Devil's Elbow River Safari and Campground, Devils Elbow MO

The owner must have had a lot of bad experiences with trespassers because she seems like the type to shoot first and ask questions later (symbolically speaking). There aren't any signs or open office so you have to guess where to go. She pulled up like a gangster asking what I was doing. When I told her I pre-paid to camp, she didn't believe me. Eventually she found my name and drove away. Its too bad since it is a quiet location and convenient to the highway. If you are a tent camper, you'll definitely need a cot or something to get off the rocky ground. And I mean "big rocks". This is also somewhat troublesome for an RV. No facilities or hookups. There also may be seasonal/permanent campers, which is sketchy. The water is beautiful though.

Be prepared to be constantly hounded by the “warden” as we came to call her. She will bang on your camper door at 8am demanding more money or swearing you haven’t paid her. If you have a visitor even for just a few mins the warden will come straight into your camp on her 4wheeler demanding your guest pays for $5 day pass. If you plan to get in the river you better have some cash with you because she’ll come ripping down the trail on that 4wheeler demanding you pay her a “put-in” fee.

Saturday morning be prepared to wake up to strangers walking through your campsite because the kayak adventure customers park their vehicles right where your tent is.

If you want to kayak and you bring your own, the warden is going to charge you some made up fee even if you don’t get dropped off up river by her. A put-in/pull-out fee on a public river somehow is owed to her.

All in all she personally makes any peaceful camping and family adventure a nightmare. I won’t be going back to this campground and highly recommend you look elsewhere. Devils Elbow is a beautiful area, just not at this place.

We pulled up to this campground on our vacation. A woman who pulled in ahead of us instantly parked, tossed a “no trespassing” barricade in front of our vehicle and proceeded to ask what we were doing there, stating abrasively, “there’s no trespassing. ” My fiancé asked her if it was a business, telling her we were there to check it out and possibly pay for her facilities. This didn’t seem to affect the owner at all. She was rushed and rude answering our questions and so we went elsewhere. We do not recommend this place at all!

Was greeted very unpleasantly by the owner. Was exploring the area and wanted to check out the campgrounds as seen on maps. She pulled in front of us and very aggressively dropped the barricade in front of our car. She said it was private property. I asked if it was a business and she said it was. She had a grimace and scowl the entire we talked to her. I never felt more unwelcome at a business. She said we could check out the campground with a day pass, $5 per person. I would have paid the $10 for my fiance and I just to check it out, but the level of rudeness and negativity coming off of her was unlike anything I've seen at a business entrance. I asked if she was having a bad day and she said something about some people pulling in when they shouldn't have. I would pay to $10 to never run into anyone like her again. We took the road on the other side of the river and the river access from the campgrounds didn't look that appealing. Will never go near the place again. It should be called Karen's elbow campgrounds.

The bugs where very bad you are only allowed one cord and we wanted to stay two nights but only stayed one the worse camp I have ever been too and they wouldn't refund us wow!

Operations are kind of a mess, but it's quiet and clean and small. We didn't meet anyone that has started here before (maybe a sign?). We couldn't find the manager to get set up at camp when we arrived. The store front said open but she was not there and didn't answer her phone, so we just picked a site hoping we were right. Several people would show up and not know what to do, so we had to let them know what was going on until she showed up. And, when we were on the river bank hanging out, she came off a float (memorial weekend!). The showers broke but were fixed the next day; the maintenance guys are really helpful and nice. We probably won't stay again as you have to wait around and not know what's going on. At least we weren't waiting to float.