Ellis Lakeside Campground

We originally planned on only staying one night but liked it soo much, we stayed 3. It is a cute little city park with views of the river and a beautiful church. The sites are W/E with a dump station. They also have good wifi! The city does a good job of keeping up the park and there is an officer that drives thru regularly and was very helpful when 3 tornado sirens went off. He pointed us in the direction of the church basement he just unlocked. This little city was vital in the railroad going west and they have a cute little railroad museum and the boyhood home of Mr Chrysler. We would definitely stay here when traveling thru KS on 70.

What a find! This is a perfect spot for an overnight when traveling East/West along I-70. It is about five minutes off the freeway yet far enough that road noise is not an issue. The setting is a delightful little city park along a river (or narrow lake?) in a residential neighborhood. Most sites are plenty long enough to remain hooked up. The pads are gravel with grass between the pads and seem to get a bit shorter as you move further into the campground. So if you want a long site, pick one of the first ones. 30 amp electric service and water are available each site. At some sites, the hookups are on the “wrong side” which could be easily addressed by entering the site from the other side. There is nothing preventing an RV from entering a site from either side to accomplish this, just be aware as you pick your site. All sites are pull throughs. I didn’t see any dump facilities. Our site was very level. The campground is unattended and there is an “iron ranger” to take your fee. We had decent AT&T and VZ cell data coverage, enough for streaming video. Oh, and the park offers free WiFi! It was a bit slow so we stuck with our cell plans.

This was the second time we have stayed here. Easy access just blocks from I-70. There are 14 pull-thru sites with 30 amp at all sites, (50 amps at some) and water at all sites with an area at the far end for tents. The sites seem to go down in size with the first ones being the largest for bigger rigs/RV’s monsters. The “lake” is really just a large part of Big Creek that has been slowed by a spillway (?) There is a nice fishing pier and a boat launch for small boats and we saw people fishing but never saw any fish getting caught. There are free showers in the bathrooms with great water pressure and plenty of hot water and even though they are dated they were clean. (The water at the sites and bathrooms/showers will be turned off for the winter starting in November and the rates go down to $15 a night.) St Mary’s Catholic Church is across from the campgrounds and it was lovely hearing the bells chime. There was work going on across the street to expand the campgrounds by adding another 9 sites. The only downfall to this campground was the train tracks that were only a block away. It was fine when the train came through during the day...not so much when it passed through at 2am and they blew the whistle a dozen times! It didn’t happen every night though... Ellis is a sweet small town with several churches, a library, several restaurants including a Mexican food restaurant, a DQ and Godfathers Pizza. There is a train museum right around the corner from the campgrounds that unfortunately was not open the days we were there. And there is a small grocery story. We had fun going to a High School football game and cheered for the Railers! We would definitely stop again.

This city campground had everything we needed. It was a Fantastic deal at only $20.00 per night ($15.00 per night in the off season). We pulled in and choose site 4 which was a large grassy site with shade from several large trees. Our site had a picnic table on a concrete slab, a bar-b-que grill and a beautiful view of the lake with St Mary’s Catholic Church (an Absolutely Beautiful Church inside and out) just across the small creek/lake. The park also offers 50 amp electric, running water, clean restrooms and shower house, a dump station, a playground, pet friendly, a fishing pier, and safety by being patrolled by the local Police Department both day and night. We rode our bikes through the town and stopped at the local hardware store to get bolts for repairs on our bike carrier. We were assisted by a very friendly and helpful gentleman... when we were checking out he thanked us for our very post comments on the RV Park and the City, explaining that he was the Mayor of the City!! He is a very nice person to talk with and gave us some great information on the cites and things to do in the City. We enjoyed a meal at Cancun Mexican Restaurant, attended Mass at St Mary’s Catholic Church and found Rev. Dana to be a very friendly person as well. We also visited the local Railroad Museum and enjoyed the history in the City of Ellis Kansas!! We will be Back!!

Ellis is an excellent respite from the slog across KS, but come early... on a random Monday night, all of the sites were full. This park is very easy to access from 70 and includes only level (we didn't unhook) pull-through sites with water and electric (30 and 50 amp). There is a free dump station and dumpsters available. The park is quiet, relatively attractive, and while the sites aren't super private, there is reasonable enough spacing. There was plenty of space to move around and take the dog for a walk. T-Mobile was super spotty (worked by the water, not in our RV), but the Wifi is excellent (better than anywhere we've stayed).