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Camping opportunities in the Johnson's Shut-Ins State Park area.
Campground Feels the Force of Water
The campground at Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park was one of the most popular in the Missouri state park system . In 2005, 31,780 campers used the facility. Shaded by trees, the campground included 52 campsites, a wood lot, a playground, an amphitheater, a restroom, picnic tables, fire rings, a showerhouse, and a few vault toilets. A separate primitive camping area was set aside for scouts and other similar groups.
When the reservoir broke, more than one billion gallons of water washed over the campground. The floodwater remained in the campground as it gradually drained through the shut-ins. Large amounts of sediment and debris, including concrete and rebar from the reservoir and thousands of trees, came to rest in the campground.
Landscape Is Changed Forever
The destructive power of the flood completely changed the landscape of the campground. Nearly all of the structures and trees disappeared, replaced by sand and boulders carried down the mountainside. After the flood, picnic tables, bundles of firewood and twisted playground equipment were found halfway down the trail to the shut-ins. Only the basic campground vault toilet withstood the full force of the flood. Amazingly, while the building lost its back wall, all the fixtures, rolls of toilet paper, and even a strip of flypaper remained intact. This humble vault toilet now represents two important periods in the history of Johnson’s Shut-Ins State Park -- the park before the flood and a drastically altered park after the flood.
