Smith Falls East Campground

We planned to camp here but moved on. The campground appears to be geared to people traveling on the river and staying here overnight in tents. It is a large meadow with small sites, little vegetation to shield sites, and white, wooden barriers to delineate sites giving it a military-like appearance. In early October and in a drought, things were looking a bit dry. The river is fairly narrow through this area. It was not appealing to us but probably very efficient for rafters, etc.

My wife and I camped here in mid-September, 2022. The road in to the state park is asphalt for a mile or so but then becomes a decently maintained gravel road for the next few miles. We had originally booked site number 16 but found that there was a dip between the road and the site and so we asked to switch to18. The friendly park attendant said no problem given that we were the only campers here on this night. The site was grassy but almost perfectly level. Unfortunately, access to Smith Falls was closed due to renovation and we were disappointed that nothing was mentioned on the web site. A few things to note: 1)The Niobrara River is amazing - running swiftly (even at this time of year) and clear as a mountain stream. (Our camp site was only 30 feet from the river.) 2)As others have said, there is zero cell service here given that the park is down in a fairly narrow river valley 3)Generators are explicitly forbidden here 4)My guess is that this park is much busier in the summer given that kayaking and tubing are major draws 5)The cost for the site is $15 but given that we had booked online, the cost was $24.40. We are from South Dakota and if we hadn't purchased a state park 2022 pass ($61), we would have been charged a $12 single day fee. Thus, out-of-staters might end up paying $37.40 for a site that has no pad, no electricity and for a campground that does have a dump station. 6)Valentine is about 30 minutes away and has an excellent ice cream shop in the downtown area called Sandhills Ice Cream and Treats. Highly recommended.

Would we stay again? Yes, but I would want to be sure that access to Smith Falls was open. (I'm afraid that my photo doesn't really flatter this campground but it was mid September in a part of Nebraska that is experiencing severe to extreme drought.)

Price is 8 per person. The road out there was a bit rough, but the small Park was quite pleasant. No services except a pay shower and vault toilets. It was in a valley and we had no cell reception. We walked to the beautiful falls twice in the evening and once in the morning. We camped pretty darn close to the niobrara river. Sites are grass only. I'll have grills and some have picnic tables.