Twin Lakes State Lakeside Use Area

Free Camping at Twin Lakes Lakeside Use Area consists of eight campsites with lake views. Twin Lakes Lakeside Use Area offers up to 14 consecutive nights of free camping in the designated camping area. A pavilion and serviceable vault toilets are onsite. This free camping area is administered by the South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks. It is peaceful at this free camping location, but know that there is little else nearby. Verizon cellular service clocked in at 8.58 Mbps download speed and 0.74 Mbps upload speed. AT&T cellular service clocked in at 29.8 Mbps download speed and 0.64 Mbps upload speed. T-Mobile cellular service clocked in at 11.4 Mbps download speed and 0.71 Mbps upload speed.

So glad we drove a little away from Mitchell, SD to check out this Fish & Wildlife managed campground. What a beautiful setting! Right on a lake, pelicans swimming & diving - awesome. We had a flat site on the lake side. There are 3 sites interior and even a pull through site for a bigger rig. Quiet & peaceful ❤️
A County Sheriff drove through in the early evening which gave me peace of mind. Good cell signal too. Pit toilet very clean.
No water, electricity or garbage. Pack out what you bring in & please pick up after your pets.
Perfect little spot to stop.

Right on a lake and lots of shade. A great place for a day or two, or for overnighters. Upon entering the park, there are two sites perfect for very large rigs (directly across from the picnic shelter). Caution for tall rigs and longer rigs ⚠️ If you go further back into the park, there are low trees and a tight cul-de-sac loop. Vault toilets were not the cleanest but functional. While we were there, lots of boaters, jet skis, and swimmers. The water looks questionable but we swam with the locals and didn’t have any issues. The water was a cool break from the heat. Easy in and out. 12-16 OTA channels available. Verizon cell service was okay but sometimes unstable.

The road to get in is a very well-maintained packed gravelly dirt, but when I went, there were no potholes. Everything was pristine and peaceful. We didn’t hear sounds of trains or planes, and there was lots of room. Fire pits, barbecue pits, and a beautiful lake that reflected the other side and the full moon in a spectacular way. Great place to camp on route to Mount Rushmore.

This is a nice little campground that will hold a few big rigs in the first spots next to the lake. I have a 32' with 8' of trailer for the ATV. I motorhome of about the same size had the lakefront spot and I could have been obnoxious and squeezed in but he told me nobody uses the pavilion parking area so that would be OK to park there. Things get tight if you go in any farther. Too tight.It would be fine with a small trailer like a pop-up or or teardrop trailer but I wouldn't even suggest a fifth wheel or larger sized trailer.

Anyone with critters needs to know that this place is dense with ticks. I don't know if they fog for that later in the year but as of the middle of May they're numerous. There's also black flies here that bite. I'm not used to being munched on so I found them to be a huge aggravation. I get revenge on them while sitting with a beer lighting them up with an electric flyswatter.

There's not that much to see here unless you're into fields. There's lots of fields here, pheasant, White-Tailed Deer, ducks, and Canada geese. Most of this I found while scouting the area for landscape photo locations( don't bother, there are none unless you're into shooting pictures of empty fields)on the ATV. I do have a list of locations for abandoned farmhouses and barns but that's about it for photo subjects.

Nights are really quiet and that's a big plus after being on the road and laying-over at a Pilot or Love's for the night.

We stayed here 1 night on our travels. What a charming little place to spend an evening. We came on a Saturday and there was only 1 other camper here so we got a spot right on the water. There is a pit toilet and fire ring, but no other amenities. I believe it was 11 miles off I 90, but we’ll worth the drive.

This was a one night stay for us in our 6x12 CCT. Only 1 other camper there and he was gone most of the time. We stayed the end of September and we had no problems with bugs or ticks. Our site was right on the lake. Highly recommend.