As temps reached 106 at our Badlands boondocking site, we knew it was time to drive to the Black Hills and find shore power. We landed on a grassy patch of land at Three Forks Campground in Hill City. It was the perfect location to begin exploring the Black Hills.

Here’s the breakdown:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95OCHUgDHsc%5D

Location: Hill City, South Dakota

GPS: 43.95306, -103.51306

Date/Temp: We camped at Three Forks for 4 nights in late July. The highs were in the low 90s and the lows were in the mid 60s.

Amenities: Our site had water & electric hookups. The campground also offers full hookup sites and tent camping sites. There’s a large central bath house with clean showers and a laundry facility.

Noise: The campground had a relaxed vibe throughout our stay; fellow campers were kind and quiet. Our site was close to the road, which created noticeable noise when we weren’t running the AC. The traffic hum didn’t bother us, but if you’re in search for a quiet spot – request a site toward the rear of the park.

Wifi/Cell: The campground offers free wifi, but it wasn’t fast enough to stream music or movies. Our AT&T received 2 bars of 3G and our T-Mobile received 3 bars of 4G LTE. We streamed movies and uploaded YouTube videos with the T-Mobile hotspot.

Grocery/Errands: Downtown Hill City is 4 miles from the campground. The town offers some basic shopping and has a small post office. We found that the town of Custer (14 miles) offered more options for grocery shopping. If you’re in need of big box stores, Rapid City (27 miles) will be your best bet.

Dog Friendly: Three Forks Campground is dog friendly. They have large grassy fields for dog-walking and trash cans throughout the grounds for easy disposal of doggy waste bags. Our site was large enough to play fetch with River.

Entertainment: There’s no shortage of entertainment in the Black Hills. Our favorite part of the campground was its great proximity to all points of interest. We visited Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Custer State Park, and hiking trails in Hill City.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Faj0Af3Kvo%5D

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Disclaimer – A big thanks to Three Forks Campground for allowing us to camp free of charge. As usual our thoughts and opinions are our own and not swayed or purchased. We just like to explore and discover new places!