My Corner Online
Twin Bridges Resort
This is the image of the water's edge of the North Fork River from the campsite when we arrived. The "resort" states that it has a "beautiful view of the river" from all campsites which is sort of true because I can see it, but just barely. The campsites are on a bluff and you cannot get down the bluff to access the water from the campsites. There is one small area behind the restaurant building where you can get down to the river just below the bridge. August 14, 2022
The campground is west of West Plains, Missouri, in Southeast corner of Douglas County, where Highway 181 comes into a "t" with Highway 14, between the North Fork River and Spring Creek.
This is the view of the bridge from behind the restaurant where you can get down to the river.
We wondered the entire time where the "twin bridge" was and we did not see it until we were leaving. The other bridge is located on the other side of the campground as you are leaving and traveling east.
This is our campsite. There were only two other campers the night we were there and they did spread us out.
We were rather disappointed that our campsite did not have a picnic table or campfire ring! There were some located at other campsites, but not at all. We have been camping before where the owner came by to make sure we had a table and even drove a tractor to move it into place for us. Not here. Some folks at another campsite eventually came and carried one from another campsite to us, but we were just going to be minimalists and do without. It was a kind thing for them to do.
The evening time when we arrived provided plenty of shade, but in the morning when the sun came up over the horizon of trees in this image, our camping spot was in full sun and would have been that way the rest of the day. We got so hot trying to pack up and it was only about 9 in the morning. We had to throw everything in the back of the truck and move to a shady spot just to handle the heat to pack up.
Here is a closer view of the river from the campsite.
There is a restaurant and it seemed to be busy. We were allowed to take our dogs to the deck out the back where they served us. We thought $37 for our meal for what we got was a lot of money. I think they overcharged us for the little bitty glass of wine I ordered and of course a beer for hubby.
We also felt they overcharged us for the campsite. When I called we were told it would be $15 for the campsite and an extra $5 per person. I had never heard of charging per person, but since $20 was reasonable, I was okay with it. We do camp a lot and know the going costs of campsites for tents without electric. When hubby came back to the care, they had charged us $37! What! Apparently they also charged us for our two dogs (I have never heard of such a thing), but that would only be $30, so I guess there was $7 in taxes.
We felt this business was just here to make money. Yes, they are new owners, but overcharging will not bring in new customers or repeat customers.
This is the breakfast menu.
As I share more photos of the bridge, I thought I would share our other bad experiences.
The one campsite they choose to put us at had spots of grass that were not mown and then huge clumps of dead grass. At first I overlooked it, but as the time went on, I realized that every time I went to the truck, my shoes became covered in the dead grass. Then it started getting into the tent and onto the floorboard of my truck. Then the dogs started tracking it into the back seat of the truck. It was quite a mess.
The event that mostly changed our mind of Twin Bridges is that the bar stayed opened until after midnight. I remember seeing a sign that sign quiet hours after either 10 p.m. or 11 p.m., I cannot remember for sure and I did not get a photo of it. So once 11 p.m. passed and the noise from the bar which was also the restaurant continued, I began to get disturbed that I could not sleep. Then sometime after midnight the noise grew and became disturbing as there was a lady screaming as if she were being raped. I cannot describe it any other than that way. It was a terrifying screaming and a guy was yelling at her to stop. What topped it off was then there were gunshots. I do not believe at all it was fireworks. I believe I know the difference. The first event there were exactly 6 gunshots (because I counted them), the second event there were 5 gunshots, and the third event there were 4 gunshots (because I actually made a note on my phone at 11:59 p.m. after the third one. We laid in our tent frozen and afraid to move.
The next day we went to take a shower at the new and clean shower house only to realize there was no water. Thereafter we saw a meter that accepted coins. After the overcharging of the campsite I was appalled that they would also charge for the shower, especially since I had asked her on the phone if they had showers and the charge was not mentioned AND when we checked in the charge was not mentioned. There was not sign as to what the amount, so we did a simple wash up in the sink and I was not happy that I did not have the shower I had been promised. Later I realized that there were showers behind the store! I had been in the bathroom after someone in the restaurant had told me there were bathrooms there, but I did not realize that the other side was showers. No one ever mentioned it to us and there were no signs indicating that their were showers, only restrooms.
Twin Bridges has great potential to be a nice place to camp, but right now I could not recommend it to anyone.
