Belle Fourche Dam & Reservoir

This is a beautiful spot right on the lake!! They even have picnic tables and fire rings at every spot!! We really enjoyed this treasure during our June trip to South Dakota! Unfortunately, a hail storm went through and tornado landed nearby. We did safely spend the storm in an outhouse with another couple and the local volunteer firemen went camper to camper to make sure everyone was safe. We felt bad for the damage in town; but we were very impressed with their spirit of kindness and helpfulness to all. What a wonderful community!!

We stayed here in mid June. There are biting flies. But not bad with the breeze.

Easy access from Belle Fourche (Foosh) on 212. Follow the signs.

Turn left at state park entrance. About two miles of washboard. Wonderful clean lakeside sites. Clean pit toilet. Big dumpster. Some gravel sites. Not level but you don’t have to worry about getting stuck. Dog owners, please clean up before leaving.

Fire pit. Did not use. Too breezy for fire. Quality picnic table. Pretty new. About 150 feet between sites. Other generators were not a problem!

Took the canoe out a lot. Check your marine regulations. We saw fish feeding. But we did not fish. No licenses. We saw fish caught.

Plains camping! Meadowlarks singing all day. Right in camp. Black birds feeding on the bugs! Yay! A few cottonwood trees on the shore. No shade.

Bugs went away with the evening breeze. First quarter moon on the evening lake. Glorious thistles. Even saw an antelope doe.

Great solar exposure. Our batteries were full before noon. And the breeze was wonderful. Nice and quiet and un crowded.

We had internet connection with Verizon Jet Pack. Too slow for streaming. No idea what speed is available.

We stayed here 8/26 – 9/8/20. This dispersed camping area includes vault toilets, dumpsters, fire pits, and picnic tables. During our 14 day stay we camped in two different spots. The first was on Middle Point and the Second spot was on Gadens Point. Both spots had great views of the water. There is a free dump station in Belle Fourche at the Center of the Nation Visitor Center. The camping areas were beautiful and the services provided for a free campsite were really great. We were very disappointed in the amount of litter we found. Dumpsters are available as previously mentioned but site to site service is not. The cleanliness is not a reflection on the land management. It is a reflection on the campers not taking self-responsibility and picking up after themselves. Behaviors like this will shut down great places like this to RVers in the future.

It's hard to believe, but you can look right across the water at campers in the State Park, paying at least $26 per night (though they do have electric) for the same view. This location was easy to get to using the satellite view on google maps. We had no problem, though once you hit the gravel, it gets really dusty. Just beyond the left turn onto the access road is the State Park dump station, where there is also potable water available. We had a state park vehicle access pass, so I am guessing it was OK to use this facility.
The reservoir has numerous camping locations all around the water. All well spaced from each other so you can get some privacy though there are few trees. When we were here in late June, the wind was absolutely fierce for 2 of the 4 days here, but that was OK as the temps were in the 90's and the wind helped cool us down. Plenty of sunshine for the solar panels, but there were quite a few generators humming. We choose a spot which had our door about 10 feet from the water's edge. Getting down to the spot and maneuvering the rig to where we wanted it was no problem at all.
Some nice day trips from here including Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon, and you can also check out the geographical center of the US right in the town of Belle Fourche!!
A great free spot to relax and kick back and enjoy the water view, launch a boat or throw in a line.

This place is great, cant believe its free. The sites are very far apart, several different loops. We stayed in the first loop, not many trees but great for solar. Big rig friendly! Each site has a nice picnic table, and a fire pit. There are pit toilets and they were spotless. We arrived here on a Monday in late September and only two people in our whole loop. Very quiet too. I had two bars of 4G on Verizon and could stream videos just fine. My husband had 5bars of 3G ( his phone isn't 4G) and it was a bit slower but worked.

Great find! GPS took us to the wrong place so I wanted to give more detailed instructions.
Follow signs for Rocky Point Recreation Area (this is the pay campground).
From Hwy 212 take left onto Fisherman's Road. (Google Maps said Belle Fourche Dam and Reservoir is 0.6 miles on the left. It is a large dirt "parking lot" that says "no camping")
Instead, once you get on Fisherman's Road, go down 1.9 miles. You will see a shack on the right, make a left right onto Susie Peak road, before the stop sign at that intersection. You will see the brown sign for Belle Fourche Dam and Reservoir. The road is all rocks and gravel and very dusty!
Go down about 3.7 miles and you will come to the first loop (Middle Point Road) on your right. It's a pretty large loop, but not much shade.
You can continue 0.8 miles to Loop 6 on your left.
Further 0.2 miles is Gadens Point Road / Loop 3 on your right. We stayed there and it has more shady spots.
Keep going up Susie Peak Road for Loops 4 & 5 for more options. Loops 1 & 2 are all the way at the end and have even more shade (which is probably why it seems to attract longer stay residents.
All loops have vault toilets. Great place, very quiet (and we were there on Labor Day weekend).
Very clean too!
It's an amazing find!

Specific sites are along the water but we parked out in the open grasslands at a spot before reaching the formal entry to the lake area. Great spot, water views, birds, even a couple of deer. There is a pay area with reservations if you want that, but plenty of free camp areas too. Dump and water available just past the pay area entry kiosk. Don't know if this is free. Also a very nice dump and water at the visitors center in Belle Fourche.

We stayed a week and had 6 days of crazy wind mixed with extreme calm. I loved it but plan for 50-60mph wind at times. The area is huge with several locations to choose from around the reservoir that accommodate all size rigs. You can take multiple loops to find an open spot and some are very remote. You can camp in any designated camping site. It was very busy when we arrived on the weekend but it cleared out during the week.

We had both AT&T and T-Mobile service with around 6 to 10Mpbs download each. The town of Belle Fourche 6 miles away has some interesting sites to see and we enjoyed Spearfish nearby too. Only 35 mins to Deadwood.

There is garbage bins located all over and a dump station with potable water near the entrance.

LAKE SIDE FOR FREE! This is water sport heaven or just lake side relaxing. There are ample sites for all sizes of rigs around this reservoir. Each site is clearly designated by a fire ring, so there is no tramping willy nilly onto the grass lands. The sites are spaced far apart for spreading out or just plane solitude. You can choose from total sun spots to varied shade. If it’s been raining there will be water in low spots, so scout your site before hand.
The res is about a half hour from Belle Fourche which has any supplies you may need and the towns people are great. I just love small towns!
At the entrance to the reserve is also the entrance to the pay park Rocky Point Rec Area where there is potable water to had.