Roubaix Lake Campground

I had no idea where I would end up in the Deadwood area knowing that the Sturgis m/c Rally was taking place. I happened upon this National Campground driving down hwy 385 and was surprised that I had many empty sites to pick from! I chose the one that was closest to the lake access because it was quit a distance from any of the others. The camp host came to my site within a few minutes of my arrival so I was able to check in and pay right there. He did make a “hmmm”, talking about the site I chose which led me to ask what was wrong with this particular site. He told me that people pass on it due to the public access for the lake parking lot being so close. While I was there there was a good amount of activity there however the traffic driving past was not enough to bother me. The potable water was a good distance away but I was prepared to boondock. I’d stay here again.

Off-season review. If you need a free place to stay and it is off-season (I think November through end of April), they leave 8 spots open. I was there April 14-17. If unsure, talk to a ranger at Custer State Park. No water, no toilets off-season. It was icy when I came through but I made it to the sites. Seems like a beautiful campground- the tall black pines stood out again the white sparkling snow. I was alone the first night, and the second and third night there was 1 other camper. No ranger or law enforcement came by. Location, in my opinion, is really great- somewhat centralized for Black Hills area. Be sure to check out Custer State Park- absolutely do not miss! 4 stars only because I work remotely and there was no cell service, not even enough to send a text message.
HUGE IMMENSE GRATITUDE GOES TO The Two Tired Teachers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgLLDabnaOY for finding this out and sharing the info. Thank you ladies!

First of all you better fill your RVs before arriving at this campground. Even though it says water available, we were told we would have to do by filling up our jugs. Yeah right, a 50 gal tank!
The lake is no more than a pond. And it's not as pretty as the pictures. I wish I would of known about the many other campgrounds we passed before reaching this one. There's a really cool town but its about 30+ minutes from here and many campgrounds closer to it. Needless to say we'll be exploring other areas and just come back here to sleep.
The sites are okay, wide but the one we're at is not very level. Took several trys to get it in a some what spot to level it. There is some cell service but it's spotty. Pit toilets are pretty clean.

We were looking for dispersed but a ranger in Custer told us about this campground. It was GREAT.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgLLDabnaOY

The Two Tired Teachers stopped in Custer, South Dakota at a Forest Service office. The office was closed, but Sharon wanted to see if she could find some information about where we might camp after we left Custer State Park.

While she was perusing some brochures and other literature, a ranger came out and asked if she needed help. Sharon explained that we were looking for some dispersed camping near Deadwood, SD and near Devil's Tower in Wyoming.

The ranger asked if we would be okay with a free or very low cost campground. She explained that the campground near Deadwood had just closed for the season. The campsites were free, but there were no services at the campground. That is how we came to stay at Roubaix Lake Campground.

Roubaix Lake Campground has four loops. Only one was open since the campground was technically closed. That loop was really for very small RVs or tents; however, some larger rigs were able to get in by parallel parking against the front of the site. This open loop is also the loop with access to the lake.

We stayed in this closed campground for four nights, and it was nearly full each night we were there. It's a pretty campground with a nice little lake, but bees were everywhere. There were so many bees that we could really sit out and enjoy the outdoors. That was the only downside to this campground.

We did three things while we called Roubaix our home base. One is we went fishing at Sheridan Lake. While Texas does stock some trout in many of our lakes, they are nothing like the trout we caught at Lake Sheridan. Sharon caught 3, and MiLena caught 1. Each of those fish was between 12 and 15 inches. We enjoyed some smoked trout while we were in South Dakota.

Another thing we did was visit the DC Booth Historic Fish Hatchery in Spearfish, SD. We saw three types of trout, and we learned some of the history of moving fish across country before we had refrigeration.

We hope you will watch next week's video. It is of something we nearly missed, the Mickelson Trail.

Stayed here for 1 night in mid June, 2020. Forest camping with a wide variety of sites. We had ample room and privacy at our spot and were able to squeeze enough sunlight to use our portable solar panels. Fixed solar could be problematic in many spots here.
Access to the campground is off a major highway, but the access road in is somewhat narrow and winding. Manageable if you take your time. Campground roads are also narrow in some spots. Nice and quiet here as it is pretty well secluded off the highway. We were here on a weeknight with not very many campers.