Agency-listedUSFSUnpriced · confirmRoad season: open (MVUM)
French Creek Campground
Drive-up · U.S. Forest Service · SD · 43.66197, -103.02272
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 →U.S. Forest Service lists this as a developed campground. Expect marked sites, a fee station or a reservation, and the usual campground rules. The dispersed-camping freedom of the surrounding forest does not apply inside it. What changes is conditions — roads, gates, closures, fire rules. Check those with the unit before you commit to the drive.
Nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM — French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD
The nearest road on the Forest Service MVUM is FR 7055 (Agate (French Creek Cg)), 110 ft from the pin. The MVUM lists it as crushed aggregate or gravel surface. The record carries no maintenance level for it.
Road season: open (MVUM) The MVUM lists FR 7055 (Agate (French Creek Cg)), 110 ft from the pin, open to passenger vehicles year-round.
MVUM record for FR 7055 (Agate (French Creek Cg)): “01/01-12/31” Read against the calendar on 2026-09-22; with JavaScript your browser re-checks it against today.
From the Forest Service's own Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW, Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026), straight-line from the pin to the nearest mapped segment. The nearest segment is not necessarily the way in, a maintenance level is the agency's class and not a report on today, and a road's season is the road's — it is not a campground order. What the levels mean → What an MVUM is →
USGS topo — contours & terrain
Aerial — USGS / NAIP
Weather outlook — at French Creek Campground
Loading the latest forecast…
Live NWS area forecast (~2.5 km grid, not elevation-corrected). Camp sits at 2,899 ft.
Fire & smoke — around French Creek CampgroundNIFC · 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 French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD
▲ your camp. Rings are 15, 30 and 60 straight-line miles; bearings are approximate and roads run longer.
Nearest of each
- @Mail10 mi
- FFuel14 mi
- GGrocery14 mi
- WWater18 mi
- DDump19 mi
- LLaundry26 mi
- +Urgent care27 mi
- EVEV fast charger27 mi
- RxPharmacy28 mi
- HHardware28 mi
- MMechanic28 mi
- ShShower28 mi
- OOutfitter30 mi
≤30 mi30–4545+water
The read: water's a short hop out, fuel & food sit about 14 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 — French Creek Campground
Access
Drive-up
Land
U.S. Forest Service
Elevation
2,899 ft
Ground slope
0.4% · flat
Nearest rail line
~9.4 mi · main line
State
SD
Coordinates
43.66197, -103.02272
Cost
Unpriced — no source gives a price; assume it may cost something and confirm before you go
Nearby & resupply — around French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD (OpenStreetMap)
- Water featureFrench Creek · under 0.1 mi · USGS: perennial stream
- Nearest townFairburn · ~9.5 mi
- Nearest rail line~9.4 mi · main line
- Nearest highwayno interstate or US route within 10 mi
- Drinking waternone within 10 mi
- Fuelnone within 30 mi
- Propane / LPGnone within 31 mi
- Groceriesnone within 30 mi
- Mapping is thin out hereAn empty row means nothing is mapped within that radius — not that nothing exists. Small stores, seasonal resorts and single fuel pumps out here often never make it onto the map. Treat these as unconfirmed and ask locally.
EV charging — from French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD — nearest public DC fast & Level 2 (US DOE station data)
- Nearest public DC fast charger27.2 mi straight-line NW — SECFIRSTBNK SECFIRSTBNK-C, Rapid City, 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 reachnone within 25 mi · 11 within 50 · 17 within 100 · 28 within 150
- Nearest listing NACS (Tesla)29.5 mi — Custer, SD - Tesla Supercharger, Custer
- Nearest public Level 2 (J1772)27.2 mi — HORIZON POINT HPWESTPARK 2, Rapid City, SD · ChargePoint Network · J1772 · 2 Level 2 ports listed · listed open, last confirmed by AFDC 2026-09-16 · hours: 24 hours daily
- Also listed, not counted aboveNACS-only Level 2 — Mount Rushmore National Memorial - Tesla Destination, Keystone, 26.1 mi · NACS (Tesla) · hours: 24 hours daily. Open to Teslas only. · AFDC lists it “Free”
Level 2, restricted access — Powder House Lodge, Keystone, 26.8 mi · J1772 · hours: For guest use only · AFDC lists it “Free” - 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 256397 · US DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center
Nearby restrooms — around French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD — pit toilets, restrooms & rest areas (government data)
- Vault / pit toiletFrench Creek · ~0.3 mi SW · USFS
- Vault / pit toiletRailroad Buttes 1 · ~18.0 mi NE · USFS
- RestroomB-02 - Elevator Bldg · ~23.9 mi W · NPS
- RestroomB-01 - Adm Bldg/VC · ~23.9 mi W · NPS
Coming out here — French Creek Campground · Buffalo Gap National Grassland · SD
- Surface water mapped nearby: USGS maps French Creek as a perennial stream, under 0.1 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 0.4% — flat. 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 ~9.4 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.
- No interstate or US route is mapped within 10 mi of the pin in the Census's TIGER/Line primary roads (TIGER/Line 2025, released Oct 2025). That file holds the divided, limited-access highways only — a state expressway or a two-lane US route near this camp would not be in it.
- 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 French Creek Campground elsewhere
Other camps near French Creek Campground
If this one is full, gated or washed out.
- French Creek~0.3 mi
- Railroad Buttes OHV Area~18.0 mi
The unit that manages French Creek Campground
Stay limits, road closures and fire restrictions at French Creek Campground are set by Buffalo Gap National Grassland, not by the campsite — check there before you go.
How we know this — French Creek Campground
Source
OpenStreetMap contributors
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
auto: drive (road/trail right there)
Nearest MVUM road
US Forest Service Motor Vehicle Use Map roads layer (EDW_MVUM_01, layer 1), Clearinghouse refresh Aug 30, 2026. Straight-line distance from the pin to the nearest mapped segment within 1 mi; surface type, maintenance level and open dates are the agency's own values for that segment, expanded from its codes and otherwise unedited. Nothing here says which road reaches the site.
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 French Creek Campground
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.
- Whether that MVUM road is the way in, and the last stretch beyond it
- Whether the site itself closes on its own schedule — only the road's season is on record
- How many rigs actually fit
- Cell coverage by carrier
- 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 — French Creek Campground
Finding water out here →What “dispersed” means here →Reading a forest MVUM →Leave no trace →All field notes →