TOURING THE BLACK HILLS-Horse Thief Lake

Generally we camp at national or state parks whenever possible.  However, in this area the parks had no dump stations.  You could pay a fee to camp there, but if you needed to dump either your camper or honey wagon you had to do so approximately five miles down the road and pay a dumping fee a a private campground.

The cost of doing that made Echo Valley Campground comparable in price to the national/state park plus you get the wifi and 50 amp hook-up compared to 30 amp at the parks. 

However, Horse Thief Lake is not to be overlooked simply because of the pure beauty of it.  We parked in a turnout on the highway to Mt. Rushmore that was provided just for this to spend some time just taking in the sights at Horse Thief Lake. 

While there is no swimming allowed you can kayak, canoe, fish and picnic on the lake. 

They have a nice boardwalk that goes around about three fourths of the lake with several small docks along the way that have benches on them. 

We spent a few pleasant hours just walking on the boardwalk and snapping photos.  If we were just passing through for a few days and would not need to dump the sewage we would definitely consider staying at this park.