Palisades State Park

A beautiful park! Most Rv sites are shaded and decently sized and spaced. Black topped pads with picnic table and fire ring. Pads are not all that level and some spots maybe difficult to back in if you have a large rig.Host and staff were very friendly and helpful.Views of the area are wonderful. Vault toilets spaced around and one modern bathroom with showers was well maintained and clean.

AT&T wins clear over 90Mb
Verizon 10Mb
T-Mobile 5Mb

This was from the top of the hill at site 21. If you camp down in the valley signal takes a noticeable drop!

Good accurate info in the review below on large rig access. I made it over the bridges and turns, but they're hair-raising.

Train track runs right across the river with horns at night. Occasional air traffic.

Views can not be missed! Worth a stay!

10/09/19 thru 10/11/19 - 2 Nights - $66.18 (includes taxes) - 42' 5th Wheel

Palisades State Park - 25491 485th Ave - Garretson, SD 57030 - (605) 594-3824 - Space 14E

Hidden Gem. Very nice secluded State Park. Lots of trees. In the middle of farm fields. Picnic tables and Fire pits included. Leaves just changing. Raining and cold but no snow. Nice bath houses. Asphalt paved parking. Back in/Slant parking. Electric mid to back (30A). No sewer or water at site. Community Water is available. Creek with nice rock formations. Park is expanding from 157 acres to 424 acres for next year. Larger rigs over 30' may want to wait if experience driving is limited. Space 14E slightly unlevel but not extreme. Most in park are reasonably level.

Asphalt road in park. Road has tight turns, trees next to the road on the turns, and a hill challenge for longer rigs (bottoming out). Road has 2 load-limit bridges. Heavy rigs beware. No turnaround available to avoid bridges or tight turns. One would have to back out about 1000' or more backwards and up another hill and curve.

Nice bath houses. Very clean. Multi-stalls.

No attendants at Gate House. Host Camper on site but in area where tight turns and load limit bridges are.

Expansion of the park will begin in 2020 to add many new pads in a more likely accessible area.

About 2 miles to Garretson. Jesse James Cave nearby.

Reservations must be made on line ONLY. Surcharges apply.

Dump Station somewhere? We did not need. And we brought water with us from last location. Water was iffy as to whether it would be on or not due to the cold.

A little expensive because each vehicle has to pay daily use of $6, electric $21, non-electric $17. 37E and 18E are both level and right next to the creek that winds through the campground. Playground across from 37e. Gorgeous hiking trails with stunning rock formations. Wooded and cool, asphalt pads, showers and flush toilets, very friendly, helpful staff. No firewood collection, do not transport due to emerald ash borer. Available for purchase at front gate. We would have stayed longer but all sites become reserved for Memorial Day weekend. Very popular but campers were all respectful and quiet.

We really enjoyed our stay here! To be honest, I was not expecting much because it is kind of in the middle of nowhere in South Dakota. We needed a pit stop to get to the Badlands and this came up as a well-liked park. We booked our reservation online and they had a lot of spots open but it does seem to fill up quickly. I would highly recommend booking ahead. The check-in process was easy and the rangers were very helpful. We liked our spot (19E) because it was private and easy to back in our 22ft Airstream. Most of the spots seemed big enough to fit most sized trailers/campers. We didn't really have any neighbors so it was quiet and an easy walk to the bathrooms. Did I mention that there are free showers?! The bathrooms are your typical state park cleanliness but you can tell they care about this park. Also, the cell service was pretty great. Our spot was only electrical and unfortunately they do not have a dump station in the park. We were able to fill up our water in one of the potable water stations around the park. There supposedly is a dump station about 5 minutes away but we could not find it so we had to find one down the ways, closer to the Badlands area.

The best part about this park is the walk along the bridge and the split rocks structures. We did a little hike and the area is beautiful. We saw people swimming in the river and if we had more time we would have loved to enjoy it more! I would say though that it's a smaller park so staying there more than a couple nights you might run out of things to do. Overall, this park was well-run and worth the money. We would definitely stay again!

We passed through Palisades earlier this year and spent some time in the day use are so we knew it was a good place to camp as we passed through South Dakota on another trip. One main (clean) bathhouse with two showers, two pit toilets for those camping farther away on the loop. Mix of cabins, tent, and electric sites. Lots of trees. LONG driveways and some sites (such as 34E) are very large. Website allows you to view sites so you know in advance what to expect. Nice walking trails and picnic areas. Fee paid includes non-resident fee plus tax.