Crawford Lake State Park is a great state park in Kansas.  It offers numerous recreational activities on the lake, a campground, a diner, and many other opportunities.  We only stayed here one night to explore nearby Fort Scott National Historic Site.

State Park’s website:  https://ksoutdoors.com/State-Parks/Locations/Crawford

State Park campground’s location:  37.641255, -94.805741

Stayed in the park during our trip to: Fort Scott National Historic Site and George Washington Carver National Monument

1. Location.  Crawford Lake State Park surrounds and includes Crawford Lake and is located near Farlington, KS and Fort Scott, KS.

2. Sites.  In the Rocky Cove (northern) and Oak Point (southern) loops there are a mix of electric (50/30/20), electric and water, individual, and double sites.  There is a group camping loop that we didn’t investigate.  The lakeside sites are mostly electric only and are usually much shorter and narrower than the landside site.  All sites are paved and appeared mostly level.  Our site, site 125, required very little side to side leveling and a little front to back leveling with the tongue jack.  Rocky Cove has plenty of shade and Oak Point is a bit hit or miss.  Each site had a picnic table and a fire ring.  The site spacing between neighbors was comfortable.

3. Facilities.  The park has a dump station and plenty of frost free hydrants scattered around the park for those sites without water.  We did not find our way to the showerhouse.  Each loop has one though.  Also, there are dumpsters on either end of each loop.

4.  Amenities. The park has some hiking trails, but the main attraction is the lake.  Fishing, boating, and a beach with swimming.  There is also a diner in the park.  Again, it was something we didn’t get to, but it was jumping the whole time it was open.  There is also a playground next to the beach.  It kept the kids busy for quite some time.

5.  Extras.  The other gem at the park that we really enjoyed is the Farlington Fish Hatchery.  There are numerous ponds that have varying ages of fish preparing to move to Crawford Lake and the many other state lakes across Kansas.  The kids enjoyed reading the signage and then watching the fish jump at feeding time.  We could’ve stayed longer, but it was getting dark.

Conclusion.  We really enjoyed this park.  It was clean and there was a lot to do.  It is definitely one of our favorite campgrounds we’ve stayed.

Would We Stay Again?  Absolutely.  We have plans to return to spend more time in Fort Scott and at the Fort Scott NHS as well as spend time just here in the state park.