Elk Mountain Campground
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- Right now
- OpenThe agency lists it open
- A night
- $12From, per site
- Sites
- 6764 of them walk-up
- Season
- Year-roundOpen year-round
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
Elk Mountain Campground, straddles the edge of a ponderosa pine forest and open prairie, offering unique opportunities to view the diverse flora and fauna of the southern Black Hills. These campsites are available in both forested and open environments. Campsites may be reserved all year through Recreation.gov. Reservations may be made 6 months in advance of your stay and same day reservations are available. NOTE: This is a cashless campground. Only credit cards will be accepted through Recreation.gov or the Recreation.gov mobile app. Keep reading
Recreation
Hiking at Wind Cave View rolling prairie vistas, ponderosa forests, and see wildlife in its natural environment. Wind Cave National Park has over 30 miles of hiking trails on the surface and provides visitors the opportunity to view pristine Black Hills scenery. Find out which trail is the best for you. Pet Friendly Hikes If you are traveling with a furry friend, Wind Cave has two pet friendly trails. The Prairie Vista trail leaves from the Visitor Center and the Elk Mountain Trail leaves from the amphitheater at the Elk Mountain Campground. Both trails are approximatly 1 mile in length. Become a Wind Cave Junior Ranger Kids of all ages can become a Wind Cave Junior Ranger. Complete the activity book, learn about the park, and take the pledge to earn a Junior Ranger badge.
Facilities
This 63-site campground is open all year with sites available on a reservation basis from May to September 30th. In the off-season, only sites 15 through 35 are available. Sites 17 and 49 are handicap-accessible. Flush toilets and drinking water are available from late spring through early fall. Fees are half-price when water is not available. Ranger programs are offered most nights in the amphitheater during the summer. Two group campsites are able to be reserved 6 months out.
Natural Features
Wind Cave National Park protects two very different worlds - one deep within the earth, the other a sunlit world of many resources. Bison, elk, and other wildlife roam the rolling prairie grasslands and forested hillsides of one of America's oldest national parks. Visit Wind Cave's Natural Entrance You can still see the largest natural opening into Wind Cave without going on a tour. This small hole is one of the only known natural entrances into the cave. Lakota oral tradition speaks of how the first bison and humans emerged from this deeply spiritual place. Contact Info This location is unstaffed. To speak with our main office for general information, please call: (605) 745-4600.
What the agency tells you
Elk Mountain Campground Reservations o In the peak season (May - Septempber 30th), all sites are available. You may book sites in advance or use same-day booking. However, you must reserve and pay for your site on Recreation.gov before occupying it. o In the off-season (October 1st-May), sites 15 through 35 are available for booking on Recreation.gov. All other sties are closed for the winter. Water is not availabe during this time and there is a vault toilet. You may book sites in advance or use same-day booking. However, you must reserve and pay for your site on Recreation.gov before occupying it. Wireless internet is available at the information kiosk o Once payment is made on-site, we do not offer refunds, modifications may be made through Recreation.gov.
Fire/Stove Policy: Open fires and charcoal fires are prohibited unless they are in a designated fire grate. Fires are allowed in designated fire rings only and must not be left unattended. Extinguish all fires completely before leaving your campsite. Wood collection is not allowed, firewood is available for purchase in local communities. If a local fire ban is in place, information will be posted at the entrance kiosk. - A fire may be ignited and maintained only by using fuel sources designed and commonly used for warmth or the preparation of food, such as charcoal briquettes or natural firewood. Lighting or maintaining a fire with other materials including, but not limited to, flammable liquids, garbage, fireworks, plastics, aerosol canisters, batteries, or other manufactured or synthetic materials, is prohibited.
Water. Flush toilets and drinking water are available from late spring through early fall. Fees are half-price when water is not available. There are no showers at the campground.
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Check in and Check out. Check-in time is 1:00 p.m. Check-out time is 12:00 p.m.
Maximum Stay. An individual may stay a maximum of 14 consecutive nights, no more than 30 total nights during the calendar year.
Maximum Capacity. A maximum of two tents, 8 people, and 1 vehicle is permitted on each site. The group camping sites require a minimum of 9 people and a maximum of 30. RV's are prohibited at group sites.
Quiet Hours. Campground quiet hours are from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Generators may only be used from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Generators are prohibited in sites 1 through 15. The campground is closed to persons other than registered campers from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Pets. All pets must be properly leashed.
Speed Limit. The speed limit inside the campground is 15 MPH.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 67 · 15 tent-only, 2 group, 1 cabin
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 36 ft
- Paved pads
- 3 of 67
- Accessible sites
- 2
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Flush Toilets - seasonal · Vault Toilets - year round
- Drinking water
- Yes
- Camp host
- On site
- recreation.gov lists “Host”
- Stay limit
- 30 nights
- recreation.gov facility rule maxStay
Around the campground
- Tree cover
- 0%
- Night sky · 7th darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 3
6 of 40 site-nights open this Friday and Saturdayread 16:37 UTC
recreation.gov lists 65 of the 67 campsites the agency files here. The rest aren’t on its booking system, so a reservation won’t get you one.
OpenBooked
These counts cover the 67 reservable sites only. This campground also has first-come sites, and recreation.gov publishes no availability for a site you can’t reserve.
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.
Tell me when the season opens
Watch for the season to open
One email when the season goes on sale, plus More Than Just Parks dispatches. Unsubscribe any time.
We check once an hour, at 40 minutes past, and write the first time the agency has that season on sale.
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 · 23
What you actually pay
Derived by CAMPANAC: the agency’s published rate for this season, $12 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 · 5
recreation.gov availability, read 16:37 UTC · rules read Sep 9, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
67 sites
All 67 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. 65 of the 67 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| A | 1 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 10 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 11 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 12 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 13 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 14 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 2 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 3 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 4 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 5 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 6 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 7 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 8 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| A | 9 | tent only nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| B | 15 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 16 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 17 (Accessible Site) | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | yes | $12 |
| B | 18 | rv nonelectric | 32 ft | $12 | |
| B | 19 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 20 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 21 | rv nonelectric | 32 ft | $12 | |
| B | 22 | rv nonelectric | 19 ft | $12 | |
| B | 23 | rv nonelectric | 32 ft | $12 | |
| B | 24 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 25 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 26 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 27 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 28 | rv nonelectric | 17 ft | $12 | |
| B | 29 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 30 | type not stated | |||
| B | 31 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 32 | rv nonelectric | 32 ft | $12 | |
| B | 33 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| B | 34 | rv nonelectric | 32 ft | $12 | |
| B | 35 | rv nonelectric | 20 ft | $12 | |
| B | Scan and Pay Elk Mountain Campground | type not stated | |||
| C | 36 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $12 | |
| C | 37 | standard nonelectric | 15 ft | $12 | |
| C | 38 | standard nonelectric | 21 ft | $12 | |
| C | 39 | standard nonelectric | 19 ft | $12 | |
| C | 40 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $12 | |
| C | 41 | standard nonelectric | 24 ft | $12 | |
| C | 42 | standard nonelectric | $12 | ||
| C | 43 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $12 | |
| C | 44 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | $12 | |
| C | 45 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | $12 | |
| C | 62 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| C | 63 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| C | 64 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| D | 46 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $12 | |
| D | 47 | standard nonelectric | 17 ft | $12 | |
| D | 48 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | $12 | |
| D | 49 (Accessible Site) | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | $12 |
| D | 50 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | $12 | |
| D | 51 | standard nonelectric | 26 ft | $12 | |
| D | 52 | rv nonelectric | 24 ft | $12 | |
| D | 53 | rv nonelectric | 16 ft | $12 | |
| D | 54 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| D | 55 | rv nonelectric | $12 | ||
| D | 56 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| D | 57 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| D | 58 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| D | 59 | rv nonelectric | 23 ft | $12 | |
| D | 60 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | $12 | |
| D | 61 | rv nonelectric | 36 ft | $12 | |
| D | Group Site 1 | group tent only area nonelectric | 20 ft | $45 | |
| D | Group Site 2 | group shelter nonelectric | 20 ft | $45 |
25 of 67 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Cold Brook Campground7.2 mi
Cottonwood Springs Campground9.7 mi
Bismark Lake15 mi
Comanche ParkBlack Hills National Forest · 16 miComanche Park CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 16 mi
Iron Creek Horse Camp18 miThe visitor center is 11 miles (18 km) north of Hot Springs off US Hwy. 385, about 1/2 mile (.8 km) west of the highway. Do not rely exclusively on your GPS or Google Maps to find the campground. Routes can be misleading or incorrect. The coordinates for the Visitor Center are N43.55677 W103.47799
From Rapid City, South Dakota:
- Follow SD Hwy. 79 south approximately 50 miles (80 km) to US Hwy. 385.
- Turn right onto US Hwy. 385 north. Continue through Hot Springs another 6 miles (9.5 km) north into Wind Cave National Park.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Pringle, SD
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 61°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January 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
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
Elk Mountain 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 →