I've been going to One Eyed Willy's for years now. I've been on a 10-15 person bachelorette party…read moretrip, two 30+ person college student/young adult trip, as well as a one-day non-camping float with my husband and I. My most recent was one of those giant group trips this past weekend. I've also floated at NRO and some crappy site around Steelville (Green's maybe?). There's definitely a reason we keep going back to OEW's and will continue to do so. First of all, Brian, the owner, is a super nice guy. We hadn't made it down there in about 3 years, and he still remembered me "Last time I saw you, you just got engaged!". Though not great at answering e-mails (just don't bother), the staff is quick to return phone calls if you leave a voicemail. The campsite itself has a nice layout, and they keep improving. Port-o-potties are serviced often, and they have a small shower, bathroom, and store close to the campsite (previously they were only available way up the hill, so thumbs up on the improvement!). The showers and bathrooms were clean and well lit, unlike some other places I've been. By the time we booked, the aluminum canoes were all gone, which is usually how we go, because they're cheaper. Now, no longer being the broke college student, I will ALWAYS pay the measly $5 extra for the fiberglass canoes. Molded seats...worth every penny. Remember that. In general, the Niangua is a great river to float on. Decent current, good sand bars, and nice cold water! And if you're going to float the Niangua, go to One Eyed Willy's!

I've stayed at one eyed willy's a few times. It's a clean campground with adorable cabins! The…read morecabins are kept clean and the staff there are very hard working and very friendly! The owner of the campground goes out of his way to make sure you have what you need. The little shop at the entrance has a lot of cute decor and clothing. I will definitely take my family there again!

My first time camping, and I could not have asked for a better camping/kayaking experience! Thank…read moreyou RFC&C for a wonderful time! To ensure we have a campsite site and kayak during Labor Day weekend, we made reservation online. Each person is charged $10 a night. And Kayaking is $20 per person. There is also a small processing fees. So 2 nights of camping & 1 kayak came roughly to $92. I am not sure if the price is varies on the time of the season. Check in was super easy. When you pull into the camping site, there is a friendly elder gentleman who will guide you to office to check in. At check in, you will pick up your car pass and pool wristband. Yes! They have a clean pool and open bar!!! Less than 5 minutes of check in, then you are off to picking your campsite. Campsite is very clean and spacious. My favorite part is that they have clean restroom and shower room! I was so worried that I wouldn't be able to shower after all day in the sun and in river water. One of the cleanest shared shower I've ever been to. And they have flushing toilets!!!! They also have portable Johnny's throughout the campsite so you don't do your business in the trees or bushes. I am looking forward to our next trip.

We stayed in the Bluffview cabin. It was nice to have somewhere to go in from the hot sun. It's a…read morebit pricey with the accommodations. The July heat left the cabin undesirably hot and the small unit could not keep up deep into the night with ac . This made sleeping in the back room aggravating. It says sleeps 6. With the couch counting as 2 sleeping spots. My family of 6 made it work. River was amazing clear and very cold in mid July. Over priced shop items so I would bring my own food and drinks. Community pool and hot tub is so crowded with kids I never got in. Driving distance to the river in the campground property. Compared to other resorts I have stayed in, I won't be back.

We want to thank James and staff for making our stay the best RV camping experience we have had so…read morefar. We are in our RV, on our way from California to Chicago to visit family. We found Gasconade Hills Resort on the RVLife app. We pulled up at about 5:15 PM and called the phone listed. James showed up within a couple of minutes to check us in. We did not have prior reservations so we were able to drive around to pick a spot we preferred. We set up quickly and were able to enjoy the very clean, nice size pool. The bathrooms at the pool were also very clean. Afterwards, we decided to order pizza and although it was very close to closing time, James took our order and delivered to our camping site. WE LOVED IT HERE! Can't say enough good things about it. Wish we had time to do the river floats. We are already planning to come back and stay for a few days.

Came here for a mid-week float trip. Very quiet & well kept resort, everything extremely clean. We…read morestayed in a cabin, which had everything you need to cook nice meals, freshly washed linens & extra blankets. Beds are full size cots, which are uncomfortable but is in line with the camping experience. Went on the 6 mile float trip, our first time doing a canoe & taking our dog. Very relaxing river, only had 1 dicey moment with some tree branches. Saw bald eagle nests, & a bald eagle fishing in the river right in front of us. Met great people on our trip, great convos. We had lunch on a rocky beach. The beavers running around the property were funny to watch. Had a great time, very relaxing. Highly recommend, would come back.

Cabin and float trip reserved. Smooth transaction checking in. Cabin was absolutely stunning. Float…read moretrip was fun and relaxing. Highly recommend this experience to all.

Very beautiful campground but everyone around us was smoking Mary Jane's and I had my 14 year old…read moreniece with us and we couldn't enjoy outside at all. Partly our fault because we didn't realize that it was not allowed and we should've called it in. So if it really bothers you, definitely call it in. I don't care what people do in their private residences, but I don't want it around my niece and as we packed up in the morning, my trailer reeked of it. The bar and grill was closed too even though it says it's open so that was very disappointing. We were only there to spend the night, not really on vacation, but I would definitely go back if I was on vacation.

Campground was nice :-) but I will mention two things... our trashcan was full when we got there,…read morethe owners might wanna double check trash cans before people arrive :-) and we requested a shower key when we got there and were told that there weren't any available at that time?? Everyone there should have access to a shower key? Other than that again nice campground :-)

Review Summary: This place needs to be shut down! Read if you want but it's long…read more.. Maybe I'm just new to the MO camping experience but this is unlike any campground I've ever been to. This is basically just a place for professional hippies to hang out at all summer and fund their hippie lifestyle by renting out canoes and cabins - they don't care if customers are satisfied as long as they have SOME money coming in. Now I have to say I don't have a problem w/ hippies. I am from Austin but this was a whole new level. We get there around 2:30 to check in and the office is locked w/ a sign that says back at 12:00. (Hippies don't believe in wearing watches.) Then the couple helping didn't seem to realize that anyone was even staying that night even though I made the reservations 2 months prior. We had to wait an hour for our cabin to be cleaned and actually get into it. We got into our cabin and it still wasn't very clean - the guy could have swept the floor. And for $70 a night you'd think there would be a small kitchenette. There was certainly room for one. We asked about WiFi because I (stupidly) didn't make sure my Spotify music was in offline mode and one girl (the nicest one from NY) said the password was $2.00 so when we came back later another guy was like "here is it..." with out charging and while I was circling the building trying to get my signal back another creepy girl was like "there's no phone service and we can't give out the WiFi since we have 5 other computers - it would be too slow." Really? I didn't think true hippies believed in technology?! Actually, she said "there's no service" in a "no one will hear your cries when we eat you tonight!" tone. Clearly these people aren't clear on the rules of the camp. Then for our float we had to wait 1.5 hours after the shuttle time and as we were waiting on one bus the crowd was crazy. I don't mean college-kid, drunk and silly crazy. I mean, are you sure your trailer isn't in flames right now from all that meth you've been making in there?? OMG I've never been so out of place in my life. One guy, missing most of his teeth [whatever was left was black], decided somewhere along the way that women would actually show him their tatas for Jello shots. "Um...you're gonna have to fork over a LOT more than that dude!" I JUMPED off when a guy came on and said there was a kid bus! Our neighbors were pretty cool and we talked about it later that night about how they should have bailed also. Did I mention the park brake on the bus didn't work so they used a heavy wooden block to keep the bus in park?! That HAS to be illegal. The one good thing was our cabin was far from everything else (including the river - no bueno) so things weren't so bad when it was just us but dealing with these people and the majority of the other floaters was just a nightmare.

We had a blast while we were here. We've camped many places and although this wouldn't be at the…read moretop of my list of favorites, the float trip was epic enough to help NRO reach 4 stars. Pulling travel trailers, a group of us camped for a weekend. The grounds where we were were less than level and it was a tedious process to get everyone's campers level (way more than any other place we've gone). There are some spots loaded with trees and some without. Ours had zero trees. It was perhaps the hottest weekend of the year and the sun was brutal. Their office/shop is nice. They have a great variety of drinks/snacks in case you've forgotten something and LOADS of ice. The bathrooms are as basic as they come. If you're taking a shower, be prepared for ICE cold water. In the morning I took a shower and it was fine but I'm the afternoon it was colder than the river water. There's ONE hook outside of each stall and nowhere to set your belongings. So bring a garbage bag to keep items with you in the shower from getting wet. I saw a cleaning lady in there twice while I was there so they do care about the facility but it's old enough that there's only so much you can clean and the doors aren't closed so wasps, spiders and other bugs were everywhere. Showering in the camper next time. The FLOAT.... was AWESOME. You load up in a rickety old school bus and they take you to the drop in point. Seems a bit chaotic for this first timer but I was with seasoned floaters and luckily they knew what we needed to do. It was an absolute blast. I DO NOT recommend bringing kids. I saw more skin than I child ever had to.... like bead-throwing, skin. Pickup was just as chaotic as drop of and our bus barely made it back (blowing black smoke like it was on fire). We made it though and have memories to last a lifetime!!

Many of the staff are very rude!!! River is nice , but there are far better places to rent from,…read moreand not be treated like cattle!

We had a great time at NRO. We saw hummingbirds on the porch by check-in. We liked that we got two…read morenights free primitive camping with purchase of a float. We stayed Saturday and Sunday night over Memorial Day weekend. We had great weather. We also were able to bring our dog and he did great floating. Our two year old loved it, as well. Our raft was great. We liked that we could purchase fire wood at the shop. I gave four stars rather than five because there could be room for improvement. The campsite picnic table was a little old and flimsy, so basically we used it to set things on but sat on our lawn chairs instead. Not the campsite's fault but there was a very noisy motorcycle that drove through the campsite at 4am waking everybody up. Also, we knew ahead of time it was party central in campground A so we knew what to expect and stayed away. We found a nice spot away from the partying. Just be prepared to see a little craziness floating. Overall, we had a good experience. My son liked riding the busses to and from floating!

Niangua River Oasis is one of the closer float trip options for anyone living in Kansas City. It's…read morea little bit of a drive to get to, but this is a place where I've had a lot of fun. Beware of the turn off from MO 64 and the gravel road you have to take to get to it as traffic can be fast and people drive crazy. It's pretty well signed so you won't have much trouble finding it. Also there is a VERY STEEP hill that you have to go down to get to the office and the riverfront. Very Important Note: GLASS is BANNED by Missouri State Law on the River. (Not the capmground though.) Plan Accordingly. Float Trips: NRO has several options of canoes / rafts to choose from. Classic Aluminum Grumman / Osagian canoes, 4 and 6 person rafts, kayaks (which are a blast), and yes they offer private shuttles if you have your own canoe or kayak. NRO used to offer 3 different float lengths but they have stopped offering the float that puts in above Bennett Springs. They now offer just two floats, NRO to Rendezvous Point which takes about 4 hours, and NRO to Oldham's Riverview which is pretty much an all day float. The longer float has less rapids and more deep pool areas if you want to spend a little more time just letting the current carry you. The NRO to Rendezvous Point float has rapids, deep pools, and is not the same from year to year as the river changes it's course in some spots. Pickup after your float is usually prompt, and you ride back in big yellow former school buses that will make some of you glad you're not in school anymore! Camping: Yes they offer nice but expensive cabins. I've tried them, it's not for me. The fun is in the campgrounds. A CAUTION for parents: The campgrounds especially on the weekend often turns into a big party atmosphere. It can be a problem if you want the kids to sleep. If you want a quiet camping experience especially on weekends you might want to look elsewhere. Showers: The showers aren't bad, the hot water keeps up with demand. The problem is they don't always have enough shower stalls to meet the demand so sometimes you have to wait. Camp Store / Office: They have basics, a few odds and end fishing and expensive camping supplies, ice, and firewood. Service can range from friendly to surly. Don't be an idiot, you won't get treated like one. Law Enforcement: The Dallas County Sheriff, MO Highway Patrol and MO Water Patrol, along with Conservation Agents patrol NRO's campgrounds. They have set up checkpoints on the water to look for underage drinking or other indulgences. They operate "waterjet boats", give them 2 inches of water and they can travel upstream without fuss. For the most part they won't give you trouble, but there have been occasions where they have a seriously bad attitude. If you encounter this make sure and contact the appropriate agency and complain when you get home. Summary: $40 will get you a wonderful day on the water that you will enjoy. Don't forget the sunscreen, that Ozarks sun will sneak up on you after spending 4 hours on the water. A sunburn while riding in a bouncy school bus heading back to camp is no fun!.

The campground itself was nice... we had a site right on the river. But that is where the positive…read moreaspects stopped. To start we were told we could sign in at any point during the day on Saturday (Labor Day weekend) but they were not at the office from 10-6 so we had no idea what campsite we were supposed to be on. We ended up having to flag down a bus driver to help us. The modern showerhouse was filthy and gross. The staff was not very friendly and made me think they were trying to screw us on prices for everything since they almost wanted to haggle. Don't let them fool you by telling you they can set up a float to fit your needs... there is only one float and it is 9 miles long. That can make for a very long day. The campground is secluded all right, it is 7 miles down a dirt road off the main highway. There are plenty of other places that are MUCH better and MUCH closer and nicer than this place.

Wow it has been a decade since I went back to Bennett spring state park. This place looks the same…read moreoverall, which is good. Who doesn't want fresh air and a break from the hustle and bustle of the major city. This place has great fishing. You can see plenty of people trout fishing and all the trouts swimming in the clear water. Nature at its finest. If you are ever near Lebanon Mo, I definitely recommend to visit this great place if you are a nature lover.

Do not come here for tent camping. These campgrounds are not hospitable for tent stakes. We bent 5…read morestakes and spent two hours trying to find a spot that would work at our sight (310). The ground is full of rocks and gravel. We saw some people that were able to pitch their tents, but they were few and far between. I'd say it was 95% RVs, 5% tents. Additionally, come to find out that our sight was right under electrical lines, which is not safe to sleep under, and on a curve with no barrier protection. So your choices are sleep under the lines or worry that an irresponsible driver is going to run you over. We talked to the supervisor on duty who gave us the option to switch to a different sight that they keep open for these situations or get a refund on one of the two days we reserved (there were no other sights available here or any other local campgrounds). Checking out the alternative sight, we found that is was basically all gravel with a small patch covered in leaves. Who knows what was under them but it wouldn't have been big enough for our tent. We sat for a moment to decide what we wanted to do and a woman in an RV next to us came over and we find out her friend had reserved the sight but couldn't make it so she cancelled. So the sup fibbed in telling us they keep one sight open. In the end, we had to turn around and drive the 3.5 hours home. They need to update their site to advise if a sight is not pitch-able for tent camping. Oh also, there were way too many people fishing. Apparently this place is crazy popular and there's a fisherman every 5 ft or so. Does not make for a good time.