Agency-listedBLM · dispersedFree
Fort Meade Recreation Area
Drive-up · Bureau of Land Management · SD · 44.37250, -103.47297
Ask an AI about this campsiteOpens Grok already loaded with this site. It reads the same records this page is built from, and links whatever it tells you.
Ask about this camp →Bureau of Land Management lists this site. On most of their ground you can camp away from developed sites pretty much anywhere — so treat this as a known-good spot, not the only one allowed. The unit sets stay limits and how far off road and water you must be. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at Fort Meade Recreation Area
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 3,600 ft.
Fire & smoke — around Fort Meade Recreation AreaNIFC · AirNow
Checking active fires & air quality…
Active wildfires from NIFC (within ~50 mi); air quality from AirNow. Always confirm current fire restrictions with the managing office before you go.
Everything you need — measured from Fort Meade Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · SD
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- LLaundry1 mi
- ShShower1 mi
- FFuel2 mi
- GGrocery3 mi
- HHardware3 mi
- MMechanic3 mi
- RxPharmacy4 mi
- @Mail4 mi
- EVEV fast charger15 mi
- +Urgent care20 mi
- WWater23 mi
- OOutfitter23 mi
- DDump27 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water is a real 23-mi drive, fuel & food sit about 2 mi out.
Not within 60 mi: Propane. Plan those before you head up.
One dot per need — the nearest of each kind, straight-line from camp. Places from OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors); the EV fast charger from the US DOE station locator. Open in Google Maps ↗
The site — Fort Meade Recreation Area
Access
Drive-up
Land
Bureau of Land Management · dispersed
Elevation
3,600 ft
Ground slope
3.5% · gentle
Nearest rail line
~0.1 mi · main line
Nearest highway
~0.1 mi · Interstate 90
State
SD
Coordinates
44.37250, -103.47297
Cost
Free · no fee, per the land manager's own page (blm.gov, read 2026-09-19)
Nearby & resupply — around Fort Meade Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · SD (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureAlkali Creek · ~0.2 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townBlucksberg Mountain · ~1.2 mi
- Nearest rail line~0.1 mi · main line
- Nearest highway~0.1 mi · Interstate 90
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- FuelMobil · ~2.1 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Dump station~27.2 mi
- GroceriesGrocery Mart · ~2.6 mi
- PharmacyCounty Drug · ~3.6 mi
- Hospital / clinicMonument Health Sturgis Hospital · ~2.7 mi
- HardwareAce Hardware · ~2.6 mi
EV charging — from Fort Meade Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · SD — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger14.6 mi straight-line NW — ELKHORNRIDGE EV-2, Spearfish, SD · ChargePoint Network · CHAdeMO, CCS · 1 fast port listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily · directions
- Public DC fast stations within reach7 within 25 mi · 12 within 50 · 15 within 100 · 22 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)22.5 mi — Rapid City, SD - Tesla Supercharger, Rapid City
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)12.1 mi — First Gold, Deadwood, SD (at a public site) · RED_E · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: not listed
- Pricing at the fast chargernot listed
- Power (kW)not listed by AFDC — “DC fast” spans roughly 24 to 350 kW, so ask the network.
- Read this honestlyStraight-line miles, like every distance on this site. Roads run longer than this, and you have to get back. We know where a charger is listed. We don’t know if it works today, how fast it is, or the road miles. Check the network before you commit.
Snapshot 2026-09-16 · AFDC record 421223 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around Fort Meade Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · SD — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- RestroomAlkali Creek Trailhead Toilet · ~0.4 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomFt Meade Horse Camp Mens Toilet · ~0.5 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomFt Meade Horse Camp Womens Toilet · ~0.5 mi NE · BLM
- RestroomFt Meade Reservoir Unisex Toilet · ~4.5 mi N · BLM
Coming out here — Fort Meade Recreation Area · Bureau of Land Management · SD
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps Alkali Creek as a perennial stream, ~0.2 mi from the pin (National Hydrography Dataset, data refreshed October 2022). Mapped as perennial is not the same as flowing today. Nobody has checked it for you. Filter or boil anything you drink.
- Ground slope around the pin: about 3.5% — gentle. Measured on USGS's 3DEP elevation model (1 m data here), sampled every 10 metres around the point. That is the hillside, not the ground under your wheels — a graded pullout or a bench a few metres across is too small to show up at that spacing, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Rail line mapped ~0.1 mi from the pin — the national rail atlas classes it as a main line. That is the FRA/BTS North American Rail Network (data updated Jul 21, 2026), which records that a line is there and what class of track it is. Whether anything runs on it, how often, and at what hour, it does not say, and nobody has checked this one for you.
- Interstate 90 is mapped ~0.1 mi from the pin. Straight-line, from the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025) — the divided, limited-access highways, which is why a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not appear here.
- Assume no services at all. Most dispersed camping in a national forest has none: no tap, no power, no dump, often no toilet. Everything you need, you bring.
- Power: Dave carries his own — batteries or solar. A generator will run your rig and it is also the thing everybody camped near you can hear.
- Getting online: Dave recommends Starlink. He has had it since SpaceX introduced it, used it for four years living on the road, and it delivers as promised — several hundred nights out, and he can count on one hand the places he could not connect. The cable on his unit runs 150 feet, which is usually all it takes to find enough sky. Starlink → Referral link — Starlink pays Dave $100 in cash if you sign up through it, and that money funds this site and the next trip. It costs you nothing and does not change the recommendation.
Open Fort Meade Recreation Area elsewhere
Other camps near Fort Meade Recreation Area
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- Dalton Lake~9.8 mi · fee
- Strawberry~11.6 mi · fee
- Boxelder Forks~12.5 mi · fee
- Steamboat Rock~14.8 mi · fee
Who holds the land at Fort Meade Recreation Area
USGS’s Protected Areas Database (PAD-US 4.1, queried 2026-09-23) lists the ground at this pin as South Dakota Field Office, manager on record: Bureau of Land Management (federal). That names who holds the land — it is not a statement that camping is permitted here.
How we know this — Fort Meade Recreation Area
Fee note
No fee, per the BLM page, read 19 Sep 2026: "No Fees." https://www.blm.gov/visit/fort-meade-recreation-area
Source
Bureau of Land Management recreation data
Confidence
Likely — The record is good enough to put a pin on, but thin in places. Treat the details as a starting point, not gospel.
How it was placed
BLM RIDB record, agency-listed. Its fee field is empty -- no fee statement -- so the cost is unpriced (field read 2026-09-19). Access not field-checked (assumed drive-up). | No fee 2026-09-19: "No Fees." Source: https://www.blm.gov/visit/fort-meade-recreation-area (worker_W, statement verified on that page).
EV chargers
US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center station locator, snapshot 2026-09-16. Straight-line miles to the nearest public, open, unrestricted station; restricted and planned units are shown but never counted.
Field check
On the agency's books. The land manager inventoried this site, so its existence is not in question — current conditions are. Nobody from here has camped it recently.
What we don’t know about Fort Meade Recreation Area
A land record can put you within a few meters of a spot. It cannot tell you any of this — so check it yourself, and treat anything below as the open question it is.
- Road surface & last-mile access
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- Seasonal & winter access
- Current fire restrictions
- Whether any water here is drinkable
- Shade & wind exposure
- Noise and who else shows up
- Whether a listed EV charger works today, or the road miles to it
Before you go — Fort Meade Recreation Area
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Cold-weather camping →First-night troubleshooting →All field notes →