Good morning! Our Follow-the-Leader to the Oregon Trail landmarks week was a fun beginning to our late spring vacation! I love Follow-the-Leader vacations, thankfully a friend shares their adventures so we can follow.
The second part of our vacation was Black Hills, South Dakota. We love this area of the country. We went to Black Hills/Keystone/Custer for our 1st family vacation when the kids were little. This was our 4th time visiting here. So it is familiar and we enjoy it, but this time we were trying something new-extended stay dispersed camping!
Since we could not scout out camping spots ahead of time, the husband bought me a fun surprise a Black Hills Motor Vehicle Use Map and he booked 2 nights at Cottonwood Spring Army Corp Campground near Hot Springs, South Dakota.
Both were wonderful ideas!
Scouting for Dispersed Sites
The map helped show us where we could disperse camp and leaving the camper at Cottonwood campground let us search for appropriate dispersed camping spots without the camper- for 8 hours!
It was mid-May, a little early in the season, so I was convinced there would be plenty of sites. The husband actually pulls the 5th wheel, so he was convinced there would be plenty of bad roads.
And wow, was he right!
We used my map and also downloaded the Avenza free app, and then chose the ‘Black Hills National Forest, Hell Canyon Ranger District’ map to help search for a few dispersed camping sites.
Both were very helpful- but we searched for 8 hours. Seriously- 8 hours.
It was nice to have the Avenza map downloaded, because we didn’t always have a signal. It was also nice to drop pins and comments. There are so many gravel roads, side shoots and trails, that it can get confusing.
The whole area has some dispersed camping. Later, we visited with a ranger at the Custer National Forest office. They were very helpful, encouraged and answered questions and gave us paper maps marked with dispersed camping options. The ranger told us about different spots to look at- south and southwest of Custer, past Jewel Cave, north of Custer, North Pole Road and towards Hill City. The spot you decide depends on your vehicle/tent/rv and if you like forest or plains.
Many of the roads are for fighting forest fires, not pulling a camper. We did end up finding a few sites to stay at, but we also dropped many warning pins on our Avenza map.
We actually dropped 47 pins.
Some of my pins showed were old YouTube campsites are no longer sites and had ‘No camping’ signs . Some pins mentioned roads- ‘cow path, do not go down’ ‘giant potholes’ ‘went-don’t go’ ‘cow trail’ ‘bad’ . After a few hours, I just started putting sad faces. The ‘ 🙁 🙁 don’t even’ pin is funny- now.
Other pins were helpful ‘don’t drive past’ ‘turn around here’ ‘back up site for back up site’.
Thankfully, we were able to find a campsite and a few backups without pulling the camper. Some of the roads were hard to turn around in in the truck, I can’t imagine turning around while towing the camper!
The next morning, we left Cottonwood Springs and drove to a city donation, dump and fill at Hot Springs, South Dakota. It was easy to drive to, very clean and very appreciated.
Our 1st choice dispersed campsite was already taken at 8:30 in the morning, but our back up was open and just as pretty! Pretty wildflowers, pretty rocks and boulders, even a pair of pretty bluebirds who wanted to nest in the 5th wheel hitch!
I had so much fun trying to capture a picture of them, they were very friendly! The husband ended up stuffing an old sleeping bag in the hitch, so they couldn’t build a nest.
We loved our Black Hills National Forest dispersed campsite and were able to stay for 10 days-amazing!
I’m so glad the rangers had answered some questions about dispersed camping- fires are not allowed in the Black Hills National Forest, even if you see a campfire spot. Our site had a campfire spot, but it was filled with large, pretty rocks. Also, dumping the gray tanks, even far away from the road or site, is not allowed. Thankfully we asked, I had read it was ok.
Even without a campfire and with conserving water, we had a wonderful time.
Conserving Water and Tank Space
Conserving water and gray tank capacity allowed us to stay dispersed camping for 10 days. We did not invest in extra equipment or leave to dump and fill.
At home, we bought 9 gallons of drinking water and we have 3 igloos to use for fresh, potable water- and coffee! It was enough water for us, since we filled the igloos at Gerring and Hot Springs. We even took 3 unopened gallons back home!
Not filling the grey water tanks was a little harder. Paper plates, fewer dishes/pans to wash, navy showers (rinse-turn off water-suds up-rinse again) and sightseeing/being gone during the day all helped save tank space.
A Valterra twist-on valve, that we already had, also helped. Since we never had many dishes to wash, the galley tank stayed pretty empty. Like the husband, I take a super quick navy shower. Mine is every day and his is every other day, which makes the bathroom grey tank fuller than the galley tank. The husband can close the Valterra valve and open our 2 grey tanks to equalize the water in both tanks. This gives us more space in the bathroom grey tank=more showers!!
Flexible, Vacation Food
In addition to conserving water/tank space, I wanted to plan more campfire cooking for dispersed camping. I enjoy campfire cooking .It is wonderful to cook outside over a fire, enjoy nature, early sunrises and morning coffee. Thankfully, the husband kept telling me I probably couldn’t have a fire, so I tried to plan meals that could be campfire cooked, grilled or cooked inside. Options are great!
I even planned a few crockpot meals. They worked great to start early in the morning, before sightseeing, when we had electricity in Nebraska. The crockpot meals worked wonderful- a hot lunch after seeing Oregon Trail landmarks-plus great leftovers!
Nebraska’s yummy Runzas did pose a problem on one crockpot day, though-we really wanted to try them, but lunch was already cooking in the camper. The Runzas won, and were very yummy! Second lunches are ok once in awhile, right?
When we learned campfires weren’t allowed in Black Hills National Forest dispersed camping areas, I was glad for the flexible meal planning.
It wasn’t my traditional camping food, but it was our traditional, easy vacation food. Most of our meals were grilled or cooked inside, since we (sadly) only had 2 campfires during our whole vacation, both at Hot Springs. And, after sightseeing, an easy vacation food supper is nice.
Hamburger patties, pork patties, grilled Italian chicken, grilled cheese and ham sandwiches are all easy, filling, yummy lunches or suppers. Even a mix of scrambled eggs and fried, canned potatoes is quick and delicious. Not traditional camping food, but still delicious.
After our fun Oregon Trail landmark vacation, our dispersed, extended camping near Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park continued the fun! I can’t wait to share our explorations around Custer and more dispersed camping near the Badlands!
Happy Camping (or spying bluebirds!)
Frugal Campasaurus