Top of the Mountain Dispersed Camping

This place is as good as everyone says. I appreciated the detailed guidance on how to get up the road and where the sites are too. We found the last site for a larger rig (24' trailer) and it had the most stellar view.

TIP: you CAN turn around up there. Despite what someone else said about not going past mile 3.1, you can do it even in a big rig (assuming it is not super wet/muddy). The road keeps going past the turnouts and at around 3.5 or 3.6 miles there are two cross roads that branch off the main road and it was really easy to turn around there. In fact, the site we were in required us to back up a somewhat narrow track so being able to turn around first made it pretty easy. The hill is steep but you should be able to get up without trouble if you aren't pulling something bigger than you should, AND you can turn around at around 3.5 miles so if you can't find a spot (it was nearly full on 9/23/20) you can still get back out.

Really worth it to stay here.

Safest drive is up from rt 85. We were towing a 30ft trailer. Just took it slowly up the road. There is a parking spot to the left right after the Roosevelt Memorial parking that would be a safe bet for rigs our length to be able to maneuver. We parked a few spots down, and took some time to turn around, especially because there was another van who stayed parked in the middle of the pull off just until we got fully turned around. Nice view for South Dakota. Short drive to deadwood. We would stay here again. Showed up Friday in September around 5pm and ended up having the spot to ourselves. There are a total of 5 spots, each spot only had 1 set of people in them for the night. Nice sunrise.

Amazing views, but the road in was steep. We have a 37' fifth wheel and were able to get there even though there are lots of turns and inclines on a narrow, washboard road at times. We took notes to help you find the place (in addition to what others have posted):
Following GPS, 1 mile from the turnoff is the gravel road to the right (as described in other reviews)
At 2.4 miles is the Trailhead
At 2.6 miles is a turnout to the left for small RVs
At 3.1 miles is a small turnout on the right (really steep, but we saw RVs parked there)
At 3.2 miles is a turnout on the right - really recommend stopping here, especially if you are in a big rig, and scouting the area straight up the semi-steep climb to the larger area that can accommodate larger RVs. There is probably only room for 1 large RV along with a couple of smaller RVs. If it is full, there may not be enough room to turn around.

Definitely do not go past this turnout. The rest of the road is extremely washboard, narrow, and twisty for a big rig.

Once you make it up the gravel road, drive past the Mt. Roosevelt hiking trial (pit toilets available at this location) to get to the good pull off sites. There are a few options available for all types of rigs (big and small). We choose the first pull off on the left past the hiking trail. It was a large u-shaped drive with plenty of room for a big rig with another smaller pull off along the side that can easily fit a large class C or smaller. The views are beautifully breathtaking and it is very quite. It’s a 10 minute drive to Deadwood, 20 minutes to Lead, and 23 mins to Spearfish. There is so much to do and see in the area and this is a great home base. We have fallen in love with this area and can’t wait to return.

Arrived to the very spacious campsite and found it occupied by one other travel trailer. Good news is that there is room for both of us so I moved right in. There was even room for a tent camper if one showed up. Fantastic view as this site really is on top of a mountain. Also 4 bars of Verizon access which I was very happy about since this was my first campsite in 6 days where I had phone service. I saw several turkeys in the 3 days I was there. No fishing in the area so that was a little disappointing but the campsite easily made up for that. For me this was a great place to kick back and just relax after spending 12 days in Wyoming catching big fish in Fremont and Yellowstone lakes.

There aren’t a ton of cleared sites at the loop so get here early. There was room for our tent and small suv in the middle of the loop between two trees. Two thunderstorms moved through while we were there, the first didn’t hit directly but brought lots of wind. You really are on top of the mountain here. Stunning views of lightning strikes in the valley below. If you’re tenting, the center site is level but bumpy/rocky. Hard to get some stakes pounded in. Road up the mountain is washboard but maintained.