We came to Bucksaw CoE Campground, near Clinton, MO because it gets good reviews and happens to be at about the right place for a few day’s stop as we begin to journey east and north across the country. This campground gets good reviews and is located on Truman Reservoir. It is a bit off the beaten track, especially for those traveling west to east. The north/south route into the area is more traveled and a better road. Clinton is close by; about 20 minutes.

There are many campsites at Bucksaw ranging from tent sites to water-electric to full hookup. Most of the FHU sites are in Loop C. If you want to be close to the lake, though, you might opt for electric only or water/electric sites in Loop B. Also several of the tent sites are close to the lake. When I was booking the site I specified FHU and noticed that one of the available sites was a pull through so I took it. There aren’t many pull through FHU sites (maybe just this one). When you reserve pay attention to site size. Not all sites will accommodate a larger RV. However, many of them will handle any sized rig. Also, the mixture of hookups is surprising – one side of the road, FHU – the other side, electric only. –Or- the section of FHU sites with just one W/E only pull through in the middle of them. The FHU sites were filled with reserved tags on them all the time we were at Bucksaw, so if you want one of these sites you might want to reserve one and not arrive assuming one will be available to you.

This campground is so big that several tenting loops are closed off. Really, I doubt that this place is ever full. Not only is it a big campground, but it is surrounded by lots of other campgrounds, both public and commercial.

The big draw here, is, of course, the lake which actually feels more like a river in the vicinity of the campground. In addition to all the fishing and boating opportunities (there’s a nearby marina) the campground has a nice swimming beach that, I think, is pretty popular. B Loop is in easy walking distance of the beach and A Loop isn’t much farther. C Loop isn’t as close but is a walkable distance.

One thing you might want to know is that Verizon cell service is poor. I ran my cell booster and managed to get a semi-usable data signal part of the time. Without it there was almost nothing. A lady told me that AT&T was better here. Satellite TV was fairly easy to get but, as it always is with satellite, campsite location does make or break it.

Aside from the sounds of kids having a wonderful time over the weekend, this is a very quiet, out of the way campground. We most always favor the CoE campgrounds and Bucksaw is a good example of why this is so: nice big sites, a well-kept campground, for an excellent price.

See individual photos with descriptions here.