## Overview

 Left Tailrace Campgound at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Big Bend Project, sits on the shore of Lake Francis Case on the Missouri River below Big Bend Dam. Just upstream of Left Tailrace, Lake Sharpe, a popular recreation destination in the Great Plains,was created by the completion of Big Bend Dam in 1966.Today, approximately 80,000 acres of public lands and water provide a variety of benefits to the public including flood control, recreation, conservation of our natural resources, fish and wildlife habitat, irrigation, and hydropower production.It is possible to view many types of wildlife on the Missouri River at Lake Sharpe. Tribal bison herds can be seen grazing the lake area\'s grasslands north of the towns of Fort Thompson and Lower Brule. The shoreline areas of the lake also offer excellent waterfowl, upland game birds and big game hunting opportunities. Big game animals include whitetail and mule deer, elk, bison, coyotes and wild turkeys. Waterfowl and upland game birds include ducks, geese, pheasants, prairie chickens, and grouse. Hunting regulations are established and enforced by the State of South Dakota, and the Lower Brule and Crow Creek Tribes. For more information, visit the Big Bend Project [website][1] . 
## Recreation

 Lake Sharpe provides many opportunities for outdoor recreation. Recreation areas vary from primitive to highly developed areas like the Left Tailrace area located below the dam. Facilities at the Left Tailrace include campsites with electrical hookups, comfort stations with showers, a dump station, boat ramp, fish cleaning station, courtesy dock, picnic shelters, tables, grills, drinking water, disc golf, etc. Fishing is the main attraction to the area, with walleye being the primary sport fish, although sauger, smallmouth bass, white bass, channel catfish and northern pike also provide great fishing action.
## Facilities

 Left Tailrace Campground offers 81 electrical hookups and 12 non-electrical tent sites. Electrical sites have a 30 and 50 amp pedastal, paved pull-thru and back-in sites. Left Tailrace Campground also offers men\'s and women\'s comfort stations with showers and toilet stalls. Each site has a picnic table and most with shelter covering, fire ring and shade nearby. Tents sites have fire rings and picinic tables. The area also offers large day use areas with shelters and grills, play grounds and a nine-hole disc golf range.
## Natural Features

 Left Tailrace Campground is located in central South Dakota, three miles from the town of Fort Thompson, 20 miles from Chamberlain and 65 miles from Pierre, which is the state capitol. Lake Sharpe was the last of the Missouri River reservoirs completed and follows a serpentine course of 80 miles between Big Bend Dam and Pierre, SD. 
## contact\_info

 For facility specific information, please call (605) 245-2255. 
## Nearby Attractions


## Charges &amp; Cancellations

 Reservation changes and cancellations can be made on Recreation.gov or by calling 1-877-444-6777.\_\_\_\_\_\_ For more information on rules and policies regarding reservation cancellations and changes, please visit: [https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies][2].\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_ 

[1]: https://www.nwo.usace.army.mil/Missions/Dam-and-Lake-Projects/Missouri-River-Dams/Big-Bend/
[2]: https://www.recreation.gov/rules-reservation-policies

Left Tailrace - Lake Sharpe

We are heading west and chose this campground for a one night stop. It's about 20 minutes off of I90\. Good thing we were following GPS because there was not a single sign for a campground on SR47\. They are not big on signs in the park either as once you pull in there is no signage pointing to campground entrance, boat ramp or day use areas so of course we ended up having to turn our 26' trailer around at the boat ramp.

check in lady at gate very nice but told us wrong direction to pull through our site. We got it figured out though. Our site, as most, had electric with picnic table, wind block screen and fire pit. Most sites were pull through which is quite convenient for us trailer people. Lots of space at each site, but not much shade. It was beautiful spring weather for us and no wind, ideal conditions.

Bath house was immaculate and had plenty of stalls and showers in ladies room. Water spigots were available and interesting to operate. The hubby had to ask someone how to turn on.

Most sites have water view and our site 12 had unobstructed view. Shoreline is steep with rock rip rap to climb down to water. There was nice playground area for kids and a 9-hole disc golf course.

We had the Best View

30 minutes off 90 along the Missouri river. Situated on a tiny peninsula is the campsite. We opted to camp in an electric site with our tent to be closer to the water since we were in for just one night. With double sites it's pretty tight, however everyone was super quiet while there and we were lucky to have another tent on our double pad. At check-in we were given hand sanitizers, which was nice. Bathrooms were centrally located in the campsite. Tent sites were past the park and playground, did not see where bathrooms were on that end.
Definitely would camp here again.

Cozy Tent Camping on the Water

We camped here one night on our way to Kimball SD . It was very secluded and had a great view of the water . The bathrooms were very clean. There was a siren that kept going off near the dam. But it didn’t bother us 