ponca state park

Every summer my family extended family gathers for a long weekend at Ponca State Park. We reserve and stay in the Retreat cabins. What amazing facilities these are! Clean, modern and very comfortable.Only negative is availability and reservations. You can only make reservations 364 days in advance and with high demand its very difficult to book multiple cabins for a weekend.

We rent a cabin at a State Park every year for Thanksgiving. We park up the cars, kids, dogs and turkey and go relax for 5 days. This year - we tried out Ponca, which we had never been before. We rented Whitetail, a mini lodge. First things first, the mini lodge is amazing! Open layout, super clean, well decorated, comfortable furniture. Modern amenities, with rustic charm. There is 4 separate bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. Each bedroom has it's own sink in it. Which I thought was kind of odd, but then turned out to be pretty handy. There is a grill, lots of pots and pans, sheets, towels, trash bags... all things you need. We have stayed at other state parks and not all those things have been provided. There is coffee and filters (very important for me!) If you'd like more sheets and coffee, just set them outside your door the night before and the next morning they will deliver new ones to you. Staff was super helpful and friendly. We forgot a bike pump and they called maintenance and had them come fill our tires. There is a fun gift shop a museum thing in the lodge. Really nice park for the kiddos. Lots of hiking trials and nature to see as well. LOTS of activities if you go during the summer season, but we didn't get to do any of that, so I can't really tell you about them, but they looked fun.

The trails are in very poor shape in this park, lack of trail maintenance is evident. Dead timber all over the trails, severe erosion. The problem with this park, it has become to commercialized at the expense of its true resources.

The Indians were here before the French claimed the land and then sold the land as part of the Louisiana Purchase to the United States under Thomas Jefferson. Lewis and Clark were the first Americans to came to this area of the Missouri River to explore it. Thus the beginnings of civilization to the area along the banks of the river. Ponca Park, in the bluffs overlooking the Missouri River, started out with 200 acres in 1938 and is now over 2,000 acres. The Scenic River Act in 1978 allows the river to flow as a wild and untamed river which provides a haven for migrating birds and slow moving waters for the many varieties of fish. For someone who grew up in Nebraska and didn't even know this park existed it was a great discovery.Planning a family reunion close to Omaha I found the park last year on line and reserved two "mini lodges". Having stayed at other state parks my expectations were not very high so driving up to the main lodge I was very impressed. Even more impressed when we got to our cabin. A 4 bedroom, 2 bath cabin. All the comforts of home, including internet. The weekend was over so fast as we cooked out on the grill, had campfires, hiked, bird watched, star gazed, listened to the owls and coyote's - everyone had a great time. The staff is very friendly and helpful.Some tips for future stays: bring your own firewood as they ran out at the lodge, bring extra blankets if you get cold at night the bed coverings were a bit thin for me, purchase all your groceries and beverages before you get here since the nearest HyVee is Sioux City. There is lots to do so check out the site before you go so you can pack for activities and enjoy the great outdoors!

Stayed here for two nights in a mini lodge and it was fantastic! The lodges were reminiscent of something in the Rocky Mountains. The parks offers amenities galore, including fishing, shooting, cooking, and archery. The staff is super. Wish we had more time there!

One of the best state parks for amenities that I have been at. The mini lodges were beautiful and very clean. Woke up to wild turkeys walking around our yard. Something to do for young and old alike. The full moon hike was a challenge for some of us "older hikers" but a great experience. The swimming pool is very old but in the works is a new one with water park..Anxious to go back in the future.

We stayed here for a reunion and it was great! The new mini lodges are awesome and so nice. The main conference building is wonderful and my kids loved the little museum a lot. I would jump at the chance to come back

We stayed in Ponca State Park for a family get together over July 4 weekend. It was a fantastic experience. We stayed in the mini lodge which was fabulous. 4 good size bedrooms, 2 full baths, full kitchen, all the amenities. Wi fi was slow, but hey, you're in a beautiful outdoor space, turn your electronics off anyway. The park is very pretty,located on the bluffs adjacent to the Missouri River. The park has an education center and offers some really great classes. Members of our party did archery, horseback riding, hayrack ride and backwater kayaking. The horseback riding guides weren't as enthusiastic as we would have liked, but guides for all the other events were really great. The park also offers miles of hiking. Be prepared for the hills. But the great thing is that after you tire yourself out on a long hike, you can go back to the comfort of the air conditioned mini lodge and refresh yourself. I'd go back again.

I was amazed to find friendly staff on duty at the huge, modern Visitor Center when I arrived a couple of hours before the 8:00 PM closing time. The day use $5 and campsite $12 fees were extremely reasonable. I was a little disappointed by the over-development of the four-mile deep park, with fancy cabins for rent. Of course, I am a wilderness backpacker, unaccustomed to luxurious accommodations. The tent sites were located beyond the RV loop, four miles into the park, that had pressure water taps, electricity, and a shower house. The RV campers will love, love, love the park. I was the only tent in the campground on May 20. The tent sites are spacious, though a bit randomly distributed at the remote end of the park. I hiked to the Three-State Overlook and the Old Bur Oak Tree. The hikes are what I call "dog walks," easy and short, nothing like the ten-mile, 5,000-vertical foot ascents that I take in Colorado. The visit added an extra day of travel and about 200 miles to my trip from eastern Iowa to central Colorado, but the more leisurely pace was worth it.

If you have never traveled to north east nebraska and had the opportunity to stay at the Ponca State Park you have missed out. A wonderful park with activities for all ages or if you don't want to do anything a peaceful place where you can climb to the look out point and see, Nebraska, South Dakota and Iowa. Alright maybe not 4 corners but seeing three states at once any where in Nebraska is a big thing. Park is bordered by the Missouri River on the east and you can tent, camp, stay in small rustic cabins or in our case the last 4+ years we have stayed in the mini-lodges. 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room and kitchen. Great decks off the house looking out in to the ash forests or at the Missouri. Cable TV and free wifi. Kind of keeps all ages busy. We have been there for family gatherings for the last 10 years+ and this year it was just our family. Park has a small swimming pool, not overly modern that is open in the afternoons. Sits about 2-3 miles outside of Ponca, Nebraska and probably 20 west of Sioux City, Iowa. Park has many activities that you can take part in or you can hike or relax. If you ever get the chance would highly recommend the mini lodges but you have to book early for the summer months. You can book up to a year in advance for the cabins/lodges. This could probably have been listed under hotels but it is not technically a hotel. Some min lodges are handicapped accessable.

We were here with a family reunion and stayed at Bluebird and Cardinal (4 rooom mini-lodges)...these put many hotels to shame. Very clean and well kept. There are many planned activities for all ages including archery, tomahawk throwing, slingshot, horseback riding, kayaking, fishing and golfing (right next door). One recommendation, don't close or remodel all of the shooting activities at one, and especially in the summer...missed out on shotgun, pellet gun and blackpowder shooting because of this. It was a 10 hour drive for us, so we can't make it here often, but when I hear someone say they are going to "rough it" at a NE State Park...they are only doing it by choice, because their facilities are quite luxurious and fair priced.

new cabin/lodges are amazing! We'll come back with a bigger group next year! Hiking trails are spectacular. Pool is old and outdated. Kids loved the little fishing pond and my 7 yr old daughter caught a nice bass on her first cast.

Nicely done educational visitor's center. Big turkeys came to the feeders outside during our visit in September.

I've grown up in NE Nebraska and this park is one of my all-time favorites! There are trees, trees, and more trees! Hundreds of acres of park! Overlook of and access to the Missouri River (not a river to swim in!). Trails, horseback rides, rustic cabins, new lodges, a conference center, day picnicking spots, tent camping and many camping pads with electrical units, etc. It's worth the trip if you like the outdoors!

It was an excelent place to hike through woods by the river. It was a very easy drive from Vermillion to get to Ponca. It had very beeautiful forest and was very scenic. The people at the park were very helpful. I have never camped there because I only went for the day, but I found some very beautiful places to camp.