Riverside (KS)
- Right now
- Taking bookingsSites offered on 30 of the next 30 nights read 16:23 UTC
- A night
- $16–$18Across the site types the agency prices
- Sites
- 30All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Riverside Campground is located on the Smoky Hill River just downstream from Kanopolis Lake in central Kansas, 30 miles southwest of Salina. Kanopolis Lake, one of the state's oldest lakes, provides many outdoor activities, including boating, fishing and hunting. Keep reading
Recreation
Kanopolis Lake offers great boating and fishing opportunities. On land, hunting, hiking, and biking are popular activities.
Facilities
Riverside Campground offers 24 campsites, 16 with electric and water hookups and 8 primitive campsites. Other amenities include flush toilets, drinking water, showers, a playground, dump station and direct river access. During the peak season (May 15- Sep 15) all camping payments will be made directly to Recreation 1 Stop. Below is the proper procedure when arriving at Riverside: 1.If Reservation is made prior to arrival, proceed to reserved site and have reservation number available for proof of payment. 2.If arriving without a reservation do the following: -Select Campsite (Reservations are not posted. Do not set up on site until payment is made) -Visit www.recreation.gov or call 1-877-444-6777 to check availability and pay for camping fees. -Record you reservation number for proof of payment -Set up on Campsite Natural Features The campground is situated on the wooded riverside where wildlife is abundant. Whitetail deer, Great Blue Heron, Quail, Turkey, Rabbits, Squirrels and a wide variety of waterfowl are commonly seen. Sandstone bluffs, rolling hills, and vast, open prairie lands surround the lake.
Nearby Attractions
The Fort Harker Museum in Kanopolis and the Rogers Art Gallery and Museum in Ellsworth both portray the settlement of the American West. Kanopolis State Park, Kansas' first, offers numerous trails for hiking, biking and equestrian activities. The park also has additional boating, fishing, and picnicking areas.
What the agency tells you
All camping fee payments are required to go directly to www.recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777. Only credit/debit cards accepted
Remember to record your reservation number and be prepared to provide for proof of payment.
Caution: Sites 1-9 back up to a steep riverbank and may be dangerous to unattended children
Everything else this campground posts · 3
April 1-April 30 and October 1-November 30: electricity ON; water and waterborne restroom availability subject to closure dependent on freezing temperatures. Vault restroom remains open year round.
For more information, call the Kanopolis Project Office at (785) 546-2294
Don't Move Firewood: Protect your forests from tree-killing pests by buying your firewood locally and burning it on-site. Visit Dontmovefirewood.org for further information.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 30
- Hookups
- 19 electric, 20 water
- Longest rig
- 80 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets · Vault Toilets · Pit Toilets
- FLUSH TOILETS (SEASONAL) on 1 of 31 campsite records / VAULT TOILETS on 3 of 31 campsite records / PIT TOILETS on 2 of 31 campsite records
- Showers
- Seasonal Showers
- SHOWERS (SEASONAL) on 3 of 31 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (PEAK SEASON) on 3 of 31 campsite records
- Dump station
- Yes
- recreation.gov lists “Dump Station”
- Playground
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 14 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, River
- Disc Golf
- Fishing
- Picnicking
- Water access
- Night sky · 12th darkest of 57 in KS
- Bortle 3
12 of 44 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:23 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
OpenBooked
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 15
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rates for this season, $16–$18 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:23 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
31 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 24 mapped sitesAll 31 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 29 of the 31 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| ADMIN | SP - 30 AMP Electric & Water | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | $18 | ||
| ADMIN | SP - 50 AMP Electric & Water | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | $18 | ||
| ADMIN | SP - Offseason Electric | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | $18 | ||
| ADMIN | SP - Offseason Primitive | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 30 amp | $16 | ||
| ADMIN | SP - Primitive | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $16 | |||
| RIVE | 001 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 72 ft | 139 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 002 | standard electric | 25 ft | 30 amp | 71 ft | 123 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 003 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 61 ft | 121 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 004 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 119 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 005 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 53 ft | 108 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 006 | standard electric | 80 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 97 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 007 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 77 ft | 108 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 008 | standard electric | 50 ft | 30 amp | 100 ft | 98 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 009 | standard electric | 45 ft | 30 amp | 46 ft | 95 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 010 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 46 ft | 129 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 011 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | 54 ft | 165 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 015 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 62 ft | 542 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 016 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | 62 ft | 537 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 017 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 75 ft | 491 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 018 | standard electric | 60 ft | 50 amp | 87 ft | 299 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 019 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 213 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 020 | standard electric | 45 ft | 50 amp | 76 ft | 215 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 021 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 83 ft | 204 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 022 | type not stated | 13 ft | 227 ft | |||
| RIVE | 023 | standard electric | 75 ft | 50 amp | 90 ft | 196 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 024 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50 amp | 71 ft | 239 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 025 | standard electric | 55 ft | 50 amp | 103 ft | 268 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 026 | standard electric | 70 ft | 50 amp | 52 ft | 207 ft | $18 |
| RIVE | 027 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 52 ft | 254 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | 028 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 83 ft | 286 ft | $16 | |
| RIVE | P06 | day use | 30 amp | $20 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It files it as day use. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
25 of 31 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Venango Park2.3 mi
Sylvan Park38 mi
Lucas Park39 mi
Minooka Park40 mi
French Creek46 mi
Cottonwood Point50 miFrom Salina, KS: Take HWY 140 19 miles west to HWY 141. Travel 14 miles south on 141, then 1/2 mile east on Riverside Drive. Look for signs to the park.
From Ellsworth, KS: Take HWY 140 15 miles east to HWY 141. Travel 14 miles South on Hwy 141. Travel 1/2 mile East on Riverside Drive and look for signs to the park.
From Lindsborg, KS: Take HWY 4 approximately 15 miles west to HWY 141. Travel 3 miles north, then 1/2 mile east on Riverside Drive and look for signs to the park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Marquette, KS
Typical weather
Typical October night 44°F, day 70°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 19°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Riverside (KS) is in Kansas’s 1st congressional district. Its representative, Tracey Mann (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →