Pelican Lake State Rec Area

We stay here when we go to and from the Bighorns, and we’ve been doing since 2006. We’ve never been disappointed. No hook-ups except electric, clean facilities, and well maintained grounds. We don’t travel much until after Labor Day and this is when we stay here, much quieter I’m assuming. The lakeside sites are the best, as they provides a great view of the sunrise, and a nighttime view of the lights of Watertown, and we always stop at the Terry Redlin gallery on our way home. Have never needed a reservation yet for off season, and check- in can be done on my cell phone. Cell service is good because of being only a mile or 2 from a Tower. Never bothered to check wi-fi.

This park is well off of the beaten path. We chose it because it was the only game in town when we were traveling through. We were on our way back to Canada because of the pandemic and had little choice regarding time of year.

Signage was adequate. We had no problem getting there. The roads are good pavement all the way.

The park office is as you enter the park. It was never manned while we were there. We had booked the site by telephone when we called to see if the park was open so there was no need to check in. Booking was a bit long a drawn out. Our operator did not seem to know the procedure well.

Our site, 57, was a back in and it consisted of a gravel pad with a table and fire pit. The utilities consisted of power to the left rear. There are no other amenities other than a dump station on the way out. We backed our towed in first and re attached so we could leave quickly the next morning. The site was plenty long for us.

We were the only registered guests in the park but the place is well used by locals even in the off season. We had a number of people walking their dogs OFF LEASH, a quite a few just parked their vehicles by the frozen over lake sitting inside enjoying the view. Once it got dark activity did slow down.

We think this park would be very nice in season. We noted that cabins are also available. It was an okay stay but very over priced for what you get.

To start we were charged $2.00 because we phoned in our reservation. The Camping fee was @26.00.
We were charged a non resident tax of $7.70 that was not disclosed when we booked in plus a state tax of $1.17 and tourism tax of .39 cents. In season, there would also be a park entrance fee. Cost is unknown because we only used the campground. The rest of the park was not open. We paid $37.26 in total for a park that should have been $26.00. We would not consider this park if others were available. It appears that the state of South Dakota does not like non residents.

Extremely clean neat campground with many sites right on Pelican Lake. Grounds are well-manicured, not a weed in the grass, and nice level roomy site pads that are well separated. We strolled along the lake and viewed waterfowl. Impressively clean modern restroom/shower facility, actually the best I've seen across the USA and we travel a lot. There are also vault toilets around the campground that we didn't check out. At this time you can't just pull in and choose a site and pay. You are required to call the toll-free reservation number at the check-in kiosk if you don't have a previous reservation. Though the site cost is $26 there is a mandatory day use fee of $7, plus a $2 reservation fee plus tax so the actual total cost was $36.56. Being late Sept we were the only campers in sight. There were 4 sites occupied and 77 open sites at this time.
We had a previous stay in one of their small cabins that has only shelving, a tiny wood table with bench seats and beds with sleeping mats. The mat was thin and springs poked through from underneath. Very uncomfortable! Nice outside sitting area with views of the lake. Restrooms are close.

This was a beautiful campground that is well maintained. Bathrooms were clean and warm on the cold days and cool on the hot days. We had plenty of space at our waterfront site and a beautiful view of the lake. There was a field across the way where kids and adults played baseball. The area next to the water is rocky, but there is a beach area about 2 sites over. We fished off the rocks and caught a few Northern Pike. It was an extremely relaxing stay! Would definitely stay here again!