Great family friendly place on the Illinois River. Cabins were spacious. Huge gravel swim beach

I attended the Earthnote Underground Music Festival 2025, We had a blast...The owners were amazing in helping us when needed, THE Music was awesome, the people were so so friendly and the atmosphere was wonderful...definitely recommend this venue.....The Food At The Musicians Kitchen Was The Best Ever, So Tasty.... read more

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My family camped here during the off season and can't wait to go back. They have a new caretaker named Tim that has done an amazing job of making sure everything is very clean. This camp ground is very very big with a half mile of river beach and lots of trails and a gazebo for bands. They even allow personal equipment and offer shuttles as well as providing equipment rentals if you don't have your own. Everyone went out of their way to make sure we were well taken care of. Many thanks to the crew at Sparrowhawk, we will be back! read more

I have floated twice this year already. My favorite place to be is in the river. Many memories at SparrowHawk Camp! The property is looking great! Ready for the summer season! Lots of improvements from last year! read more

Great service, good part of the river. Staff was friendly and accommodating. Had been here since was a child, but still had the same look and feel. Will go back read more

I want to recommend Sparrowhawk camp for camping and floating. I've been going down to this area for the last 40 years and they were one of the first float places, but they have a new owner and he has really spruced up the place! John helped us with an extra hose to attach to our camper and with other things these 2 ole women campers needed. It's very secure. He has a new gate and they have 24 hour security. I booked a flight trip with him for the July. The entire staff is so friendly and helpful. I highly recommend using this company for your camping and floating needs! read more

Sparrow Hawk Camp - Illinois River - Campgrounds Near Me - Tahlequah, Oklahoma

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Literally screw this place, made a reservation for a large group of 27 people the woman on the phone said they had plenty of room for us and put down our name and Everything, we arrived at 10am and waited over 3 and a half HOURS for a bus/rafts, when we asked about the wait they seemed surprised about such a large group that had already signed waivers and paid for the trip. Simply ridiculous they also refused to refund us for the trip when asked. I've been on many river trips before with other companies before and have never had issues like this. read more

We were on the river for nearly 12 hours. We went out around noon with sparrow head and was really cheap since we brought our own tubes and it seemed really great. they told us we did it the "best way" since we didn't have to rent anything. we go out and we're having a great day until about 8 pm and we still have a ways to go and it's starting to get dark. we kept going hoping it wouldn't be too much longer. at 9:05pm i called them hysterical cause it's getting dark all 11 of us are tried and we can barely see anything. i call them and i ask them what to do and they asked if they were company floats or personal and i told them personal. they said you can either keep going or camp. said if we kept going it should be about 20 minutes. so after wasting a lot of our last day light on the phone with them we get back on the river. we keep going and make almost no progress over the course of the next hour and a half. at 10:38 pm we see lights off shore and we get to camp Lutherhoma they bring all of us and our things to shore which they only helped because they saw our flash lights. we get to shore and one of our member is having a hard time and thinks she broke her ankle. we get to the top and she begins having a heart attack because her medicine get wet while we were on the river and so her life saving medication was ruined. imagine if we hadn't gotten to shore when we did. Camp Sparrow Hawk wanted to charge us 50$ for the ride to our cars and didnt offer any help or to call search and rescue because i "sounds drunk" on the phone. i was sobbing since we really had no idea where we were at and at that point weren't sure we would ever make it. something that at the beginning of the day we all thought would be great and something we do every so often cause so perfect with price. this is a terrible company who will abandon you in the middle of the river because they think you sound drunk. read more

I love it! Me and my family go here every 4th of July and we always float here and we love it

I've done a lot of camping in my day. And this is by far the most beautiful campground I've ever pitched a tent at! For the primitive folks there aren't really any designated spots - you just drive around and take your pick! But with the Illinois river to one side and a dense, emerald forest on the other, you really can't go wrong. At night the fireflies are dancing, the bugs are humming, and there aren't any pesky neighbors making a racket at 4 in the morning. The only problem is the lack of bathrooms, but if a girl like me can handle the port-o-pot once in a while, so can you! read more

Sparrow Hawk Camp - Campgrounds Near Me - Tahlequah, Oklahoma

I made plans to go kayaking with some friends who were camping at Sparrow Hawk Camp. We arrived at the camp planning to pick up our friends and proceed to a public access point to put our kayaks in the Illinois River. When I arrived I stopped at the office to inquire as to which campsite my friends were at so I could pick them up. I was told in a very rude tone that I would have to pay $8.00 to enter the campground. $8.00 just to pick up my friends?! I don't think so. I said never mind, I would just call them to join me at the office. I was then told it would cost me $8.00 to park in the parking lot! That wasn't going to happen either. My friends drove up to the office and transferred their kayaks to my truck, parked their truck in the parking lot and we went on with our day. Needless to say they have lost two customers. I would never choose them as a campsite after this and my friends won't be going back either. (They actually left that day instead of staying another night as they had planned.) I don't know whether it is greed or just plain stupidity but whichever it is it's no way to run a business. The hardest customer to get back is the one you've run off. read more

I just started floating at sparrowhawk in 2014, as we usually stayed at a different resort on the river, however there was a special event at sparrowhawk so we made reservations and attended in sept of 2014. We were informed it was new owners and let me say this, never has my family been treated so well when on a camping trip. The staff and owners are by far the kindest people we've encountered and they did everything to make our trip a ton of fun. Since then I have gone back a dozen times and will never consider anywhere else when going to the Illinois river. If you are looking for a beautiful campground on the water with clean facilities and amazing hospitality please give this place a try, you won't regret it. read more

Let me start off by saying I have been to the river over 20 times and have floated 13 miles every time at Eagles Bluff (highly recommended). We wanted to try some place new, and we wanted to do the 13 mile because we have done it plenty of times before in under 8 hours. Everyone was friendly and great...at first. Got on the bus, and sat there in the heat for 45 minutes. Finally got down to the drop off and they told us all we would probably have to end at the 6 mile because we would have to be there by 3. This was 11 am. After getting cuts, bruised, and even having a member having to go to the hospital after this trip, we had not made it to the half way point...at 8 pm. So we had to stop and find a phone after walking some random road for a mile and a half. It was light out when we called. At first they told us we were right by the 13 mile point then once the manager got there the story changed to right by the 6 mile point. The story kept changing. After we waited an hour for a ride (which was supposedly half a mile up the street) we finally got a ride back to camp, where they informed me I owed them $100 because of being out after dark. I came from 4 hours out of town, I did not have that kind of money on me. We offered everything. To pay them when we got home, to let my mother pay over the phone, everything. They absolutely refused. They left a member of my party sitting out front with his left swollen to 5X the original size, girls just crying and everyone dehydrated and hungry for 2 hours outside their office while they treated us horribly. One of the security officers kept coming outside literally screaming and yelling at us calling us liars. This was the absolute worst experience I have ever had anywhere. I will never be going to the Illinois river again because of this establishment and I will be taking legal action. read more

Where do I even start. First a warning - DO NOT stay at this campground. Not safe, rude staff, and poorly laid out camping spots. There are many other beautiful locations up and down the Illinois river along rt. 10. The night we stayed there, the campground showed how woefully unprepared it was to handle any customers at all. We arrived, paid, and got a camping pass. We were instructed by staff to drive around and find any open place to camp. Just driving around at first it was frustrating as there were no open spots anywhere. It wasn't until we looped around the entire location did we finally find a clearly marked spot that was definitely a place to camp. It appeared completely empty and we confirmed that with neighboring campers. We set up, had a nice fire and dinner, and that's when the night really turned downhill. An apparently drunk, angry couple showed up yelling that we were on their spot. They started off angry but when we told them the spot was open and attempted to explain why we camped there, they became irate - screaming and yelling at my wife and I. They pointed to their tents which were set up on the adjacent spot (not the spot they claimed to rent), saying they were there already there. Then the cussing, yelling, and language intensified to the point the guy was threatening physical harm to both my wife (which is completely unacceptable by any standards) and I, got in my face threatening me and then talked about drowning us both in the river which was a stones throw away. Needless to say it would have been nice if the campground had staff working at night, but NO ONE WAS WORKING!!! So instead of getting this resolved quickly, we have to stay awake just to make sure the irrational psychotic couple we are being berated by don't hurt us or our stuff until the police come Then we have to file a police report and stay up for another couple hours. Terrible night of "camping" The next day we explained what happened to the office. They sympathized at first but when we asked for a refund for the terrible and dangerous night we had "camping" there. They got rude and indignant saying no refunds and then after no more than 5 minutes of us asking how to file a complaint, ownership, etc etc they said there would never be a refund of any kind and they were done talking to us and waived us out of the office. The entire thing could have been avoided if they would have given some kind of direction when we arrived, had some better signage on their spots, or didn't pack way too many people in their campground OR didn't leave a full campground UNSTAFFED ALL NIGHT! Terrible and unsafe experience at a terrible campground. read more