Tough Creek Campground

One of the best sites I’ve camped at in Wyoming. The drive from Thermopolis south down 20 through the canyon was gorgeous, then you hit the reservoir. This site is almost on its own little peninsula which was neat. The site I picked was slightly past the host on the right. Had an AWESOME view of the reservoir. I even had a little private beach where the dog had some fun swimming. It was pretty rocky so if you’re into swimming yourself, I would look elsewhere. I had a storm roll in over the mountains and it was such a sight to see. Lots of Verizon LTE coverage which is a plus too!

Stayed here for three days and two nights. It was the final weekend for the campgraoind host, Albert, who was super friendly and informative. There is only pit toilets but they were very clean and well kept. Next time I will bring some water toys (boat, kayak, etc.) to use. Only downside was there were a lot of bugs due to being so close to the water but manageable and the train runs through each night which was a bit loud.

Wyoming State Park that charges $25 to dry camp. If I had the energy, I wouldn’t have stayed, but I had been driving a while and just sucked it up.

State parks across the nation in general have become complete rip offs with all the charges and hidden fees. I avoid them if I can.

Now to the campground: No camp host to ask questions (like is the pump water potable? Absolutely zero signage if it’s safe to drink or not). Very few campers on a Monday night, dozens of sights available. On my walk around with my doggo, this is what I saw; garbage all over, plastic drink bottles thrown around, my fire pit was full of trash, along the water is a terrible stench of, yep you guessed it! Dead fish floating, reservoir water looked and smelled like a Petri dish, with scum all over. Bugs! A constant and unending whine of millions of bugs! Where ever you step, in grass or sand, a million more become airborne! I stuck my head in the nearest pit toilet, which looked clean but stunk to high heaven.

I saw absolutely no park employee or representative all afternoon or night.

I have to agree with the last reviewer regarding the cost. For nonresidents, Wyoming State Parks hit you for $18/night PLUS $12/day as a day fee which you must pay if you’re camping. It’s that DAY FEE that makes the price onerous. We purchased an annual day pass for $96 since that’s the cost for 8 days and we were staying 9. There are many sites that can handle up to 40’ rv’s, but some are way out of level. Our site, and those near us, were all level and large. We had access to a small beach down a short slope. This fit our needs since we had both a tandem kayak and a paddle board.

From our site, Verizon service was only available with our WeBoost signal booster. There is a dump station with potable water at the state park offices seven miles north of the campground and it is no charge for campers. Water quality is lousy; it’s chlorinated beyond what you’d find in a swimming pool, and the rinse hoses don’t have a threaded end. I can’t fathom why so many dump stations don’t have threaded-end rinse hoses given the number of RVs that have a rinse system in their black tank. FYI - potable water in Lander 45 miles south is outstanding, available at the dump station at the Public Works Department at no charge. You have to supply your own rinse hose though.

The Tough Creek campground is spartan. And it was very hot when we were there in June-July 2021. The sites are gravel. Generators abound and generate a vibrant drone most of the day.

We made reservations in April knowing that the July 4th week would be busy everywhere. We were glad we had a place to stay. Our expectations of a busy time, and summer in general, were not wrong. The campground was packed, mostly local people with boats interested in the huge reservoir. We much prefer to stay in BLM and USFS campgrounds where we pay half-price due to our GEEZER CARDS.

My parter covered the basics in the previous post. The wind was unreal 5 days starting in the afternoon. It usually came from the north and yesterday boats had difficulty coming out.
I would have preferred staying on the left side as you enter the CG as the peninsula buffeted the wind.
Lots to do besides water sports.
Thermopolis was a short drive and the Hot springs state park is free. Lots of large shade trees and the hot springs. The indigenous people gave it to Wyoming with one caveat, that it be free. The travertine fountain and cliff was neat. The travertine warm springs right by the river is a great spot for kids and the cold water of the river is refreshing. Lots of area in the park to picnic.
There is a large pool that seemed always packed, probably $$ but a great place for kids. The one hot pool was free but you could only use it for 20 minutes due to the temperatures. There was another pool and hot springs which we didn’t check out. All were close to one another.
Don’t miss the Wyoming Dinosaur Museum near the Park.
We floated the river, paid $20 to have our Jeep moved. Left from the Wedding of the waters ( the Wind river changes names to the Bighorn, not sure why). We floated 71/2 miles to the state park but there was another shorter entrance to the river.
Lots of fishermen floating it also, class 1. Stop and read the information at the Wedding of the Waters.
The geology through the canyon is interesting and the park headquarters has handouts on a variety of subjects.
The grocery store, Macks, in Thermopolis has good sales and reasonable prices.
We watched the fireworks from our site.
The train is close and blows its whistle every night.
With Verizon and our booster we streamed movies.

Lovely general location but our timing was not good. In the 90’s and couldn’t open a door or window without tons of bugs flying in the van.
The lake was nice and easy access for our kayaks. Lawn areas sparse (weedy). The camp hosts were very helpful and everything seemed clean. Cell service was fine.
Pricy for vault toilets. An 8 mile drive to the dump station (very nice).

The idea of being on a peninsula was great, the reality was that we faced 26mph winds from 9pm till almost 2 am. I was pretty scared and it kept me up all night. There is no water but there is a dump station about 7 miles up north with potable water. Would I stay again, maybe not.