Ditch Creek Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- Sites
- 13All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 3 notices
In the agency’s own words
Ditch Creek Campground is a quiet, 13-site campground situated in an open area with scattered spruce trees along the banks of Ditch Creek, located just a few miles south of Deerfield Reservoir. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
What the agency tells you
FYI: During the off season starting 10/01 the USFS operates this campground. Please note that Off Season access may require a snowmobile or skis. October 1st to May 15th 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 $0 per First Come First Served campsite of which there are 13 available. The stay limit is 14 days in a 28 day period. Parking Spur Length is 50 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. The information listed below is pertinent during the open season from May 15th to September 30th.
Ditch Creek OHV Trailhead is directly opposite the road from the campground. Please keep your OHV trailer and machines within your campsite to allow others access to day use of the trailhead.
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
- 13
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 80 ft
- Accessible sites
- 13
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Little
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- VAULT TOILETS on 13 of 13 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 13 of 13 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- DRINKING WATER (HAND PUMP) on 13 of 13 campsite records, ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 13 of 13 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Creek
- Night sky · 8th darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 3
- Fall color · reported 4 days ago, 34 km away
- Patchy color
Nothing on the booking system for the next 30 nightsread 15:46 UTC
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
Every one of the next thirty nights is in recreation.gov’s record and not one site is being offered on any of them. That’s a campground closed or not yet released for booking, not a sold-out one.
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 · 11
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
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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 15:46 UTC · rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
13 sites
All 13 sites
| Main | 01 | rv nonelectric | 70 ft | yes |
| Main | 02 | rv nonelectric | 80 ft | yes |
| Main | 03 | rv nonelectric | 75 ft | yes |
| Main | 04 | rv nonelectric | 60 ft | yes |
| Main | 05 | rv nonelectric | 60 ft | yes |
| Main | 06 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 07 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 08 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 09 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 10 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 11 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 12 | rv nonelectric | 50 ft | yes |
| Main | 13 | rv nonelectric | 67 ft | yes |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bearlodge Campground0.0 mi
Beaver Creek Campground0.0 miBlack Fox Campground0.0 mi
Black Hills Off-Season Campgrounds0.0 mi
Castle Peak Campground0.0 mi
Custer Trail Campground0.0 miFrom Hill City go west on Deerfield Road approximately 22 miles. You will pass Deerfield lake, and see signs for Ditch Creek campground and trail head. Turn south (left) onto Ditch Creek Road. Travel about 4 miles south and campground will be on your right. Note that the Ditch Creek OHV Trailhead is directly opposite of the campground.
The agency publishes this point for 13 campgrounds; it’s likely a district office, not the campground. Use the agency’s own page for directions.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Lead, SD
Typical weather
Typical October night 33°F, day 50°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 15°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
who answers for it
Who answers for this land
Ditch Creek 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 →