Lewis & Clark State Park

What a ripoff. $30 for a site with electricity, only the electricity wasn't working, they knew it wasn't working, but would not lower the price. The camp bathrooms were also closed due to the power being off, leaving only a pit toilet. Also no garbage cans anywhere in the campground.

We stayed here while traveling to Glacier National Park for a night. It was clean, quiet and has a lake.

What a nice state park! We came for two nights and stayed two weeks. It's strange driving to the park as you pass many oil rigs but once you are in the park you forget they exist. It's quiet during the week but busy on weekends. Right on the Missouri river with a nice marina and boat ramp. The RV sites aren't on the river but some sites have “glimpses”. Many tent sites are on the river and have a beautiful view. The interior roads are narrow due to trees close to the road and overhanging limbs which we snagged at times. The sites are dirt/gravel with plenty of space between sites. Most of the sites have shade with overhanging branches that could use a trim. The Plover loop, which has full hook ups, is the exception. They have no mature trees and are in full sun. Most sites are water and electric and the water is shared and a long distance from the site. At one point, we had three RVs sharing one water spigot; however, we did not notice any effect on the pressure. Hands down the best WII FI we've had in forever!! Kudos! No Directv in the three sites we occupied but the Plover loop should have no issues. Verizon was barely 3g and 1 bar with our extender otherwise there was no coverage. Bathrooms/showers are utilitarian and so so clean. They obviously are not cleaned every day as there are lots of small dead bugs. Be prepared for ants, flies and spiders that can build webs literally overnight. We camped here in a motorhome and would stay here again.

Staying here in the off season is a wonderful experience, especially in the autumn. This is a very nice state park on a Lake Sakakawea, which is a reservoir that was formed by damming up the Missouri River.

The park is located about 3 miles south of the main road. There is an entry gate as you approach, but during our visit in late September, we were instructed to check in at the marina.

We stayed in the Meadowlark loop and had our choice of sites. This loop is shaded, has paved road and large sites with grass and gravel pads, plus electric and water (no sewer). However, at the time we arrived, the water had already been turned off...but we were warned of this and it was not an issue. We picked a site close to the lake and could see it through the trees. Tenters can camp right ON the lake. There is a dump station.

Most of the other loops also have ample trees. The exception is the Plover Loop. This is the newest section, has full hookups and all pull-thru sites. It has plenty of trees, but they were just planted. Give it 10 years and this loop will be spectacular. While we were here, they were improving the road in this loop and putting in curbs. The roads are dirt right now, but I suspect they will be paved before the snow flies.

The park has a beach (although rocky, not sandy), and hiking trails. There is NO over the air TV (you are in a hollow, that probably is why).

Now for the downside. We had read about the wonderful WiFi in this park. We were counting on it. The WiFi is apparently run by the "friends" of the park who decided to kill power to the equipment the day we arrived. That was unfortunate, as we had work to do. So if the Wifi is key to your stay during the off season, call and ask before you arrive. And maybe ask a second time...since the ranger seemed unsure and at first told us there WAS WiFi. Asking the next day they told us about the power being cut and them not being in the loop on it.

Verizon cell connectivity is almost non-existent. You can get 1 or 2 bars of 1X. I have been able to receive phone calls and texts, but that is all on the phone. We put our cell phone booster to work with our MiFi and managed, somehow, after much trail and error, to get 2 bars of 4G. That saved us from pulling out the next day. NOTE: The marina does have a cell phone extender that will allow you to get 4G if you need it and don't have your own booster. Or drive up to the main road and you'll have full 4G there.

The fall was a lovely time to visit this park. It was quiet and empty. The lack of connectivity was the only detractor. But I'll still give it 5 stars. We coped.

Previous review says most of it.

Update: $25/night for W/E, $30 for full hookups. Plus $5 fee for entrance (one time). Wifi was back up and very good - we got excellent coverage in our site which was just about as far away as we could get.. Only reason for not 5 stars is the water hookups. Most are a 20 - 50 feet away, some shared with 2-3 sites. Our sites was a pull-thru and we did not have to unhook (56' long total).

We stayed for three nights as a convenient stop over to run errands in Williston, but this park is not much of a destination on its own. Our site was very long and level and the electrical service worked great. However, the sites are fairly close together for a state park, offering little privacy. Sites supposedly have water, but in fact there are just shared hose bibs every 3-4 campsites. The regulars know this and come prepared with splitters and ridiculously long water hoses. The campground was very full over the weekend with locals, so it was very busy with campfires, hordes of small kids, and a huge number of dogs (that didn't always get along). We had one bar of weak 3G on AT&T, so we used the park wifi whenever possible. The wifi comes from the bathhouse, and we lost connection whenever a large RV drove between us and the bathhouse! The wifi also suffered when it rained, though it was fast enough to stream in good weather. The bathhouse was clean and well-maintained though my showers were lukewarm at best. The rangers on site were extremely responsive and helpful, including relocating a giant snake that was menacing the campground!

The best features of this park are the relatively quiet and seeming isolation from the prolific oil wells that cover this part of North Dakota, with decent sites but somewhat reminiscent of a private park in the layout and spacing.

Negatives: Though the park is located on the shore of a lake, few if any sites have views of the water. The beach area was tiny and clogged with tree debris during our visit. There are few land-based activities within the park other than a short nature trail and a nice playground.

Well maintained and clean campground!

Our site was FHU, with dedicated water spigot! However; the spigots at FHU sites may be up to 100 feet away! Ours was 50 feet away!

W/E only sites typically share their water spigot with upto 4 other sites! Also, saw one site that was about 150 feet from a shared spigot!

WIFI was weak! There was an antenna about 50 feet from our site and the WIFI was useless often! This was even during the week, when few people where there!

Verizon was weak at best and often unusable in the campground! Had good service near the marina!

Park has a couple of nice trails for hiking! Beaches on the river are rocky, with many washed up trees!

One bathroom with 3 flushing toilets and 3 showers and they staff thinks the most opportune time to shut down the bathroom for cleaning is 8:30 AM. No signs that it will be closed during this time. Just shut it down. And when asked why and how long, told “I just do it when I have the time”. Gee park employee, sorry we are inconveniencing you.

Our first stay and. ND state park ... let’s hope the others a a bit better than this one.

I really liked staying at this campground. Site 61 is level, and site 6 (and those in the same row) are at a slight incline, but no biggie.

The people that work here, ranging from the Park Ranger, to the Convenience Store to the Campground Hosts are very nice, friendly and helpful people. And there's nice hiking trails, some are interpretive.

For Verizon service, I used a booster for my jetpack (hotspot)

I came in late April and was literally the only person there. The experience may be way different when it’s busy, I don’t know. But it was very peaceful with great views and a rocky beach.

At night, you can see the flames from the many fracking wells in the area.

Nice paths for walking.

Looks like they are installing a brand new dump station right now. Didn’t use the facilities but took a peak inside. The main building wasn’t open for the season yet but the pit toilets looked clean and well maintained.

Took one star away because the sites are close together with little privacy if it gets filled up. The E/W spots also have shared water. And finally, there was no T-Mobile signal and very weak 1 bar Verizon signal.

Overall a nice place though, I’d stay here again.