just off Interstate 70 west side of Hays, KS. Easy access via the US-183 bypass route.
Staff: There was essentially no staff interaction. You reserve a site online and select the site you want and pay for the stay. When you arrive, you call a phone number and they tell you if your site number has been changed.
Amenities: Laundry, restrooms with showers.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon service was 2 bars on our phones and our data rate was about 5 Mbps. AT&T through our wireless setup was fast at about 22.8 Mbps.
What we liked:  Good satellite reception with no trees overhead. Long sites. We were in site #27 which was away from the road so we didn’t have much noise (there was some minor train noise though). Super Walmart and numerous restaurants in town.
What we didn’t like: The sites nearest the office were laid out badly with power at the front of the site and water at the rear. We were able to connect power and our heated water hose without extensions but just barely. There were only some newly planted trees in a few places but no other landscaping. Roads in the park were pretty rough. Impersonal service, the owner and a camp host seemed to be onsite but we never talked directly to them. This park would get very muddy in wet weather.
Verdict: This park is definitely NOT a “Resort” or anything close. That said, it isn’t a bad place for an overnight stay. There aren’t a lot of other options in the area, particularly in the winter.

I had manually adjusted the alignment myself after wearing down an expensive tire and not being able to find someone to do it professionally near where we were at the time. It turned out I had set the tow-in pretty well but the camber was also off – something I couldn’t set without their tools. The shop owner told me he sees a lot of trailers, even new ones, that aren’t right straight from the factory. While we won’t know the outcome for several thousand more miles, I’m confident the job was done right and we will be happy. I highly recommend Holland Alignment to anyone who needs any type of alignment in the southeast Kansas area.

After the alignment, we were back on the road by noon and we dove the 170 miles or so on to Topeka Kansas and the Deer Creek Valley RV Park. A front came through while we waited for the trailer to be repaired and we faced temperatures dropping through freezing and winds from the north gusting to about 40 mph. Even when we turned west, the cross winds weren’t too big a problem for us and our heavy fifth wheel but our gas mileage dropped 25% to about 6.5 mpg.

Topeka was a good preview of the weather to come further west as the first night’s low temperature got down to 17 degrees. We woke up the next morning to see icicles on our water hose. The diverter valve on the park water connection leaked a little bit causing them to form overnight. Unfortunately, the towel I used to provide some insulation around our pressure regulator froze together. Hopefully it will be thawed out before we leave the area or we might have to use a hairdryer on it to thaw it out!

With the cold weather and just needing some down time, we really didn’t do much exploring in the Topeka area. There are some interesting things to see here but we’ll just have to see them next time around.

Rating: 1/2
Site Quality: Concrete roads and pads. Our site was long enough for our rig and truck with some room to spare. Each site has a concrete patio with a picnic table. There is a good deal of space between each site.
Type: Commercial Park
Access: Just off Interstate 70 at exit 364B on the east side of Topeka, KS. Easy access via SE Carnahan Ave. It is possible to get there from exit 365 however that requires navigation of two traffic circles and a fairly steep hill.
Staff: Staff interaction was good. They will come pick up your propane bottles, fill them, and return them to your site which is handy.
Amenities: Dump station, laundry, restrooms with showers, playground, horseshoes, pet play area, storm shelter. Free cable TV. Propane on site.
Cellular/WiFi: Verizon service was 3 bars on our phones and our data rate exceeded 26 Mbps. AT&T through our wireless setup was about 10.5 Mbps. They had WiFi but we did not use it.
What we liked: Roomy sites on pavement – good for wet weather. Close to Walmart, gas stations and restaurants. Little road noise at our site but the park is right on Interstate 70 and sites closer to the road likely did have some noise issues. Good satellite reception with no trees overhead.
What we didn’t like: No landscaping throughput the park although there are trees around the perimeter. In the summer there would be no shade and it could be hot.
Verdict: This is a good park and we wouldn’t have any problem staying here again for an overnight or longer.

We stayed here two nights on the way from Goodland toward Oklahoma City. Not a bad spot but temperatures were reaching 100 degrees here in late August and we had winds of 20 gusting to over 30 both days. Needless to say we didn’t get out and explore a lot. There are some interesting geological formations nearby as well as numerous hiking trails. We drove into the town of Kanopolis to fill the tank with Diesel and unexpectedly got full service at the pump. The gentleman pumped the gas and cleaned our windows while we waited. Nice touch these days. Most everything else in town was closed on Mondays.

Within the park the Sumac loop is the only area with full hookups. Out of 16 campsites in Sumac, there were never more than about 4 campers here including us. We did notice that some of the other campgrounds were a bit busier and in some cases were nices spots. If we come again we might want to consider getting an electric/water site if we are only staying a week or less. Within the Sumac loop, sites 8,9, and 10 share a common driveway and would not be suitable for our rig.

We stayed here one night on the way East from the Denver area. This was not a bad place for an overnight stop but probably not a lot more. There doesn’t seem to be a lot to do in the area – although we did see the Worlds Largest Easel and we ate at a pretty good Mexican restaurant called Tequilas Mexican Grill in town. This was an unexpected bonus for such a small town basically in the middle of nowhere.