Dispersed Camping and other recs throughout Wyoming and South Dakota

Hey all,

I'm driving across the country with my twelve year old son. We're planning on driving through Wyoming and South Dakota, though our exact timeline is uncertain. For this reason, I'd like to map out the dispersed camping along the route so I know where we could stop without having to reserve campgrounds. If you could share these locations, I would greatly appreciate it. Also, if you have recommendations for classic moderates or other recommendations for stops along the way, I would welcome those as well. Finally, if there are any families out there who would like to plan a day out, message me. 

Here is a rough itinerary of places we'd like to stop:

1. Lander/Wild Iris

2. Ten Sleep 

3. Devil's Tower

4. Rushmore Area

Thanks for your help!

Sean Sullivan

(Super Pooper and Yours, respectively on Tahquitz and Suicide.) 

Get the CalTopo app to see all the public land (forest service or BLM) in Wyoming and South Dakota for dirtbag camping.

When you leave Ten Sleep, for a more scenic drive, instead of heading straight east to Buffalo, head up north to Greybull and then to Shell Canyon.  Stop at Shell Falls.  Then go across the Bighorns to Sand Turn on the east side.  If you can hit Sand Turn at sunset or sunrise, it's very cool.  It's a longer drive, but spectacular.  Steamboat rock on the east side of the bighorns was a cool hike, but it just got hit by a fire, so I don't know what it's like now.  Probably still worth it tho.

The Bighorn Mountains are full of forest service roads with camping options just about everywhere.  Just look at CalTopo to get an idea.  The area has many hundreds of sites, but if you go in August, many thousands of people will be competing for them

There is no dispersed camping near devil's tower.  You could go east a bit to the Bear Lodge mountains north of Sundance and poke around on the forest service roads to try and find something, but I wouldn't.  If you go in August, the Durrance Route will likely have a waiting line.

For the Black Hills, finding camping sites has got a bit more challenging with road closures and too many people, but there is one area, Highway 89 Dispersed Camp Site, Black Hills,which is a bit out of the way, but not many people know about it.  Also, the first full week in August has the Sturgis motorcycle rally which should be avoided.  One other suggestion is there are many Forest Service roads off Highway 16 near the Samelius Trailhead that could be good for camping.

For black hills climbing, the best options for a first timer are the (1) south seas area of Rushmore:  Routes - waves, wasp, second hand rose: (2) Sylvan Lake - Waste Knot, Conn Diagonal on Outer Outlet, Conn Route on Aquarium Rock, Classic Crack on Inner Outlet

Route finding in the Black Hills is very challenging.  Ask around if possible.

Mike, that was awesome! Thank you.

This list is where I have dispersed camped in the hills while climbing various locations: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F3eBR6s5MK1SbpHf6  For Sand Creek, there are multiple pulloffs where camping is allowed, I just marked the first one which is where I've stayed the most.

Waterdance at Sylvan Lake is another super fun 5.8 and very easy to find right off the Sunday Gulch trail. Waterdance was quite a bit less heady than Waste Knot in my experience, but I was also a little out of it on the trip I got on Waste Knot and didn't have the optional cam.

Cheers, Zachary! I'll let you know how it all turns out. Journey starts today but it'll be a week or so before we reach SD.

Also, you should drive the needles highway from sylvan lake to the cathedral spires.  But either do it very early or very late in the day.  Midday will be a traffic jam from now until mid-September.

Thanks for all the beta! We were on a time crunch so we couldn't get to everything (can you ever?). Here's what we did in your backyard. 

Lander: Replaced my son's harness, climbed at the OK Corral (Red Rider and some others), but couldn't convince my son to hike out to Iris's main wall so I scouted for the future.

Ten Sleep: Ate at the Sleepy Coyote, found a partner and did some 10s at Lakepoint. 

Rushmore: Did Waves and Humpbacks in Love (both pitches).

Until next time!

Thanks, 

Sean