Governor Thompson State Park — Attraction in Town of Stephenson

We stayed at Governor Thompson State Park for my very first camping experience ever, and I cannot say enough wonderful things!

You can tell all the employees love their jobs. Everyone was friendly and helpful. We even asked the Park Ranger for some advice on when/where to see certain wildlife and he was informative and friendly. We saw a ton of deer, chipmunks, squirrels, birds, and even a porcupine crossing the road. Apparently there are bears, but we weren't lucky enough to see any.

Our campsite was spacious, beautiful, and private. We had no neighbors beside, behind, or across from us. Bathrooms are in very close proximity to all the sites, and they have one building for showering not far from the three loops of campsites. Sites include a picnic table and fire ring. We were also told a bear bin would be provided, but it was not. It really was unnecessary, so it was not a big deal. They also have a spot for disposing of trash and recyclables, which is nice since a lot of parks require you take your trash out with you. Fire wood is $5, and you get a lot! There are two lakes in the park. Woods Lake is for swimming, kayaking, canoeing, paddle boarding, etc. No motors are allowed on that lake. They do offer kayak and paddle board rentals. We did swim one day, but it was chilly, so we didn't stay long. The beach is nicely kept, and the water is clean. The other lake is mostly for boating/fishing. I cannot comment on that, as we did not fish. Both lakes have beautiful scenery and are worth checking out based on that alone.

We hiked the Forest View Trail. There isn't really much to see besides trees. They do advertise these "rock croppings" aka Rock Vista, which is literally nothing but big rocks. I think we set our expectations too high when setting out specifically to see them. We hiked from our campsite and back, which was about 6.3 miles. It also rained during the hike, so I think a lot of our experience was ruined by that. I would suggest maybe checking out some other trails, although the Park Ranger told us people have come back saying they saw mountain lions and bears. Forest View was also not marked very well. We had to look at maps quite often. I cannot comment on any other trails, as that was the only one we hiked.

There isn't a whole lot around retail-wise, so if you forget anything you can find almost anything you need at Tall Oaks General Store.

It was such a great experience from the time we pulled in to the park, to the time we departed. We will definitely be camping at Governor Thompson...

Brand new camping facilities, showers, etcetera. Sparkling new.

The campgrounds are on the Cauldron Falls Area of the Peshitigo Flowage, however, none of the campsites are near the water.

The campsites on the loop I visited were VERY close to the road. I don't know why they didn't put the campsites farther back away from the road. Some of the campsites have the tables only nine feet from the road and the tent area only a few yards back from that. In my opinion, camping at these sites would be like camping on the shoulder of a road. Clearly every car that drives by is going to be shining their headlights into the campsites. Due to the proximity to the road, I am going to say that Governor Thompson's campgrounds is probably the worst in the Wisconsin State system.

There is a boat landing for canoes and small craft. Motorboats are allowed on the flowage, but the area provides excellent canoeing.

Every time I have been to Cauldron Falls, I meet musky fisherman, and the area is known for it's musky fishing. I am not a musky fisherman, but having fished at Cauldron Falls, I have never caught anything. There maybe better fishing at Wood Lake area which is part of the park and has a very nice shelter. This shelter and the trails make for a very nice cross country sking...

I recently stayed at this state park from June 15-17, 2018 and I enjoyed greatly. It was a very well maintained, clean and quiet park. I was with a handicapped friend so we stayed at one of the two Ada accessible sites. These two had a paved drive making it easy for someone to get around that goes straight down to the showers. I believe they had 7 private shower rooms with a toilet, sink and small bench. Water is hot too! They have a lake and a Flowage area that are accessible by caring the park. The lake has a small beach but the sand is like that of a cheap golf course, hard and full pebbles. I didn't bring my kayak but it I saw a group of 30 kayakers so the Flowage must be a good place to paddle. Virtually no mosquitoes and only had 2 ticks on me. Overall very nice park. One recommendation is to make a paved walkway down to the beach from the parking lot. It's handicap accessible once you get down there but not the gravel service road most of...