Camper submitted image from French Creek Camping Area - 1

Camper submitted image from French Creek Camping Area - 2

Camper submitted image from French Creek Camping Area - 3

Nature

Camper submitted image from French Creek Camping Area - 4

Roads

Camper submitted image from French Creek Camping Area - 5

People

Established Camping

French Creek Camping Area

5 Reviews

About

National Forest

This small developed campground is a quiet area with picnic tables, fire rings, and a vault toilet. This site is popular for rockhounding. Adjacent to the campground is a barren hill with a layer of exposed rocks, including the occassional agate. Please recreate with respect.

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Location

French Creek Camping Area is located in South Dakota

Directions

From Fairburn, South Dakota travel 11.4 miles east on French Creek Road to the turn off on your left.

Coordinates

43.66220008 N
103.02270082 W

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Access

Drive-In
Park next to your site
Walk-In
Park in a lot, walk to your site.

Stay Connected

WiFi
Unknown
Verizon
Unknown
AT&T
Good
T-Mobile
Unknown

Site Types

Tent Sites
RV Sites
Standard (Tent/RV)
Equestrian

Features

For Campers

ADA Access
Trash
Picnic Table
Phone Service
Toilets
Pets
Fires

For Vehicles

Big Rig Friendly

For information regarding reservations, contact this campground directly.

First Come - First Served

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Contact

General Info

Daniel J.

Traveler

Reviewed Aug. 29, 2022

Great views, low amenities

This beautiful location is wonderful to wake up to. Bison on the hills around. Prairie dogs galore! Coyotes howling in the distance. Wonderful scenery!

However, this site offered no water and no availability for cooking unless you brought your own stove. There were however bathrooms and specific places to hitch up your horse. Hopefully your horse will not need water.

Site11

Month of VisitSeptember

Becbecandbunny O.

Ranger

Reviewed Jul. 20, 2022

Great find in South Dakota

Very peaceful but small campground. Each campsite has a Ramada, picnic table, grill and fire pit. No water. Pit toilet. Limited cell coverage. Free.

All sites are walk-in tent only.

The only issue we experienced were the horse flies but this would not deter us from staying again.

Month of VisitAugust

cathy

Guide

Reviewed Sep. 18, 2021

Great Free Campground

We are camping in mid September and there are only 2 other couples here. Pit toilet is very clean. Great fire rings and grills (but we can’t use because of current burn ban)

Most important thing to note is that you have to park in parking lot and carry your supplies in. So tent camping only in the fenced part of the campground. The two other people here now have a camper van and a truck with a camper shell…so they are just using the parking lot.

Bring plenty of water as there is none available.

It is free with a place to make donations to help with upkeep.

Very good experience!

Sitesite in back corner

Month of VisitOctober

Beth C.

Scout

Reviewed Oct. 29, 2020

Pleasant spot

Great views all around with a pleasant stream running through, BLM road behind the site for a stroll/potential free camping. The BLM road was not passable mid-october due to flooding. The site has some evidence of local kids using it as a target range (holes in sign, trash cans, and fence posts). Overall, pretty nice in the off-season -- access roads were all flat and passable w a good amount of snow cover.

Daniel S.

Legend

Reviewed Oct. 29, 2017

Excellent campground but we got unlucky

Camped here after spending some amazing time in Badlands NP. French Creek looks like a cozy place normally but we got unlucky with the weather. Fortunately the weather while we were at the national park was wonderful. I would definitely stay here again. The campground is small with toilets, picnic tables and fire rings. Pack in pack out. Very clean.

There seems to be plenty of hiking and biking, swimming, fishing kayaking of one wanted to as well. There was only one other group here in and they mentioned there's copious amounts of horse trails as well. If the weather was better would have explored more. We just packed on up and kept a cruising.

Cheers!

Month of VisitOctober

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