The park offers a wide array of destinations to explore both the natural and cultural history of the national park.
Visitor Centers
National Park Service Visitor Contact Station: The national park does not have a visitor center except for its contact area in the park headquarters building located at 508 East Second Street, Yankton, South Dakota. The building and station are open 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and closed on Federal holidays.
Mobile Ranger Station: The Missouri National Recreational River's visitor center on wheels brings the park to the river corridor and local communities during the warm seasons.
Lewis and Clark Visitor Center at Gavin Point Dam has exhibits about the Missouri River basin and natural and cultural history of the area, bookstore, and a theater.
Niobrara State Park: Want to learn more about one of the Missouri's major tributaries, the Niobrara River? Visit the state park's visitor center. Also has a bookstore.
Dakota Territorial Capitol: Located in Yankton's Riverside Park, this replica of the territorial capitol includes photographs of old Yankton, maps of the Dakota Territory, a collection of former Territorial governors, and other artifacts on display.
Fort Randall: Walk the grounds and view archeological remains of the fort; one of the most significant United States military posts of the frontier era.
Mead Cultural Education Center: Visit the newly renovated 1909 Mead Building that houses both the Yankton County Historical Society and Dakota Territorial Museum.
Morman Monument: Located west of Niobrara, Nebraska and one mile from the Niobrara State Park entrance.
Spirit Mound: Hike in the footsteps of Lewis and Clark while learning more about one of the most sacred Native Americans sites close to the Missouri River.
Yankton Sioux Treaty Monument: Visit and contemplate the legacy of westward expansion and its effects on the tribes of this area.
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
A dramatic view of the Missouri National Recreational River awaits visitors at Mulberry Bend Overlook. From the parking area, a short paved trail leads to two overlooks that offer views of a free flowing segment of the Missouri. This portion of the river exhibits characteristics that were common hundreds of years ago but are no longer seen on the "man-made" portions of the river.
This moderately strenuous unpaved trail begins at the upper viewpoint at the end of the paved trail. It is a 3/4 mile trail consisting of a loop with 2 spurs to viewpoints overlooking the river. The route winds through dense bluff forest of bur oak, cedar, ash, and other native trees. There are four points of interest along the trail.
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
Goat Island lays within the 59-Mile District of the Missouri National Recreational River in between the two cities of Yankton and Vermillion, South Dakota. Situated along the Missouri National Recreational River Water Trail, the island is between Nebraska and South Dakota.
Green Island actually never used to be an island! This National Park Service property gets its name from the nearby town of Green Island, Nebraska which washed away during the flood of 1881. The town of Green Island was never rebuilt, but the name and story have persisted.
Now a pedestrian/bicycle bridge, the Meridian Bridge in Yankton, SD greatly improved economic and social connections across the Nebraska and South Dakota border when it was opened in 1924.
Located in Yankton's Riverside Park, this replica of the territorial capitol includes photographs of old Yankton, maps of the Dakota Territory, a collection of former Territorial governors, and other artifacts on display. This capitol replica symbolizes Yankton as being the first capitol of the Dakota Territory from 1861- 1883. The replica is patterned after the original Dakota Territorial Capitol built in Yankton in 1862 and torn down in 1886.
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
Bow Creek is a High Potential Historic Site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
On August 26, 1804, the expedition camped on a sand bar (in present-day South Dakota) across the Mis-souri from the mouth of Bow Creek (in present-day Nebraska).
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
Ionia Volcano is a High Potential Historic Site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
On August 24, 1804, Clark explored a distinctive “180 or 190 feet high” bluff along the west side of the Missouri River.
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
On August 25, 1804, Lewis, Clark, and several of their men walked nine miles to Spirit Mound from their camp on the south bank of the Missouri River. They were determined to see the mound that was so feared by the indigenous people of the area. In his journal Clark explained the legend of Spirit Mound:
Sites:Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail, Missouri National Recreational River
The Tower is a High Potential Historic Site on the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail.
On September 7, 1804, the expedition landed near “the foot of a round mounting […] resembling a dome”, which Clark had sighted the previous day.
