North Pole Road Dispersed Camping

Spent 4 days camped here after leaving beautiful Montana. We drove about 3-4 miles back on North Pole Road to try and get the site we camped at in 2020. It was occupied and the other option had been closed to camping. So after about 30 minutes of exploring and some feet beating time we stumble on an open site about 1/2 mile off of North Pole Road. You couldn’t see the access road to this site from NPR and we only stumbled across it because we pulled off NPR to have some lunch and regroup to move on down the highway. Decided to take a short hike and found an old road at the back of the parking area. Bingo. Perfect spot to spend 4 days. NO ONE around! Saw several deer, heard coyotes and one Bigfoot! Awesome location!

We pulled in on a Wednesday and all the lower spots were already filled. However, these hills go on forever, so we continued upward until we found on the left-hand side, an open meadow with a rarely-used grass/dirt road further up. This area has plenty of trees for shade, and plenty of sun for solar. We did wake up the first morning surrounded by cows which was a new experience. Since then though, they haven't been around much.
No one else came up to this spot so we stayed nearly a week and enjoyed our time here.

The only few spots I saw were taken. I went down the road another 2 miles and found a gate open on a logging road. There were recent logging and numerous slash piles up through this area. I found enough room to park next to the road at N 43.79882 W 103.73452. This road does loop back around to another well used road but beyond this spot it's a little rough and not many options to turn around. I had maybe 2 side by sides go by the 24 hours I was there. It's a scenic little spot and at night I discovered if you look NE you can see Crazy Horse lit up about 6 miles away.

We parked here for couple days intending to stay a week.
Pros: great views, a forest to hike through, open and all together quite lovely, wonderful spot!

Cons: internet was bad through Verizon and T-Mobile. We would get signal and then it would go away. Not feasible for someone working remotely.

Summary: spot was great, wifi wasn’t. Also the road is tight and can’t imagine what we’d do if someone else needed the road as well. Definitely maneuverable but not ideal. Would stay again if didn’t need the Wi-Fi.

As far as the coordinates given, just this one area has multiple sites. You'll take a turn and charge up a steep hill. Just at the top on your right is the first spot on a grassy ridge. Then further up the road, about 25', another spot on the right. Next, 25` on the left after the line of trees end and where field fencing almost meets the road, is a track through the grass up to the highest point in this area. If you look on Google maps, satellite view, you'll see the road in the grass. You just don't get how high up that spot is. It was taken when we arrived and although it looks as though more than one camper could fit up there, I think you'd be inviting yourself to dinner, so maybe a great spot for a group. Definitely exposed to storms in that spot though. Just after this, almost across the street as you head back into the trees, was a road on the right with enough spots off it where several could camp without being on top of each other. We camped here. After we got settled another trailer pulled in, then someone in a car, and finally a small class A. We all had plenty of space and a few more would have worked.

I could see 3 other campers down the road from here on the right through the trees. There is a road there on the right with a gate. A sign states "This Area Open To: Foot and Horse Travel Closed To All Motorized Vehicles". This area could accommodate a few vehicles or small trailers in that space before the gate.

About a mile down from that is another road on the right with a gate at the end and the same sign. This area has a large open grass area on both sides of the street that could accommodate several large rigs. Also in this area on the left is a rough dirt road that looked like it went back to a few other small sites.

We got here on a Sunday afternoon and by Monday night it was getting close to full in the areas I mentioned. We went on foot about another mile to a cattle ranch at road 25010 and didn't see any other spots. I was expecting terrible internet but it was better than most parks. You do hear some traffic noise though but for being close enough to all the parks and monuments for FREE, can't beat this.

This was a great spot! We spent 2 weeks here. It’s close to Custer and the State Park and all of the area attractions.

Most of the spots for RVs are about two miles up on North Pole Rd. We have a 40’ 5th wheel and had no problems with the gravel road. Cell service was iffy…. Just enough to do what we need but not enough for streaming etc….

We got water in the state park and at a spigot in the park by the playground in Custer.