Turkey Ridge — Ponca State Park

We arrived on the cusp of the 100 year anniversary celebration of the Nebraska State Parks. Lots of fun extra things to do!

We found a great space in the Turkey Ridge campground. Electric with a water spigot between 2 spaces. We were in a tree cave with very little sunlight. Another campground Oak Bluff is for reservations only. Lots of tent spots and primitive tent only.

We rode our bike around and got an incredible workout with lots of hills.

Great views of the Missouri at the 3 state corners viewing area.

For the 100 years celebration they had re-enactments, making walking stick adornments, bird catch and release to show an up close and personal peek at the local birds.

The town of Ponca is a few miles outside the park and several nice little places for groceries, beer, a pharmacy, pizza, etc!

Pretty warm and humid for us high desert folk but we enjoyed our stay.

A lot of places in Iowa are closed to camping until April or even May. I looked west and quickly found this. There are areas of the park that are "closed for winter", but I was able to find a primitive spot for an overnight to get out and enjoy the rebound from the subzero weather of the previous weeks. Some sites in that section are quite spacious.....although it was just me, so I had a lot of space! there were several water spigots in that section as well, so water is available during the camping season. There was a restroom fairly close by, and in the 15 hours I was there, the ranger checked on the restrooms twice. I didn't use it, but that is an indication that they aren't torn apart. No one was at the entrance, so I had to go the the education center to find self registration. The primitive rate is$15, but they reduced it to$10 in the off-season. A pass is required to camp, so you can add another$5 if you're a Nebraska resident, and$8 if you're from out of state. Season passes are also available.$40 resident,$45 non-resident. All primitive sites had shade. Lots of trees throughout the park. Beautiful.

Sept 10-15, 2019 Site 2 had electric and water (shared spicket). We enjoyed this park. We could have saved money if we had purchased the State Park Pass. We paid $40.88, Park had dump station, pay showers ($1 for 6 minutes), and flush toilets. Restrooms were very clean. Elevation 1,320 ft. Verizon 4G 2 bars. See RV Camping Journal for details.