Boxelder Forks Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $24From, per site
- Sites
- 1413 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
Boxelder Forks Campground is host to 13 campsites, tucked into the Ponderosa Pines along Boxelder Creek near the town of Nemo, South Dakota. The campground offers easy access to both motorized and non-motorized recreation. The Centennial Trail is just 1 mile east of the campground and serves as a beautful host for hiking, biking, horseback riding and motorized recreation. Dozens of miles of OHV trails are in close proximity to the campground. Meanwhile, fishing access is just steps away from the campground. Keep reading
Recreation
Dozens of miles of OHV trails originate in the area. The Centennial Trail also offers non-motorized recreation for those interested in hiking, biking or horseback riding.
Natural Features
The campground is tucked into the Ponderosa Pines and White Spruce along Boxelder Creek. Boxelder Creek offers access to fishing for Rainbow Trout and Brook Trout. The surrounding forest hosts a variety of wildlife including: elk, deer, squirrels and a host of birds species. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
What the agency tells you
FYI: During the off season (from 10/01 until 12/14th) the USFS operates this campground. Their information is listed below: Black Hills National Forest / Hell Canyon Ranger District 1019 North 5th Street, Custer, SD 57730 Phone 605.673.9200 www.fs.usda.gov/r02/blackhills0 Daily Fee is $15.00 per First Come First Served campsite of which there are 3 available. Sites are located outside of the main campground gates. Self-Pay at all open campgrounds. The stay limit is 14 days in a 28 day period. Parking Spur Length is 45 ft. Drinking water is NOT available. Each site has a picnic table and a fire ring. Vault toilets are also available. Garbage and Trash "Pack It In Pack It Out" at all times. Please note that roads are not maintained during the off-season. Sites are open until weather prohibits access or closed on the date noted above. (12/14/2026) The information listed below is pertinent during the open season from May 15th to September 30th.
There is no water available at this campground.
These campsites are non-electric sites. Generators may run from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. only.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
Don't Move Firewood: Prevent the spread of tree-killing organisms by obtaining firewood at or near your destination and burning it on-site. For more information visit dontmovefirewood.org.
The Senior and Access discounts are only honored for the site that houses the card holder.
In accordance with standard industry practices, ExplorUS will be assessing an additional vehicle fee of $5.00 per night on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any double family campsite, provided these vehicles are not joined to the first vehicle by a hitch and towed onto the site. In the case of motorcycles, the first two are considered to be one vehicle and the third and fourth are also considered to be one vehicle. No additional vehicle fees are collected for bicycles. This fee is payable to the camp host upon arrival
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 14
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Pit Toilets
- PIT TOILETS on 14 of 14 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Creek
- Fishing
- Night sky · 41st darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 3 days ago, 30 km away
- Peak color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 13 of the 14 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
No availability snapshot inside the last 36 hours, so this page draws nothing rather than ageing a reading into fiction.
Watch for a cancellation
Full? Watch it.
One email when a night opens, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We read recreation.gov once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time a site in your window is free for the nights you asked for.
Scanners that check every few minutes exist, and most of them charge. This one is free, it reads the same calendar, and it won’t always be first.
We make nothing when you book. The link goes straight to the government.
Every line of the receipt · 14
What you actually pay
“In accordance with standard industry practices, ExplorUS will be assessing an additional vehicle fee of $5.00 per night on the second vehicle in each single family campsite, and on the third and fourth vehicle in any…” · the U.S. Forest Service’s own agency notice
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $24 a night, plus one $8 recreation.gov reservation fee for the booking. A weekend here means Friday and Saturday night, booked once. Optional charges (an extra vehicle, a second tent, a dump-station fee) are listed separately and aren’t in this total.
Who keeps the booking fee
The agency’s own policy text says the reservation fee and the cancellation processing fee are “retained by the reservation service contractor”, and that a campground concessionaire will decline to refund them because “they did not receive these fees”. Recreation.gov is run under contract by Booz Allen Hamilton. What share of your booking fee the contractor keeps isn’t published in any federal dataset we can read, so we print no number for it. Our reporting on the contract →
How we know this receipt · 6
rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
14 sites
All 14 sites
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 13 of the 14 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| North Loop | 1 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 10 | standard nonelectric | 60 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 11 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 2 | standard nonelectric | 55 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 3 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 4 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 5 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 6 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 7 | standard nonelectric | 50 ft | $24 |
| North Loop | 8 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| South Loop | 12 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | $24 |
| South Loop | 13 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | $24 |
| South Loop | 14 | standard nonelectric | 40 ft | $24 |
| Standard S&P | type not stated |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions
Where it is
Dalton Lake CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 3.8 mi
Roubaix LakeBlack Hills National Forest · 6.7 mi
Pactola Reservoir CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 8.5 mi
Bear GulchBlack Hills National Forest · 8.5 mi
Pactola CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 9.1 miCastle Peak CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 13 miFrom Rapid City, take South Canyon Road for approximately 7.1 miles to Nemo Road. Then proceed on Nemo Road for 11 miles to the town of Nemo, South Dakata. Turn left onto Boxelder Forks Road / Forest Road 140 and stay on Forest Service Road 140 for approximately 1.7 miles. The campground will be on your right.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Piedmont, SD
Typical weather
Typical October night 32°F, day 59°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 12°F, below freezing. Bring a bag rated colder than that, and expect ice in the water bottle.
Daily high and lowDays with 0.10 in or more
A normal is the 1991-2020 average for the month, not a forecast: about half of all Julys are colder than the July line. The seven-day forecast above answers the other question.
The land, and who answers for it
what threatens it · who answers for it
What threatens this place
You’re camping on ground somebody wants. We track the threats and the comment deadlines.
Who answers for this land
Boxelder Forks Campground is in South Dakota’s at-large congressional district. Its representative, Dusty Johnson (R), votes on the laws that decide what happens to this land. Public-lands grade so far: F. See every public-lands vote →