marksalansky

We stayed at this dry camping facility 1 night in early March 2019, arriving shortly before sunset and departing before sunrise the next morning. We didn’t get out to see much, because there isn’t much to see except picnic tables and flat open prairie.

It is a picnic area operated by the US Forest Service in the middle of a National Grassland that just so happens to double as a dispersed campsite.

Maps and GPS units will say Thompson Grove is in Dalhart, TX, but we drive through Dalhart about 20 miles before getting here, so it isn’t really “in” anything ... other than the Rita Blanca National Grassland.

But it is quiet, isolated and clean, which was enough to earn it full stars from us. The pit latrine facilities were very clean and well stocked, but they are not lighted at night, so be sure to have a flashlight available for night trips to the potty. There are wildlife-proof waste receptacles on site that were obviously tended to regularly since they were all empty when we arrived.

For how remote the location is, I was surprised that we had blisteringly fast AT&T LTE service here ... a full 85.6 Mbps download speed. The fastest service by any carrier at any camping location that I have recorded. Verizon was unusable at this location as it bounced between 1x and 3G with the majority of time being spent in the much less useful of the two service categories.

We would definitely stay here again if passing through the area, but probably no longer than 1 night at a time.

We enjoyed our stay here and found the staff to be very pleasant and accommodating.

We were travelling with another couple and requested neighboring campsites when we made our reservations many many months ago; and the Lutherwood staff came through!

The sites are advertised as full hook up and all of the hookups were present and in good functioning order.

This campground is centrally located among several 'must see' attractions in Utah. Cedar Breaks National Monument, Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, Grand Escalante. Glen Canyon and Navajo Bridge. Consequently, we really only spent the few 'down hours' of each day at Lutherwood.

During those 'down hours' we did see a lot of deer in the campground itself and a herd of elk with a huge bull elk while travelling the dirt road into the campground.

The campground itself is tightly packed and offers very little privacy between sites, so we got to know our campground neighbors fairly well, and in a few cases, much better than we wanted to. This is really the only reason for the 3-Star rating.

While there was nothing really 'wrong' or 'bad' with Camp Lutherwood, it just isn't as spectacular, secluded or private as the campgrounds I would give 5-Stars to. So don't avoid this campground just because of the low star count ... just know what to expect, and you will find that it is a great place to rest your head in between busy days of visiting some of the most coveted public lands in the U.S.

Camp Lutherwood is clean and functional and delivers exactly what it advertises, but the campground itself is not the star of the show here. The true star is the campground's location in the center of all of those truly spectacular attractions I listed earlier.

This is a beautiful and well-maintained campground for, DoD ID card holders only, and you can’t beat the location.

The campground is located just east of Falcon Stadium and is open year around, so I am thinking I will have to come back in October and November to catch some Falcon Football.

The campground is located among some pretty thick Ponderosa Pines which offer plenty of shade and of course a wonderful aroma. The staff is friendly and industrious. Within minutes of a site coming vacant, a staff member is policing the area to make sure it is ready for the next guests.

There are several laundry, shower and toilet facilities throughout the campground. The shower and toilet facilities were spotless and there did not appear to be any charge to use the shower. The laundry will cost you $1.50 per wash and $1.50 per dry cycle. We did not use the laundry, but the machines all appeared modern and functional while the facilities appeared clean.

Each of the laundry shower toilet facilities has a Verizon hotspot making WiFi available in the immediate area around the building. We didn’t bother trying the hotspots because the straight up non-boosted Verizon signal on our phones was phenomenal. Full bars and 33Mbps download speeds. AT&T lagged far behind at 2 bars and 9Mbps.

We stayed here in late June if 2018, in campsite #101 at the far eastern end of the campground. of the campground. As others have said, there are some very active railroad tracks just beyond the east end of the campground, so site 101 is within spitting distance of the tracks. That is a bit of an exaggeration, it is more like a half mile to the tracks, but you definitely know it when a train goes by, and they do go by just about every 5 hours during day and night. After working on/near the flightline for 20-years, the train was not a bother at all.

All RV sites offer full hookups, and there are tent only campsites as well. Sites are gravel and ours was level, but some of the others did not appear level at all. You will want to use a water pressure limiter on the line into your coach. The pressure out of the hookup was more than 80 psi.

During the peak season, reservations are recommended. A place this beautiful attracts a lot of visitors. After October, only the eastern end of the campground is open and all sites are first come first served.

Beyond the FAMCAMP, the US Air Force Academy is simply a beautiful place. There are 5 or 6 stocked lakes to fish in, countless miles of hiking, biking and equestrian trails, along with all of the history, the campus has to offer.

We will definitely stay here again!

We usually boondock or stay in campgrounds on public lands, so this was our very first experience at a privately owned campground in over five years of camping with our small RV. And the only reason we stayed here was that the couple we were travelling with had dogs and needed a place with electric hookups to run their Air Conditioning for the dogs while we were out exploring the area.

Everything the other reviewers say is all true. Very tight campsites, no privacy between sites, sketchy yet expensive shower facilities, sketchy yet expensive laundry facilities, and at least one of the staff is a total jerk.

We found the ladies in the office to be very friendly, helpful and professional. When one of the washing machines in the laundry 'ate' $2.00 worth of our quarters and refused to operate, the lady in the campground office gave us 8 quarters no questions asked.

About 10 minutes after connecting our rig to the 30 amp shore power, our surge protector began reporting a low voltage condition with voltage coming from the voltage coming from the pedestal rating less than 104 Volts. We disconnected right away and went to the office to report the unsatisfactory voltage and they sent their handyman over to check it out. He initially spent about 45 minutes taking the pedestal apart changing some of the hardware in the pedestal and pronounced it 'fixed'. We connected again and began getting the same low voltage message from our surge protector.

The first handy man's shift was over so his replacement Ron, a.k.a 'the Jerk', came over to the site and began to berate us for using a surge protector and proclaimed that he has been fighting for years with guests whose surge protectors report low voltage or other electrical faults. Ron went on to say, that as soon as these people bypass their surge protectors, the problems go away. Kind of like taking your rig into the shop to get a 'Check Engine Light' evaluated and having the technician say, "Just put a piece of tape over the light and everything will be fine!"

We just disconnected our rig from Ron's faulty electrical service, but our travelling companions bypassed their surge protector like Ron suggested so they could run the AC while we were out exploring, and their Air Conditioning unit was damaged and completely stopped working by the end of the first day. Coincidence? I think not. The mobile RV technician who came out to check the AC unit said the damage to their AC was indeed a possible result of inadequate voltage. $1,800 to replace the entire AC unit due to the inadequate and faulty electrical service at Kaibab Camper Village.

In walking around the campground, we noticed that about 75% of the surge protectors campers were using at the pedestals reported the 'PE04' error code for incoming voltage below 104 Volts.

Anyway ... long story short ... the electrical system at this park is completely inadequate and will cause damage to your rig if you do not use a surge protector! If you use a surge protector, you will not get any electricity due to the faults within the campground's electrical service.

Oh, the Jacobs Lake Inn, just a mile walk from the campground advertises "World Famous Cookies" ... and the cookies are indeed exceptional! Get some!

I actually got to go to this location for work in April 2018.

I spent the day with a park ranger and she told me that there would be no camping at this location during the 2018 season because they were unable to hire gate attendants.

Apparently the USACE hires seasonal gate attendants through a bidding process where interested parties, usually retired couples or individuals, submit a “proposal” saying how much money they would be willing to work the gate for. In the case of this park for 2018, no one submitted a proposal.

The Ranger was hopeful they would get some proposals for next year and be able to open the campground for the 2019 season.

The day use facilities at this park are open for 2018 and the Ranger said the shores of Rocky Creek Park offer the best fishing in Benbrook Lake.

Stayed here for 3 nights at campsite #50 in early April 2019.

The campground is well maintained and offers many sites right on the lakeshore.

Our site featured a level concrete pad, 50 amp electric hookup, and a water hookup. While many campers here use 'splitters' and long hoses to hook their rigs up to what appear to have been designed as shared water spigots, the spigot near campsite 50 is positioned such that it wouldn't be feasible for any site other than site 50 to use it.

There is a dump station outside of the campground on the access road, however we did not use it.

We had some rain and high winds on one of the days, but when the weather was cooperating it was very relaxing to sit in our camp chairs with a cold drink and look out over the huge lake.

Cell phone coverage with Verizon and AT&T bounced between 3G and LTE while at the campsite on an iPhone 6S. When I used my Verizon JetPack and external MIMO antenna pointed to the southeast (toward the town of Copan) i was able to get a solid 5 - 8 MBPS. Verizon coverage with the iPhone at the boat ramp and campground gatehouse was 4 full bars of LTE.

Even early in the season, this campground was roughly about 80% full on the weekend days, so I can imagine it really fills up during the prime summer months and on holiday weekends, The good news is that you can make reservations for campsites at this campground on RECREATION.GOV 6-months prior to your planned arrival date.

We would definitely stay here again!

We stayed at this Campground for 1 night as part of a 7 night trip through the Midwest. This very nice Army Corps' Campground is part of the Big Bend Project near Fort Thompson, South Dakota.

First off, the camp host at the entry station was an exceptionally friendly and helpful woman. They have definitely got their best foot forward with her working the entrance station.

Our site was #68 and consisted of a level blacktop pad, electrical hookup, fire ring, picnic table and wooden sun shade / wind break device. Tree coverage was minimal at the campsites, but there were some along the roadways and some had low hanging branches that could hit and possibly damage taller vehicles / trailers, so be careful when driving in and out of the campground.

The campsites closer to the dam structure, west end of the campground, appeared to be more generously spaced, while campsites at the east end appeared to be more tightly packed. Some campsites at the east end may initially appear to be pull through sites, but they are actually two sites sharing one pad such that the rigs would be parked "nose to tail". We saw a few of these occupied while we were at the campground and there seemed to literally be only inches between the front of one RV and the rear of the other.

As you might imagine, fishing is big here and several of our neighboring campers had boats and quite a large number of fish from their day's catch.

Wildlife is plentiful and we saw several whitetail deer, three were waiting on our campsite for us when we pulled up, as well as some wild turkeys.

We were not able to get much of a television signal via our coach's OTA antenna. We could only pull in 4 stations and all of those were just different flavors of PBS.

We were able to receive 4 bars of Verizon LTE service and 1 bar of ATT 4G service throughout the campground.

The only source of potable water near the campground is at the dump station which is about a half to quarter mile outside of the campground entry station.

We were there on a weekday in late September, about 5 days before the campground closed for the season, and there were plenty of open campsites. They appeared willing to rent out these vacant sites on a first come first served basis, but travelers would be smart to make reservations up to 6 months prior to arrival by visiting www.recreation.gov ... especially during the busy summer season.

We had an absolutely phenomenal visit to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore & Hurricane River campground! We visited in the last week of October 2020 & were the only campers in the campground the entire week. Sure it is a little cool that time of year, but the calm solitude due to the lack of other visitors more than makes up for the cooler weather! Added bonus; visitation in the late fall means no biting flies, which can easily ruin a trip up here during the summer months. We got to see some amazing fall foliage and beautiful scenic views of the lake. We hiked several of the trails available in both the eastern & western areas of the park & were able to see historic lighthouses, stunning waterfalls, & the amazing Superior lakeshore. The RECREATION.GOV webpage did notify us that all water would be off during our visit due to the cold weather, so we planned ahead for that, however there was no obvious notifications advising visitors that the vault toilets are closed during the winter months, so we were surprised when a work crew came out on our second day and locked them up. If you plan to camp here in the late fall and winter months, be sure to consider the lack of restrooms in your planning. Part of the attraction of Hurricane River is the isolation and solitude, so the complete lack of cellular service in the campground is to be expected and relished. On some of our hikes we did run across pockets of cellular service where our phones jumped to life and inundated us with the backlogged notifications. The trail to the Au Sable Light Station was one area where we noticed the coverage to be especially strong. I would also like to thank both the forward-thinking personnel at RECREATION.GOV & Pictured Rocks for making this campground reservable. We drove 1,600+ miles to get to Hurricane River Campground and would never have made the trip if we didn't have a guaranteed place to camp. There is no place for first come first served camping in the Internet age.

We stayed at Mammoth Cave Camground for 5 nights in late October of 2018. The campground is first come first served during the fall and winter, and we had no problems finding an open spot. I’d guess the campground was only about 20% full during the time we were there.

All campsites are dry, no water or electricity, except for two sites near the campground entry station that offer full hookups. Those two full hookup sites go for $50 per night and may be designated for camp hosts during the busier summer months. During our stay, they appeared to be first come first served like all of the other campsites in the campground.

Our site, 71, was a perfectly level pull through with asphalt pad and generous spacing between the other sites in the loop. The heavily treed landscape created a welcomed feeling of privacy.

Each loop offered a clean, stocked and well maintained bathroom facility with flush toilets and running water. There were also potable water spigots in each loop for use in filling your RV fresh water tanks. There are centralized trash and recycle dumpsters located on the main drive in the campground.

The NPS Rangers managing the campground were friendly, knowledgeable and a pleasure to deal with. They did state that the campground is most always full during the late spring and summer months, so if you can’t make it here during the fall or winter, you would be wise to make advance reservations on www.recreation.gov up to 6 months prior to your desired arrival date.

The camp store, located just outside of the campground, offers a variety of snack and food items as well as some household and camp items in case you forgot anything. The same building that hosts the camp store also contains coin operated shower and laundry facilities. Both of which appeared to be clean and functional.

Aside from the caves, there are plenty of other activities to keep you busy during your stay. There are plenty of trails to hike, a nice bike trail that runs along the old Mammoth Cave Railroad line, fishing in the green river and endless wildlife viewing opportunities. No fishing license is required if you are fishing within the park boundaries.

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough, the Cave tours are an AWESOME MUST SEE attraction. As others have said in their reviews, the tours also sell out way in advance, so don’t wait until you get to the park to get your tickets. Just like the campsites, you can reserve your tickets well in advance of your arrival by visiting www.recreation.gov.

We did one tour each day, although you could conceivably do more than one per day. The tours we selected were each approximately 2 - 2.5 hours in duration, and each highlighted different areas, features and formations of the world’s largest cave system. Please be sure to read the descriptions of the tours before you purchase your tickets, because some of them require visitors to climb up a large number of steps and/or bend and contort your body to make it through small or awkwardly shaped cave passages. On our very first tour, one of the participants was literally in tears by the time they got just halfway up the stairs out of the cave. Most tour areas in the caves are lighted by dim electrical lighting, but there are some tours that are only lit by handheld gas lanterns. If you get a chance, I would recommend trying one if the lantern tours.

We found both Verizon and ATT cell coverage to range from poor, to nonexistent, throughout the park and campground, with most times only being able to secure 3G or 1X coverage. In the campground, with a Verizon JetPack and an external directional MIMO antenna, we were able to secure useable 4G service at approximately 10 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up.

All in all, we would absolutely recommend staying here. We thought the campground was nicely laid out, conveniently located and well managed and maintained.

This USACE Campground is just a few miles north of Iowa City and offers convenient access to Interstate 80 as well as the University of Iowa campus.

We were in town for the University of Iowa vs Penn State University football game and used the West Overlook campsite as our base camp for the weekend's activities.

We stayed in West Overlook site W-38 which is in a small loop of 5 or 6 campsites and receives very good shade from well established oak and pine trees.

Our pad was gravel and offered a 30 amp electrical hookup and ample space for our 24 foot B+ RV. The pad leveled out the farther you backed into it, but had a noticeable incline to it near the road, so I think it would be pretty tough to level out a coach with a longer wheelbase.

If you want to use a satellite dish for television or internet, this loop is not for you, however as we walked through the other loops we noted that the tree coverage was much less dense and that many people had satellite dishes set up.

We had 3 "bars" of OTA television signal strength showing on our antenna control panel, however we did not watch any television so cannot comment on the number or variety of OTA television channels available.

The bathroom, shower and dump station facilities provided by the facility were all clean and operational.

We did note that the only spigot for potable water was located just outside the campground at the dump station, so if you were tent camping and needed to fill water jugs / buckets you would probably need to drive over to the spigot as it would be quite a haul from most all of the campsites.

We had 2 bars of LTE cell service for both ATT and Verizon at our campsite.

We stayed on a Friday & Saturday night over a big football weekend in late September and the entire campground looked pretty full to us, however we noticed that the "CAMPGROUND FULL" sign was folded down and not displayed, so there may have been an unoccupied site or two somewhere that we did not see.

The campground host did tell us that there is rarely a weekend where they don't fill to capacity, so if you want to be sure of having a spot when you show up it would be best to make a reservation on www.recreation.gov up to six months prior to your arrival date.