Missouri Headwaters State Park — Attraction in Manhattan

This is an interesting park and campground near 2 rivers which meet to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. This is the biggest attraction in the area. The campsites are all level and nicely separated. There are several hiking trails with the best one taking you to where the rivers meet. The host was helpful in terms of providing useful information. The campground was very quiet when we were there in early September.

The most negative issue is the unisex toilet facilities. There are only 2 vault toilets facilities for the whole campground with 17 sites, each with only 1 toilet for use by men and women. It is not nearly adequate for the number of campers and could really backup when the campground was full. The toilets were also not very clean so it was not pleasant to use them. There is access to drinking water near the toilet but the drain was plugged when we were there making it difficult to get water without getting your feet also wet.

For the cost, this was not a very good value. Montana needs to invest in some flush toilets and showers for this state park. Right now it is very primitive and needs to be upgraded to get it to the level of other parks in neighboring states. Flush toilets and showers would take it to the next level. Without these upgrades, we would not...

If we hadn’t rented the teepee we would probably leave a better review but don’t waist your money reserving the teepee unless you don’t mind sleeping in a wet moldy bug filled canvas tent. Thankfully we brought our tent as a back up and it was used! No way in hell was I gonna sleep inside that disgusting thing! I’m pretty sure the local mosquitoes use it as their breeding ground so make sure to bring off or whatever your favorite mosquitos repellent is! The people where nice and helpful but we found it to be a bit confusing when check in time said 3pm on the website but no one was available for us to check in with when we got there. Thankfully it wasn’t hard to figure out that they only have 1 teepee site and it had our names on it. On the positive note the outhouse style bathroom was the cleanest I think I’ve ever seen with plenty of toilet paper. Did find the park to be super exciting but it was a relaxing place with lots of birds and some cute critters around. Apparently a moose comes around from time to time but we...

The Missouri headwaters is of great historical significance. By visiting there, you can see for yourself how much broader the Jefferson River is compared to the Madison and the Gallatin, and why Sacagawea's advice to Lewis and Clark to take the Jefferson to Shoshone territory and eventually to cross the Bitterroot range was crucial to the success of L&C's expedition.

Secondly, if you visit Yellowstone Park, you can see the headwaters of the Madison, and if you drive Route 191, you can follow the course of the Gallatin. It is interesting to see all these rivers merge into the Missouri, which is the central river of the Louisiana Purchase.

Finally, seeing the Missouri headwaters it is interesting to think about its tributaries, such as the Yellowstone, and finally the...