North Shore Recreation Area
Army Corps Of Engineers
Write a Review North Shore Road Fort Thompson, SD 57339 605-245-2255 Official WebsiteGPS: 44.0665, -99.4727
Overview of North Shore Recreation Area
Last Price Paid: $0
Reported by SBoysen on 9/17/2023
Longest RV Reported: 36 feet (Fifth Wheel)
Reported by LivingOurDreamNow on 9/5/2021
Number of Sites 21
Pad Type gravel
Elevation 1,443 ft / 439 m
Tent Camping Yes
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Q&A - Ask the Community about North Shore Recreation Area
To ask questions of the owner or manager please contact the campground directly. 605.245.2255
Andy asked on 10/3/2021
Does anyone know if this facility is open on October? Plans are to start heading East from Wall, SD. Thanks!
Reviews of North Shore Recreation Area 12 people have reviewed this location.
Cell Phone Coverage
Confirmed by 8 Users
Last reported 9/17/2023
Confirmed by 3 Users
Last reported 9/17/2023
Confirmed by 3 Users
Last reported 8/21/2022
“Clean And Quiet”
Reviewed 9/17/2023
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
Overall Rating
We arrived Saturday around 3 pm and saw only 3 spots taken. We had no neighbors and a great view of the river. We did not see garbage as others have stated. The flies were bad but we sprayed up and enjoyed a nice afternoon and evening. Easy to find and very deep and level spots. We stayed hooked up with our 36 ft 5th wheel. Pit toilet... more
We arrived Saturday around 3 pm and saw only 3 spots taken. We had no neighbors and a great view of the river. We did not see garbage as others have stated. The flies were bad but we sprayed up and enjoyed a nice afternoon and evening. Easy to find and very deep and level spots. We stayed hooked up with our 36 ft 5th wheel. Pit toilet , dumpster, swing set, fire rings, concrete picnic tables/benches. Would definitely stay again
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AT&T 5G
Verizon 4G
T-Mobile
SBoysen would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Excellent Site But Disrespected By People”
Reviewed 5/19/2023
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
Overall Rating
Very satisfied with our stay here. First come first serve with no reservation needed. There are plenty of large sites for RVs or tents, most have a picnic table and fire pit. There is a decent amount of tree coverage for the area and the view of the Missouri River and opposite bluffs is fantastic. The only issue comes from other visito... more
Very satisfied with our stay here. First come first serve with no reservation needed. There are plenty of large sites for RVs or tents, most have a picnic table and fire pit. There is a decent amount of tree coverage for the area and the view of the Missouri River and opposite bluffs is fantastic. The only issue comes from other visitors disrespecting the site. Loud music until late from some young locals and trash was everywhere: beer cans, wire, condom wrappers…it was early in the season so I imagine it will only get worse. There is a bathroom and dumpster on site. If you can look past those flaws it’s a 5 star.
KreativeVentures would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Awesome Waterview and FREE😍”
Reviewed 8/21/2022
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 14 |
| Site Number: | 15 |
Overall Rating
Camping in a SUV camper with my 2 doggies. PROS: The roads are paved to and through the campground. The pads are elevated and gravel. Each campsite has a picnic table and a fire ring. There is a pit toilet which is serviced regularly. I only used it to dump my portable toilet. There is a dumpster that's emptied twice a week. Wonderful... more
Camping in a SUV camper with my 2 doggies.
PROS: The roads are paved to and through the campground. The pads are elevated and gravel. Each campsite has a picnic table and a fire ring. There is a pit toilet which is serviced regularly. I only used it to dump my portable toilet. There is a dumpster that's emptied twice a week. Wonderful waterviews from most of the campsites. Most of the campsites have partial shade. Lots of open areas of grass surrounding the campsites for solar. Trash on the ground was minimal.
CONS: Lots of local traffic...I'm assuming it's a shortcut to somewhere...plus the locals come to use the bathroom and dump their garbage in the dumpster. There are 2 water spickets but neither one of them worked. Biting flies...OUCH!
Lots and lots of regular flies as well...bring fly bags, fly paper...anything you can think of. I also put apple cider vinegar, water and dish washing liquid in a big bowl and had to dump it everyday because it was full of dead flies.
FYI...OFF does not work...the flies eat it up and ask for more....LOL. First thing in the morning when it's in the 50s or 60s, there aren't any flies...so maybe later in the year there wouldn't be an issue.
CONCLUSION : as long as you come prepared for the flies, it's an awesome FREE campground that is patrolled by the rangers and the police.
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T-Mobile 5G
NekkidNomad1111 would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Scenic Views of the Missouri River from Campsites”
Reviewed 9/5/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| RV Length: | 36' (Fifth Wheel) |
Overall Rating
Free Camping at North Shore Recreation Area in South Dakota provides campers a scenic view of the Missouri River. North Shore Recreation Area offers up to 14 consecutive nights of free camping in the designated camping area. A vault toilet and garbage dumpster are available onsite. This free camping area is administered by the US Ar... more
Free Camping at North Shore Recreation Area in South Dakota provides campers a scenic view of the Missouri River. North Shore Recreation Area offers up to 14 consecutive nights of free camping in the designated camping area. A vault toilet and garbage dumpster are available onsite. This free camping area is administered by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 17.9 Mbps download speed and 4.21 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 45.4 Mbps download speed and 1.11 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 15.9 Mbps download speed and 6.26 Mbps upload speed. Grid coordinates for this free camping location are as follows: 44.066388, -99.472728
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AT&T 4G
Verizon 4G
T-Mobile 4G
LivingOurDreamNow would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“We stayed in camp site 9. We were the only people in the entire camping area. ”
Reviewed 8/27/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
| Site Number: | 9 |
Overall Rating
It was a really good stop on our way back from Wyoming. We use Campendium to look for free boon-docking places and this area came up. The only bad thing was how poorly picked up the area is. People have left garbage at every spot and you see it in all the areas that weren’t mowed. It was mowed up for the individual areas and the spa... more
It was a really good stop on our way back from Wyoming. We use Campendium to look for free boon-docking places and this area came up. The only bad thing was how poorly picked up the area is. People have left garbage at every spot and you see it in all the areas that weren’t mowed. It was mowed up for the individual areas and the spaces are easy to back into and are flat, but other people using the areas in the past have left shoes, dirty diapers, forks, cigarette butts etc. It is a little off the beaten path (I90 for us) but we didn’t mind. We would come back.
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Verizon 4G
Linda would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Typical Corps campground. Well built, poorly maintained.”
Reviewed 7/3/2021
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
| Site Number: | 24 |
| RV Length: | 31' (Fifth Wheel) |
Overall Rating
There are 24 sites on an embankment above the Missouri River - Lake Sharpe. Great view. Sites are all back in with adequate room for our 35 ft. 5th wheel. Grass at sites is mowed but that is about it for maintenance. Some restrooms overed with graffiti. Someone burnt some tires in site 23 that left a mess behind. No electricity or wate... more
There are 24 sites on an embankment above the Missouri River - Lake Sharpe. Great view. Sites are all back in with adequate room for our 35 ft. 5th wheel. Grass at sites is mowed but that is about it for maintenance. Some restrooms overed with graffiti. Someone burnt some tires in site 23 that left a mess behind. No electricity or water. Burnt area by site 24 from a campfire out of control. We picked up a few handfuls of trash. Some sites have picnic tables. Partial shade at all sites. BIG party at site 22. Luckily it is 150 yards away.
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T-Mobile 4G
Charlie would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Beautiful views”
Reviewed 10/1/2020
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
| Site Number: | 9 |
Overall Rating
Nice campground, level sites, trash and pit toilets on site. Not the cleanest, but quiet and definitely big rig friendly. Easy in and out with our 40 foot fifth wheel.
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Verizon 4G
Jessica would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Good... But...”
Reviewed 7/19/2020
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
| Site Number: | 10 |
Overall Rating
It's a shame. This really is a great little park. Free, picnic tables, level sites, fire rings, dumpster, pit toilet, even potential RV dump, beautiful sunset over the lake. We could see the entire milky way from our campsite, over the lake. Saw multiple meteors. However, the locals (I'm assuming ) have treated it like a trash can. I... more
It's a shame. This really is a great little park. Free, picnic tables, level sites, fire rings, dumpster, pit toilet, even potential RV dump, beautiful sunset over the lake. We could see the entire milky way from our campsite, over the lake. Saw multiple meteors. However, the locals (I'm assuming ) have treated it like a trash can. I would be ashamed if I lived here in the area. We could have easily picked up 4 bags of trash. As it was we were on a time crunch and only picked up our site. Please come here and leave it a nicer place then when you came. It would be a shame for this place to close because people can't pick up after themselves. I'm not certain because we didn't need it, but I believe there is even a dump across the street of the entrance. We will definitely come back if we pass through the area again.
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Verizon 4G
Christina would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Beautiful and quiet overnight”
Reviewed 7/12/2020
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 1 |
| Site Number: | 18 |
Overall Rating
Passing through after a very long RV journey out west. Stayed overnight one night. Nice large sites. Big rig friendly. You can walk down to the reservoir to fish or swim. There were very few campers here. About 20 minutes from I90. No hook ups but community water spigots on site. One seater public bathroom on site. The road i... more
Passing through after a very long RV journey out west. Stayed overnight one night. Nice large sites. Big rig friendly. You can walk down to the reservoir to fish or swim. There were very few campers here. About 20 minutes from I90.
No hook ups but community water spigots on site. One seater public bathroom on site.
The road is a little narrow but we made it fine with our 40 foot, 5th wheel. Each site has an asphalt pad. Fire pits and cement picnic tables sprinkled throughout the park but not necessarily at each site. Lots of grassy areas and a swing set.
Locals drive through the area often including through the middle of the night. This did not bother us.
Some people do leave garbage, unfortunately. We had to clean up our site. Again, since it was free we did not mind.
Beautiful sunset and views.
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Verizon 4G
CL.Witham would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
“Enjoyed our Stay”
Reviewed 9/4/2019
| Nightly rate: | FREE! |
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| Days stayed: | 7 |
| Site Number: | 11 |
| RV Length: | 19' (Truck Camper) |
Overall Rating
We pulled in the Wednesday before Labor Day and the place was empty. Thought the holiday there were never more than 5-6 campers there. Very big rig friendly!! Had our choice so we took the one with the best view of the river and solar potential. Just happened to be across from the bathroom. Stayed a week and never once used the generat... more
We pulled in the Wednesday before Labor Day and the place was empty. Thought the holiday there were never more than 5-6 campers there. Very big rig friendly!! Had our choice so we took the one with the best view of the river and solar potential. Just happened to be across from the bathroom. Stayed a week and never once used the generator or had any problems with locals(yes they do drive by). Every one we talked to was friendly and helpful. We even caught enough fish for dinner one night. The only negative are... the flies bite and there are too many mosquitoes to enjoy a nightly campfire. People (not always locals) leave trash around campsite and in the fire pits when they leave. The end parking lot is where locals go to party, but we had a very peaceful tme. Camp ground is patrolled during the night so there is nothing to be afraid of.
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Verizon 4G
Randy would stay here again
This review is the opinion of a Campendium member and not of Campendium.com
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Amenities
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- dry camping
- Dispersed Camping
Facilities
- trash
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