Thomson Causway Recreation Area in Thomson, IL

This is a fantastic campground in the northwest section of Illinois. Extremely clean and well maintained. It is designed and operated by the COE. Hosts were very friendly and helpful.

The land that the campground is on is actually an island that sits in the Mississippi River. Now granted the "causway" that you take to the island is only about 40 yards long, still, it is pretty unique. A large percentage of the sites border the slough between the island and shore, or actually border the river itself. As you can see from my photos, many of the sites just drop off right into the mighty Mississippi. It is breathtaking...

Also, there is a terrific bike trail that can be accessed right from inside the campground. We biked about 6 miles downriver to a lock and dam and watched the barges get around, and then biked another 4 miles downriver to a historic, but still operating windmill. This trail also takes you through a rare ecosystem area, a "prairie desert". Actually, you cannot go right through the preserve, but along its border. While biking back, we came up on huge (4.5+ft) rattlesnake making its way across the path. We (wife, two kids (9 and 10) and I) all stopped. The snake stopped. And we enjoyed a little stare down from a respectful 8 foot distance. Then we watched as snake slithered off the path into the brush. Unbelievable! None of us will every forget that experience. What a rush.

As for the the pics, one shot is of our actual site, right across the road from the river. The other two are sunset shots of the river taken from standing on our site. This place was special.

[commodor47]

Jon,

Very nice CG and terrific photos of sunset along the mighty Mississippi River! I will definitely add this CG to our list of places to stay.

Dick

Hi Jon, we have not been there yet and it's only 20 miles away. That was formed many years ago when they installed the locks on the river. I remember camping in that area when I was a kid (1950's) and was great fishing. During the summer they have great watermelon grown in the area.
I believe that is one of the many Corps of Engineers campground along the Mississippi in the area. In fact you can purchase a book on COE campground with all the information for all the states. Can't remember is Alaska was included too.