Belle Fourche Dam & Reservoir

We visited the area in July 2024, it was the holiday week so it was busy, but still had some open spots. If you can't find a spot on the main peninsula there are still lots of other choices.

We did a campsite video review and it is linked on this page, but if you want the direct link https://youtu.be/5cFjZbQstU4

The south and east side, especially the east side shown in my photos are wide open, any size rig. 14 days are free. Prairie grass and many fire pits scattered throughout the area.

Verizon was 3 bars 10.55/3.91 mbps down/up without a booster.

We're enjoying our stay here but our GPS tried to get us lost! We ended up turning the wrong way on Hwy 212 and drove to the Wyoming border and back looking for our destination . . . it's not out there! If you head north from the town of Belle Fourche on the I90 business loop (aka US 85), you want to turn RIGHT (head East) on Hwy 212 (there are two large truck stops and a ShopKo at this intersection). After only 1.6 miles you come to a three-way and a sign announcing Rocky Point Recreation Area = 5 miles East (turn left at this three way). At 4.4 miles, turn left (North) on Fisherman's Road. At 0.7 miles in there is a bridge across a canal with a large parking area, pit toilet, and dumpster to the left. Free camping is allowed off the dirt roads on either side of the canal.

If you continue a bit further, there is a small ranger building where you pay to enter the paid camping areas. (They have 61 camping sites. The 50 sites with power are $20 and the 11 without power are $15.) But if your turn left on the gravel road at this spot, there is extensive FREE camping on the West side of the reservoir. The smaller area you come to first is called Middle Point and the other much larger area is called Gaden's Point. Contrary to the (?outdated?) signage on their maps, either of these areas have numerous and huge spots to camp with an RV -- boondocking style (no hookups) for FREE. Many of these spots have regular BLM fire rings with grates but, depending on the time of year, outdoor fires of any kind (not even charcoal) may not be permitted.

The main access road has washboard but is plenty wide for the two-way traffic on it -- we just went slow and took our time.

We followed the directions from a previous reviewer, which were helpful. Once you turn left at the ranger station, the dirt roads are not marked, but it's fairly easy to find your way. Spots are plentiful, and far apart. We were tent camping, and driving a civic, and this was the easiest dirt road we came across yet!

I spent two weeks here, and enjoyed it very much. Easy access good cell service with Verizon, and deserted for the most part probably due to the lake water level being so low.
There was a pit toilet and dumpster within a mile of my spot, and I had no trouble getting level with my 29' MH. The gravel roads are fine except for a few sections with washboards, and I was lucky enough to pick a spot where the dust from the road blew away from my site. It's not far to town, and within a reasonable distance to the area attractions.

Couldn't be much easier to find and set up so good for even just a night or two. Avoid camping near the main road because it gets very dusty and there's enough traffic to make it bothersome. Not a lot of people here even during our summer weekend and it's real quite at night. Bugs were not bad. Dump and potable water at the fee campground, but it's cheap ($4?). The visitor center in Belle Douche has a nice museum worth visiting.

The GPS coordinates listed here take you to a small parking lot with a toilet, dumpster, and an information sign about the Belle Fourche Dam. Instead of continuing up the main road, we took a dirt road directly across the street for about half a mile and then pulled off on the side - there are multiple mown-down grass areas there where people have parked before.

We got in at dark and upon getting out of the truck, we promptly got eaten alive by mosquitoes. The dip from the dirt road to the grass pull-off was also a steep drop off, and it was close with the bedrails of our truck and the 5th wheel. Be careful if you're pulling a trailer into this.

There is a large gravel turnaround near where we pulled off. A Class A was parked there in a way where no one else could use that space, but if oriented correctly, a couple Class As could comfortably park there.

Our cell signals, both AT&T and Verizon, were not good. I would get a sporadic bar of 4g, but it would be short-lived and downgrade to 1x. Not useable signals unboosted.

In summary, fine and quiet place to park for the night (as long as you stay indoors to avoid the mosquito hordes). But I would not seek this particular area to camp at for an extended stay. That being said, we didn't seek out the spots that the other reviewers seemed to have found, so maybe there's a much better camping area that we didn't see.

Very easy to find, plenty of water front sites. To reach our site: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HPZlaQKC9GgmDGyB3

Looking at map, you can see there are plenty of sites.

Belle Fourche has all your shopping, restaurant needs. Sturgis, Deadwood, Spearfish, Rapid City and plenty of tourist attractions all with 2 hours.

I turned north (left) on Susie Peak Rd immediately before the ranger station then drove 1.8 mi/2.9 km on the well-groomed gravel road before turning right onto the first loop. There are many sites that are easily visible in an aerial view.

The one night stay was quiet, and I parked on the grass near the water.

It rained for hours after I arrived, and the grassy areas become saturated with water, and extremely soft and slippery. My 4WD truck could barely move itself, and I could not move my trailer without the help of a local, his 4WD truck, and a tow strap.

The local told me that if the ground gets wet there, make sure that there's nothing but packed gravel between your tires and the road, or just don't try to move. Apart from that, great boondocking area!

Drive straight past the lot that the GPS coordinates take you to. Follow Fisherman’s Road all the way to the gate house for Rocky Point and turn left on Suzy Peak Road. Follow Suzy Peak for a mile or two and you will start to see spots along the water. We camped all the way out past the last bathroom in a spot under the trees with a rope swing. The direct drive into our site was pretty muddy so we drove over the hill from the next site down to get in without issues.