Whitetail
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $26From, per site
- Sites
- 1712 on recreation.gov
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 11 notices
In the agency’s own words
Whitetail Campground is located above Deerfield Reservoir at 6,000 feet, an ideal setting for guests seeking summer climate relief, recreation and relaxation in Black Hills National Forest. Sites in this campground are widely spaced. Several have lake views, while others are more secluded and tucked into ponderosa and lodgepole pine forest. Keep reading
Recreation
Black Hills National Forest offers recreational opportunities for all ages. Guests can take advantage of opportunities for hiking, fishing, horseback riding, mountain biking, and riding off-highway vehicles (OHVs) on moderate terrain. The 10-mile Deerfield Lake Loop Trail is open to hikers, bikers, and horseback riders. It encircles Deerfield Lake, traversing the forested shoreline and offering fantastic views and opportunities for birding and picnicking. Nearby Deerfield Trail connects Deerfield Lake with Rapid Creek and Pactola Reservoir. Sites along the trail include a log flume, cabins, mines, tunnels and railroad grades, providing a glimpse into the area's history. Deerfield Reservoir is an ideal spot for fishing and boating, but it is a no wake lake. The lake supports populations of stocked rainbow and native brown trout.
Facilities
Whitetail Campground has sites able to accommodate tents, trailers, and RVs. Each campsite has picnic tables, and campfire rings. Electrical hook-ups are not available. Lake access is within walking distance.
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. 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 will be given for weather or related events.
What the agency tells you
FYI: During the off season starting 10/01 the USFS operates this campground. Lower Loop (including Toilet) is OPEN during the Off Season. The Upper Loop is CLOSED. 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 17 available. The stay limit is 14 days in a 28 day period. Parking Spur Length is 50ft. 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.
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 · 8
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
No refunds for inclement weather
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 hoses 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.
During walk up season, fewer sites may be available.
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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 17
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 76 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Around the campground
- On the water
- Reservoir, Lake, River, Creek, Beach
- Biking
- Boating
- Fishing
- Hiking
- Historic site
- Wildlife viewing
- Night sky · 24th darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 3
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
recreation.gov lists 12 of the 17 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 · 13
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, $26 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 will 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
18 records · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 12 mapped sitesAll 18 records
The price is derived by CAMPANAC, not published per site: the per-night rate this campground publishes for each site’s own site type. 17 of the 18 sites listed carry one, and a site whose type has no published rate sits out of the price rather than being called free.
| MANAGEMENT | 011 | type not stated | 381 ft | $26 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | 012 | type not stated | 353 ft | $26 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | 013 | type not stated | 396 ft | $26 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | 016 | type not stated | 537 ft | $26 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | 02 | type not stated | 847 ft | $26 | ||
| MANAGEMENT | XXX | unnamed record | 35 ft | $26 | ||
| WHIT | 01 | standard nonelectric | 48 ft | 72 ft | 782 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 03 | standard nonelectric | 37 ft | 63 ft | 853 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 04 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 63 ft | 916 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 05 | standard nonelectric | 76 ft | 13 ft | 1,010 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 06 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 29 ft | 968 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 07 | standard nonelectric | 45 ft | 13 ft | 1,015 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 08 | standard nonelectric | 46 ft | 29 ft | 957 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 09 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 57 ft | 901 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 10 | standard nonelectric | 47 ft | 92 ft | 815 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 14 | standard nonelectric | 39 ft | 92 ft | 505 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 15 | standard nonelectric | 41 ft | 59 ft | 537 ft | $26 |
| WHIT | 17 | standard nonelectric | 36 ft | 59 ft | 549 ft | $26 |
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.
OpenStreetMap has no toilet mapped within 1 km of this campground, so no site here carries a toilet distance. That’s a gap in the map, not a finding about the campground.
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
DutchmanBlack Hills National Forest · 1.3 miDitch Creek CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 4.1 miCastle Peak CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 6.0 miRedbank Springs CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 9.0 miBlack Fox CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 9.4 miBeaver Creek CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 13 miFrom Hill City, take Deerfield Rd. (County Rt. 308/Forest Rt. 17) west for 15.1 miles to Whitetail Campground sign (Forest Rt.421). Turn right onto Rt. 421 and travel 0.9 miles to the campground.
The weather
the next four days · the thirty-year normal
Next four days, and the thirty-year normal
Forecast
NWS forecast for Hill City, SD
Typical weather
Typical October night 34°F, day 56°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical February night 16°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
Whitetail 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 →