Pactola Reservoir Campground
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 7853 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 9 notices
In the agency’s own words
This campground is nestled in the pine trees along the south shore of Pactola Reservoir, offering guests lake views and access to a multitude of recreational opportunities both on land and water. Pactola Visitor Center is located in close proximity to the campground, providing opportunities for conservation education and information to visitors. Keep reading
Recreation
Black Hills National Forest offers recreational opportunities for all ages. Visitors can take advantage of opportunities for hiking, fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, and riding off-highway vehicles (OHVs) on moderate terrain. From Pactola Reservoir, hikers can access the 2.2-mile Osprey Trail which includes two loop trails and a spur trail to an overlook. The trail is named for the ospreys that are often seen in the area. Pactola Reservoir is an ideal spot for fishing and boating. The reservoir is stocked with rainbow, lake and brown trout as well as largemouth and rock bass, kokanee salmon and yellow perch. Record lake trout are caught here annually, and large brown trout find habitat in Rapid Creek above and below the reservoir.
Facilities
Pactola Reservoir Campground has sites able to accommodate tents, trailers, and RVs, including several tent-only sites. Several sites have views of the reservoir. The campground has picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Access to the reservoir and beach is within walking distance, and 2 boat ramps are available on-site. A full service marina is nearby, offering basic supplies and services. A National Forest visitor center on the south side of the dam is open seasonally and provides visitors with information about the building of the dam and forest management.
Natural Features
Located in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, Black Hills National Forest encompasses nearly 1.25 million acres of rugged rock formations, canyons and gulches, open grassland parks, tumbling streams, deep blue lakes, and unique caves. Derived from the Lakota language, the words "Paha Sapa," meaning "hills that are black," honor the dark, pine-covered hills rising several thousand feet above the surrounding prairie. Pactola Reservoir is the largest and deepest reservoir in the Black Hills, boasting 14 miles of shoreline and 150 foot depths on 800 acres. The Bureau of Reclamation manages the dam and water. Wildlife in the area abounds. Bighorn sheep navigate mountainous terrain, while elk, deer and pronghorn gather in forests and prairies. Bald eagles, hawks, osprey, peregrine falcon, and hundreds of other bird species can be found in the forest, especially along streams, lakes and rivers.
Nearby Attractions
Nearby Jewel Cave is the second longest cave in the world at 159.29 miles. It features sparkling calcite crystals and other rare formations, as well as some of the largest concentrations of passageways in the world. Other possible day trips include Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Custer State Park, Crazy Horse Monument, Devils Tower National Monument and Wind Cave National Park. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Charges & Cancellations
No refunds wil be given for weather or related events.
What the agency tells you
Please note that this campground is NOT OPEN during the Off Season. Campground closes October 1st.
These campsites are non-electric sites. Generators may run from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. only.
Non-reservable sites may be available on a first come, first served basis
Everything else this campground posts · 6
Prevent the spread of invasive species by inspecting and cleaning packs, equipment, and tires before using lake or trails
A pet fee of $2 per pet per night is required upon check in
Click here for more information about Black Hills National Forest.
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. - If multiple sites are reserved on one card, the rest of the camping fee will be collected upon arrival unless another card holder occupies the site.
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
- 78
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 82 ft
- Accessible sites
- 4
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- “…has picnic tables, campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not…”
- Drinking water
- Yes
- “…campfire rings, vault toilets, and drinking water. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Access to…”
- Boat ramp
- Yes
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Canoeing
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Kayaking
- Paddle Boating
- Swimming
- Visitor center
- Water Skiing
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 43rd darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 25 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 53 of the 78 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.
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 · 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, $30 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.
“No refunds wil be given for weather or related events.” · this campground’s own terms
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 · 7
rules read Oct 1, 2026 · rates Oct 1, 2026 · How we know all this
The sites
79 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 53 mapped sitesAll 79 records
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 45 of the 79 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 78 of the 79 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
Measured shade is NLCD Tree Canopy Cover 2024 (USDA Forest Service / MRLC) read at the site’s own coordinate, 27% canopy or more, and only for the sites the agency gave no Shade value. It never changes the agency’s own shaded count beside it.
| MANAGEMENT | 001 | type not stated | 471 ft | 2,206 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 003 | type not stated | 486 ft | 2,131 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 005 | type not stated | 423 ft | 2,067 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 006 | type not stated | 447 ft | 2,090 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 007 | type not stated | 328 ft | 1,962 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 013 | type not stated | 340 ft | 1,657 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 014 | type not stated | 308 ft | 1,626 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 015 | type not stated | 313 ft | 1,637 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 019 | type not stated | 485 ft | 2,014 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 020 | type not stated | 518 ft | 2,107 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 021 | type not stated | 590 ft | 2,211 ft | $30 | |||
| MANAGEMENT | 048 | type not stated | 704 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 049 | type not stated | 688 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 050 | type not stated | 718 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 059 | type not stated | 436 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 060 | type not stated | 489 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 061 | type not stated | 537 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 062 | type not stated | 599 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 074 | type not stated | 908 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | 075 | type not stated | 857 ft | $30 | ||||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX | unnamed record | 99 ft | yes | $30 | |||
| PACT | 023 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 109 ft | 359 ft | 2,991 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 024 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 112 ft | 450 ft | 2,942 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 025 | standard nonelectric | 20 ft | 64 ft | 430 ft | 2,835 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 026 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 64 ft | 468 ft | 2,803 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 027 | type not stated | 446 ft | 2,626 ft | $30 | |||
| PACT | 028 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 49 ft | 345 ft | 2,566 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 029 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 38 ft | 294 ft | 2,444 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 030 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 30 ft | 274 ft | 2,457 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 031 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 78 ft | 202 ft | 2,388 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 032 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 35 ft | 87 ft | 2,358 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 033 | standard nonelectric | 28 ft | 71 ft | 105 ft | 2,325 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 034 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 35 ft | 52 ft | 2,325 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 035 | standard nonelectric | 54 ft | 71 ft | 165 ft | 2,568 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 037 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 71 ft | 158 ft | 2,639 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 038 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 62 ft | 276 ft | 2,813 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 039 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 95 ft | 194 ft | 2,819 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 040 | standard nonelectric | 38 ft | 30 ft | 274 ft | 2,478 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 041 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 42 ft | 300 ft | 2,518 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 042 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 42 ft | 279 ft | 2,520 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 043 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 84 ft | 347 ft | 2,604 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 044 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 283 ft | 2,749 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 045 | standard nonelectric | 25 ft | 56 ft | 327 ft | 2,799 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 046 | standard nonelectric | 18 ft | 72 ft | 293 ft | 2,883 ft | $30 | |
| PACT | 047 | standard nonelectric | 22 ft | 419 ft | 629 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 051 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 82 ft | 637 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 052 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 72 ft | 559 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 053 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 72 ft | 490 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 054 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 54 ft | 712 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 055 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 53 ft | 659 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 056 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 53 ft | 610 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 057 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 558 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 058 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 42 ft | 524 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 063 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 831 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 064 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 55 ft | 878 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 065 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 67 ft | 942 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 066 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 87 ft | 1,004 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 067 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 1,055 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 068 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 837 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 069 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 61 ft | 892 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 070 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 74 ft | 969 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 071 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 74 ft | 1,037 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 072 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 90 ft | 1,099 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 073 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 64 ft | 1,096 ft | $30 | ||
| RESB | 076 | type not stated | 976 ft | $30 | ||||
| RESB | 077 | type not stated | 30 ft | $30 | ||||
| RESB | 078 | type not stated | 30 ft | $30 | ||||
| RESB | 079 | type not stated | 828 ft | $30 | ||||
| RSVC | 002 | rv nonelectric | 40 ft | yes | 81 ft | 504 ft | 2,209 ft | $30 |
| RSVC | 004 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 81 ft | 507 ft | 2,153 ft | $30 |
| RSVC | 008 | rv nonelectric | 30 ft | yes | 89 ft | 332 ft | 1,933 ft | $30 |
| RSVC | 009 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 308 ft | 1,866 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 010 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 56 ft | 261 ft | 1,810 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 011 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 317 ft | 1,760 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 012 | standard nonelectric | 30 ft | 43 ft | 274 ft | 1,738 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 016 | standard nonelectric | 35 ft | 235 ft | 276 ft | 1,583 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 017 | rv nonelectric | 51 ft | 115 ft | 455 ft | 1,846 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 018 | rv nonelectric | 82 ft | 115 ft | 486 ft | 1,950 ft | $30 | |
| RSVC | 022 | rv nonelectric | yes | 212 ft | 647 ft | 2,283 ft | $30 |
The agency files 1 more record here that isn’t a site for the night. It types it MANAGEMENT rather than a campsite. It’s in the table above, marked for what it is, and it isn’t counted as a site.
25 of 79 listed
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Bear GulchBlack Hills National Forest · 0.4 mi
Pactola CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 1.5 mi
Sheridan North Cove Grp CGBlack Hills National Forest · 6.9 mi
Sheridan LakeBlack Hills National Forest · 7.2 mi
Sheridan Lake South CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 8.0 mi
Boxelder Forks CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 8.5 miDrive 17 miles west on State Highway 44 from Rapid City, South Dakota. From Highway 44, turn on 385 south. Campground located 2 miles off US Highway 385.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Johnson Siding, SD
Typical weather
Typical October night 29°F, day 55°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 11°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
Pactola Reservoir 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 →