Sylvan Park Campground

I believe there are 3 different campgrounds at this lake. This is the only one that does not view the lake as it is behind the dam. We had reserved site 23, a large pull-thru site. However, we tripped the 50-amp breaker 2x in the first 30 minutes even after shutting off the Oasis and 1
A/C. No one on-duty to change out the breaker so we were moved to site 11 which was a smaller back-in site. This turned out to be a better site for us as we could not get a satellite signal at 23 due to the dam.

All sites are rock & fairly level. Most are 50-amp with water hookups. Dump station nearby. Fair amount of shade. Park is quiet especially during the week as there were minimal campers.

Remote workers beware - Verizon downloads were ok around 30. AT&T was less than 7 & T-Mobile was non-existent.

We look forward to returning to Wilson Lake in the future but will look at the other campgrounds for the lake views.

Large level sites with plenty of trees and grass. Mostly pull through sites. Only a handful of campers when we stayed. Electric and water at sites, dump station available. Off-season rate of $20 ($10 if Golden Age/Access card holder). Hard to beat price. There are a couple bright security lights in the campground, watch for placement when selecting a site.

Over a 2 week period, June 7-21, I stayed at Sylvan twice, on the weekends. During the week, I was 'across the street' at Lucas Park Campground. I wasn't planning on staying at Sylvan at all but after 4 days at Lucas, temperatures shot up into the 90s and 100s, so instead of leaving and driving in that, I opted to plug in and sit in air conditioning. The weather broke, briefly, for one day...in the 80s...so I explored the town of Lucas and went right back to those two campgrounds until the Temps dropped. I'll review Lucas Park on that page. As for Sylvan...
Check in and check out times at both parks is the same, weird. 6pm.
Big drive thru sites, on gravel, seemed mostly level. Maybe 70 percent are decently shaded.
First thing I noticed was LOTS of anthills and ants. At another campground id had a problem with ants crawling up my electrical cable and getting inside my RV. Not here. No ant issues.
No access to Wilson Lake, you're on the other side of the dam. Limited access to the spillway, down a narrow path, mostly used by fishermen. You can't see it from most of the sites.
Horse flies. They loved me and my chihuahua/terrier. Had to swat a couple that landed and bit her.
The grass is only mowed...at both parks...once every two weeks, making for a very sloppy looking Park.
High grass and weeds also attract bugs. There were many. Don't leave your porch light on unless you want more.
Walking the dogs was a challenge. Bugs were always attracted to my flashlight at night, flying in my face, eyes, ears and mouth. Very small burrs in the grass would get caught in my socks and pinch my feet. I had to pull them out of the dogs paws with tweezers twice when they started limping. Some dog owners didn't pick up their dogs' doo, so watch where you step. And every time I walked the dogs, they would come back with fleas and ticks on them. I pulled a half dozen off my legs as well. There were 8 in one night on my chow/shepherd/collie. And then the bathrooms...
Yellow lights in the bathrooms and showers attract hundreds of flying insects. Not an exaggeration. One time, I went to get paper towels out of the dispenser and a wasp flew out. At least 1-2 cockroaches on the walls/floors of each of the 3 bathrooms and 2 separate showers. I have never been to a park/campsite with so many bugs. In 5 months of traveling/camping from IL to FL to TX to KS, I have never seen one cockroach...until Sylvan.
Also no cell phone service...T-mobile...and very limited wifi...1-2 bars.
Sylvan is nothing special. Just a campground where you are right on top of your neighbor with no foliage for privacy. No lake access. Buggy showers/bathrooms. High grass and weeds. There is a park for kids to play at. Camp hosts are a nice older couple but they don't do much except check people in.
Boring, buggy, unkempt. I would only stay here again if I had no other option.

This COE is approximately 10 miles north of I70 so NO traffice noise at night. We snagged a site during off-season for $5 for FHUs (electric and water at site, dump on the way out) and the shade in the trees was fabulous to beat the heat. Would definitely recommend this COE (downstream of Wilson Dam)! Super level gravel site that was long and spacious!

Stopped here on the way to Tulsa,Ok, reservations are needed by using recreation.gov, we were lucky someone had left early and got a spot for the night. Big pull thru space water and electric. Dump on the way out of loops. Not a big campground but nice big space, wide grassy area with lots of shady trees. Shower house with bathrooms, there is a wasp problem with nests everywhere. Couldn’t use our picnic table they had 2 nests under it. Summer seems busy lots of families.
Lake access is on other side of highway no way to get there but to drive.
We would definitely come back to this campground.

There are three COE parks on Lake Wilson and if we weren’t given bad info at recreation.com when we called, we definitely would have stayed at Sylvan Park. I was told they were closed - off season on 10/01. Actually, they are open off season and have self pay box. $10 for electric, water available, and dump station available. The park was really nice and quite a few people were there. I don’t know how the bathrooms or showers are - we don’t use them anyway. Great roads to park, easy access, less than 10 miles off the 70. We were already set up at Lake Wilson SP ($30/day) when we saw this place open on our way to the town of Lucas (interesting place).

This campground is downstream of the dam which was great with all the recent flooding. Wilson Lake is still very high. The state park only has a few sections opened but we wanted an ACE campground. They have yet to disappoint. The close nature walk was good but I wish I had bug spray. Bathhouse was excellent. Private, enough room but not too much and the water stayed contained in the shower area. We will use this site again. I wasn’t able to upload my online paper or listen to any YouTube videos on my iPad.

We discovered Sylvan Park campground while driving across Kansas, en-route to Colorado. There aren’t a ton of options in the late-fall/early-winter and this Army Corps of Engineers campground fit the bill nicely. It’s a bit of a hike (9-miles) off I-70, but completely worth it based on how nice the campsites were and how quiet the campground was. After dark, besides the occasional vehicle crossing the dam, the only sounds you could hear were the wind in the trees, a pack of Coyotes howling, and the hoots of a couple of owls. There were several LARGE and level pull-through sites that enabled us to stay hooked-up for our one night stay. In fact, our site was so big that we could have fit another 50+foot rig in it. We stayed in mid-November and the water and 50-amp site was $5 with our Access Pass ($10 normally during off-season). There were a few primitive sites (no water or electric) that were free (off-season). The bathhouse and showers were clean and well maintained. There is a very convenient dump station located near the entrance. We could only get 4G with AT&T. Verizon we had 2 bars of LTE. We will definitely stay here again next time we pass through the area.

We found this gem of a COE park on previous trips across the country and always plan to stay here when we're in the area. Wilson Lake is a large recreation area with 3 COE parks and a state park. We like the Sylvan Park COE campground that sits below the dam in a shady grove of trees. There are long, level pull-throughs with electric and water as well as back-in sites, some with full hookups. Site 13 is a back-in site with full hookups. The restrooms are clean with showers and the park is quiet. We paid $11 for the site with a senior park pass with no reservation fee through Recreation.gov. If you are there for more than one night, the eccentric town of Lucas to the north is a great place to visit. There you will find the "Garden of Eden" and "Bowl Plaza"!