Fort Thompson Recreation Area

Another beautiful stay! Built by the US Corps of Engineees, Left Trailrace Campground. Electric hook-up. Water and sewer available near the entrance.

Needs a bit more landscaping. The local people there told us, this site is closed. They can't get any funding to keeping it alive.

A very well maintained campground. Paved roads and sites. Daily cleaning of the comfort stations restrooms. Large open spaces between campsites and large playground. Also a boat launch adjoins the campground. The workers take pride in the campground appearance and it shows. Playground: Large open well mowed area with playground equipment, picnic shelters and clean restrooms. Permanent corn hole boards and disc golf course. Restrooms: Cleaned every day, very nice for public restrooms and free showers in the campground "comfort stations".

Sad to see the state of what was once the wildest river in the world

The view was absolutely stunning but the drug deal that appeared to be going down in the corner of the parking lot along with the overwhelming odor of marijuana definitely took away from the overall atmosphere.

Wonderful campground on the Missouri River. Nice facilities with electric hookups. Water and dump station is available.

Having camped here for 10 years, this is by far one of the best camp grounds we visit. Tons of fish! Playgrounds for the kids. Showers are always clean and kept.

This place is creepy as hell to camp at, but it was free, so you can't expect much. It's a nice little park along the river with fishing and a playground, so it would be nice to go there during the day with your family, although the picnic tables were all rusted metal - they looked all charred, like people had used them as a grill. We were camping in early September - there are established camp sites and maybe people camp there in the summer time. But we were the only people there, and it was very eerie. We were two women camping, and normally we would have left and found someplace that wasn't so sketchy, but by the time we got there, there was nowhere else to go, so we stayed. At one point, a car drove through with their headlights off, and we were pretty scared that something bad was about to happen. They stopped about 100 yards away and just sat there - I don't even want to think about what they were doing in there. We called 911 at one point, and even though it's an established park, the cops couldn't find us and never showed up. Our only saving grace was that a thunderstorm popped up, making us feel like no one would be out looking for trouble at that point. We hardly slept all night, and I was never so glad to leave a place than that.

I was here for a ceremony honoring the beginning of the Crow Creek experience. For those who don't know, Fort Thompson is the tribal council HQ for the Crow Creek reservation. It is also where a very dark part of America's history occurred. Reservations are actually and quite literally Concentration Camps. This one has a particularly dark history associated with its roots and the treatment of the women and children at the hands of the soldiers who were charged with their protection and security. The land near the river is wooded but this is only a thin veneer. The early reservation was without shelter or food. Many died in the first year of their forced relocation due to exposure and starvation. The land today is hauntingly beautiful, it is also sacred and covered in unmarked graves....

Nice place to relax and watch the sunset