Whitetail

Stayed here as a family get together and took 3 spots. Just a beautiful place that is off the main path of most travelers. Swam, SUP and kayaked in the clear water lake. Mountain biked around Deerfeild lake on mostly single track, great ride! 25 minutes back to Hill City. Verizon had no coverage and ATT had one bar if you went up the road. Most of the sites were not flat level but we could adjust with blocks.

Well the reviews of other NFS campgrounds in this area of the Black Hills noted the significant presence of ATV's all around; this one said it wasn't overrun with ATV's....well, that was then and this is now. We were camped in the upper circle and nearly every one camping there had an ATV...and they are legal on the Forest Service roads in SD. Loud, smelly, dusty....not our cup of tea. The campground is located UP and ABOVE the lake with some lovely long range views of the lake. One has to walk (or ride your ATV) to the boat launch to get easy access to the water; or else find the one or two small footpaths which lead down to the lakes edge (not well used but still accessible). We were in site #8 which was furthest from the lake but also surrounded on 3 sides by open space which was nice. The campground (upper loop) had one out-house: the camp host did not bother to sweep up the dead flies which accumulated on the floor in large quantities daily. The "throne" was being cleaned by a large group of related folks who were gathered from all over the country and staying in the campground. The women of that group said they cleaned the toilet surfaces themselves and complained to the local Forest Service headquarters until finally a pumper truck came on the last morning of our stay. Needless to say the folks working the pumper truck emptied the tank, but didn't bother to clean anything else. Know that this area of the Black Hills is now dominated by ATV use and plan accordingly.

We were here off season, and although both loops are open, the vault toilet in the lower loop is the only one still open during fall/winter. Beautiful site with views of the lake, level gravel driveway. Free during the off season - but no water. We filled up after asking permission at one of the group sites in Custer State Park while we were doing the wildlife loop. A short drive on an easy gravel road - in contrast to many of the roads in Black Hills, this would be no problem for a camper or small RV, but note that many sites do not have long drives and are geared toward tents. Our truck camper was happy with this nice level spot.

It was WAY colder than expected, but I think that was just luck of the draw in mid October. We got hail and snow in the early morning and brutally cold winds, so we hightailed out of there to lower elevations and some diner coffee in Hill City.