roadtripper2537442

The price was right (Veterans rate), but it was lackluster and nasty showers. Lake levels are at record lows (depressing). Speed limits through the park is 15mph, but many are driving 35-40, raising a lot of dust/dirt.
I was fortunate enough to get 3-bar T-mobile signal and could stream the news and such.
They have Wi-Fi (good signal), but it's pay for play.. and expensive! $3 per hour, $8 per day.. and only one device at a time! Crazy right? Cannot say that I would return.

I’m still learning! This is a large USACE Campground with 150 campsites. Some with electric/water only, some with full hookups. First and foremost, the roads coming in from the interstate are treacherous at best! Long, narrow, twisting, and steep! I have a 34’ 5th wheel and truck, and I was exhausted from stress upon arrival.

The park itself is quite nice, and well-kept. But easily, more than half of the campsites are not even close to being level. I had to remove my e-bike and bike carrier from the rear of my camper before I could back up into my space.. and even then had to use 4-wheel drive to get up into it.

The rest: No Cell signal, had to ride my bike up to the gatehouse where they had open Wi-Fi. Quite noisy at times.. two sites within 100’ must have thought they were at home; working on cars, racing the engines. Rode my bike through the park a few times, but perhaps due to the demographics, so many people were smoking that it was pretty much all I could smell.

Thankfully, I was only there overnight.

Stayed July 5th-6th. It had stormed quite badly during the 20 miles of back roads to get there, but stopped shortly after arrival. Staff were exceptional nice/helpful, the park was very well kept, clean showers with Temp control. The sites are electric only, but water fill and waste dump near by. It is obvious that the main draw to this campground is the fishing in the Missouri River tail-waters of the Dam, as they have a nice, fish-cleaning station.

The campground does not have designated spaces, nor water/electric/trash. Carry in - Carry out.
The site locations are obvious due to ground wear and there are picnic tables, fire rings, bear-proof storage boxes, and a vault toilet (which is poorly maintained - byotp).

Right now, I have 14 neighbors, and there is room for a few more. A BIG Negative here, which I've seen happening in other locations, is people bring out their campers, parking them in the best spots, and then leaving, only to come out for a day or two on the weekend. There is a 14-day camping limit, but it is obviously not being well enforced!

It is a 10 mile drive on dirt/gravel roads out of Pinedale to get here, and the last 1/2 mile is very rough. But I made it in with my 35" 5th-wheel. Would I do it again with the Road conditions.. NO. The place is quite beautiful and serene, with of distant view of the Tetons.
The lake, at an elevation of about 7500', is clean and a bit chilly, but not too uncomfortable to take a quick bath in. I will update the "serenity" part after this coming weekend, and see if things change.

Another good point is that I drove back down the gravel road the next day to check out Soda Lake, which is much smaller than Willow Lake. Big difference is that there is dispersed camping on the entire perimeter of Soda Lake, while just a small area on Willow Lake. There are 75-80 great spots to camp on, many are level and big rig friendly! Not to mention that most sites have a fantastic view of the Gannett Mountain Range.

My next stop will be Soda Lake which hands down, is a far better Camping location.

When traveling between destinations, I always schedule my overnights based on Walmart locations.. I mean, why pay $40-60 just to overnight in a campground? Seriously. This Walmart was not on the Campendium Free map, so the first thing I did was go inside and ask permission. The cheerful response was a resounding yes, but I was told that it was a "one night limit".

As are most locations, there is the usual in and out traffic noise which dies off after 8-9pm. Note: the Worthington Speedway racetrack is adjacent this Walmart, so this could be a factor during the racing season?

When traveling between destinations, I always schedule my overnights based on Walmart locations.. I mean, why pay $40-60 just to overnight in a campground? Seriously. This Walmart was not on the Campendium Free map, so the first thing I did was go inside and ask permission. The cheerful response was a resounding yes, but I was told that it was a "one night limit".

As are most locations, there is the usual in and out traffic noise which dies off after 8-9pm. Note: the Worthington Speedway racetrack is adjacent this Walmart, so this could be a factor during the racing season?

One of few remaining Walmarts that allow overnight parking for Campers, and Truckers. But do not presume anything, as that could always change. Even if you see other rigs in the outer perimeter of the parking lot, go inside to customer service and ask permission. And by all means, let them see you grab a shopping cart and do a little shopping.

I took this a step further and spent about 2 hours filling up two trash bags full of litter that was all over the area where we camped. Apparently, there are a lot of campers and truckers that could care less whether we continue to have a place to overnight.

And don’t be surprised if you get knocked out by a bad smell. I believe someone else mentioned the “Stockyards”. At about 6:45pm yesterday, as I was eating a piece of pie (from Walmart), the direction of the breeze shifted…. And oh boy! It was Strong. Fortunately, after about two hours and the direction shifted again.

So again, it’s free, it’s convenient; so let’s all be good stewards and pick up after ourselves, and maybe the careless few.

I stayed at the NC State Fairgrounds Campground this past December (2021), for a month while receiving treatment at the VA Hospital in Durham,NC. The campground normally limits stays to two weeks, which is nuts since most often, it is less than half-full. The price was $30 per night with no discounts for Military,Veterans,Disabled Vets, etc. And no discounted rates for weekly stays.

The campground is basically a big parking lot, with no bath house, laundry, picnic tables, fire rings, playground equipment... nothing! They do have full hookups, including 50amp service, and Wi-Fi... well, they call it Wi-Fi. Sitting in the middle of the campground, I would get between 2.5-3.5Mb download speed, and that was spotting due to weak signal levels.

Most of the sites are somewhat level, but are in desperate need of attention. The gravel is sparse, and the sites get quite muddy when it rains. Despite the posted signs, people drive way too fast, which stirs up a lot of dust.

I was informed by more than one source that the State, and Fairgrounds management could care less what people think about the campgrounds. That the only reason it exists is to provide camping area for special events (horse shows,etc), and the annual State Fair traveling workers (carnies). Which is sad because it would not take much to make it better.

The improvements would pay for themselves via increased patronage. Stands to reason that if it were a nicer camp ground, it would stay full year round, especially since there are so few campgrounds in the Raleigh metro area.

Stayed July 5th-6th. It had stormed quite badly during the 20 miles of back roads to get there, but stopped shortly after arrival. Staff were exceptional nice/helpful, the park was very well kept, clean showers with Temp control. The sites are electric only, but water fill and waste dump near by. It is obvious that the main draw to this campground is the fishing in the Missouri River tail-waters of the Dam, as they have a nice, fish-cleaning station.