Sparrowhawk

Awesome place to camp, bring your children, float trips. Events are awesome.
The owners Shane and Tamie Ellis treat everyone like family.
Annette is awesome as well and keeps everything safe with her watchful eye.
If you've not been camping here come check it out.

I just started floating at sparrowhawk in 2014, as we usually stayed at a different resort on the river, however there was a special event at sparrowhawk so we made reservations and attended in sept of 2014. We were informed it was new owners and let me say this, never has my family been treated so well when on a camping trip. The staff and owners are by far the kindest people we've encountered and they did everything to make our trip a ton of fun. Since then I have gone back a dozen times and will never consider anywhere else when going to the Illinois river. If you are looking for a beautiful campground on the water with clean facilities and amazing hospitality please give this place a try, you won't regret it.

We have camped and floated with Sparrowhawk for 20 years. This year they bought all new canoes and have a half way stop where you can send a lunch meal to be waiting for you. The staff are very friendly and have karaoke in the late evening. They update something every year. They can't control the depth of the river. This year it was up just a little and was great. This is our place, make it yours. Thanks Sparrowhawk for a great weekend!

Never ever in h3ll will I ever step foot in this sh!tty place ever again!!! Came there at 7:00 am just to get started on our family trip and was told that they will launch us at 8:40 am, but instead waited for hr and a half until they came and didn't launch us until 10am!!! Also during the bus arrival we were the second people to get on the bus and we'd paid first during that morning," First come first served," But instead we didn't get that!! This place has just lost a customer also and few of my family within. Last but not least when we arrive to our checkpoint destination some punk started crap with us and one of their security guard came up to me and said, "YA ain't f@$king starting sh@t are YA!!!! I mean what the f@$k, " we ain't the one that is starting anything with anybody. Those punks were the one who came up to us and ask us to if we wanted a football and we told them nicely no!!! But no.....they had to say that we were disrespecting them, they where totally drunk!!! Main point was the security guard picked side until I told him the story about the situations and told him, " is it because we are f&@king asian!!!! Racist f#%kers...I hope this place gets shut down!!! And to rate this place I would give it a no star, but since I have to rate it to write a review mind as well put 1 star for being a crapy place!!!

I made plans to go kayaking with some friends who were camping at Sparrow Hawk Camp. We arrived at the camp planning to pick up our friends and proceed to a public access point to put our kayaks in the Illinois River. When I arrived I stopped at the office to inquire as to which campsite my friends were at so I could pick them up. I was told in a very rude tone that I would have to pay $8.00 to enter the campground. $8.00 just to pick up my friends?! I don't think so. I said never mind, I would just call them to join me at the office. I was then told it would cost me $8.00 to park in the parking lot! That wasn't going to happen either. My friends drove up to the office and transferred their kayaks to my truck, parked their truck in the parking lot and we went on with our day.



Needless to say they have lost two customers. I would never choose them as a campsite after this and my friends won't be going back either. (They actually left that day instead of staying another night as they had planned.)



I don't know whether it is greed or just plain stupidity but whichever it is it's no way to run a business. The hardest customer to get back is the one you've run off.