Willow Creek Horse Camp
- Right now
- Nobody has saidNo season, no closure, no bookings to read
- A night
- $30From, per site
- Sites
- 9All of them booked ahead
The place
the agency’s own description · what’s there · 6 notices
In the agency’s own words
This horse camp is nestled at the confluence of Willow Creek and Palmer Creek near the Black Elk Wilderness area of the Black Hills National Forest. From this campground, hikers and horseback riders can access a network of trails into the backcountry. The campground is within the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. Recently renovated by Forest Service and our Partners, Backcountry Horsemen of America, Willow Creek Campground is a good choice for horse campers. All campsites 1-9 are horse sites with corrals. Keep reading
Recreation
Hikers and horseback riders can access the trailhead for the Willow Creek Loop, which provides scenic views of the Black Elk Wilderness. There is also easy access to the Lost Cabin Trail, which offers many views of Black Elk Peak on its descent. Willow Creek Horse Camp provides a good starting point for a day-long hike or horseback ride to Black Elk Peak and Harney Lookout Tower. Both the Willow Creek Loop and the Lost Cabin Trail connect with the Black Elk Peak Trail.
Natural Features
The Black Hills in western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming feature a varied landscape of rugged rock formations, canyons and gulches, open grassland parks, tumbling streams and deep blue lakes. The Black Elk Wilderness is its only wilderness area, and it sits in the center of Norbeck Wildlife Preserve. Norbeck is home to a variety of wildlife, including elk, deer, bighorn sheep and mountain goats. Its most prominent landmark is Black Elk Peak, which, at 7,242 feet, is the highest point in the country east of the Rockies. Contact Info For facility specific information, please call (661) 702-1420.
Nearby Attractions
Named for South Dakota's former governor and U.S. Senator, the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway offers 70 miles of outstanding sights including Mount Rushmore, which is only 6 miles from the camp, The Needles Highway, Iron Mountain Road and Custer State Park. The Norbeck Overlook provides views of Black Elk Peak and Mount Rushmore.
Charges & Cancellations
No refunds will be given for weather or related events.
What the agency tells you
FYI: During the off season (from 10/01 until 10/31st) 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 Self-Pay at all open campgrounds. The stay limit is 14 days in a 28 day period. 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. (10/31st) The information listed below is pertinent during the open season from May 15th to September 30th.
- Sites one - three are now horse sites with corrals! - There are no discounts at this facility. We do not honor the Senior or Access passes.
- These campsites are non-electric sites. Generators may run from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. only.
Everything else this campground posts · 3
- Certified Weed-Free Feed is required for livestock in Willow Creek Horse Camp
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.
- 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.
Tents and rigs
- Sites
- 9 · 9 equestrian
- Hookups
- None
- Longest rig
- 60 ft
- Accessible sites
- None listed
- Pets
- Allowed
- Campfires
- Allowed, barring fire bans
- Shade
- Every site
Facilities
- Toilets
- Vault Toilets
- ACCESSIBLE VAULT TOILETS on 5 of 9 campsite records
- Drinking water
- Yes
- ACCESSIBLE DRINKING WATER on 4 of 9 campsite records, WATER (SEASONAL) on 2 of 9 campsite records
Around the campground
- On the water
- Lake, Creek
- Hiking
- Horseback riding
- Night sky · 39th darkest of 52 in SD
- Bortle 4
- Fall color · reported 9 days ago, 30 km away
- Patchy color
No reading yet, book on recreation.gov
Every site here is reservable, and the record lists none held back for anyone who drives up.
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 · 16
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 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
9 sites · which ones have room · the site map
The sites, ranked
from 8 mapped sitesAll 9 sites
Toilet distances are OpenStreetMap’s, measured for 8 of the 9 sites listed. A site with no reading is unknown, never far.
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.
| 1 | 0 | equestrian nonelectric | 24 ft | 189 ft | 16 ftWillow Creek | 736 ft |
| 1 | 1 | equestrian nonelectric | 26 ft | 189 ft | 16 ftWillow Creek | 550 ft |
| 1 | 2 | equestrian nonelectric | 32 ft | 210 ft | 54 ftWillow Creek | 347 ft |
| 1 | 3 | equestrian nonelectric | 60 ft | 111 ft | 157 ft | 239 ft |
| 1 | 4 | equestrian nonelectric | 60 ft | 111 ft | 206 ft | 335 ft |
| 1 | 5 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 153 ft | 112 ft | 341 ft |
| 1 | 6 | equestrian nonelectric | 50 ft | 150 ft | 168 ft | 445 ft |
| 1 | 7 | equestrian nonelectric | 58 ft | 150 ft | 210 ft | 575 ft |
| 1 | 8 | equestrian nonelectric | 58 ft |
Getting there
the map and the coordinate · the agency’s directions · the phone number
Where it is
Horsethief Lake CampgroundNorbeck Wildlife Preserve National Game Refuge · 2.6 mi
Oreville CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 4.4 mi
Grizzly Bear CampgroundNorbeck Wildlife Preserve National Game Refuge · 5.1 mi
Sheridan Lake South CampgroundBlack Hills National Forest · 5.3 mi
Sheridan LakeBlack Hills National Forest · 6.2 mi
Sheridan North Cove Grp CGBlack Hills National Forest · 6.5 miFrom Hill City, South Dakota, take US 16/385 south for 7 miles. Go east on State Hwy 244. The campground is located across from the Mt. Rushmore KOA.
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 28°F, day 60°F.
Coldest month of the year: typical January night 10°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
Willow Creek Horse Camp 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 →