Rafter J Bar Ranch Reviews

Michael Barnes 2025.10.25

     

We found this campground by accident but firmly believe it is the best campground we've stayed. Everything is well maintained and the sites are plentiful and spacious. We stayed in the Ranch area and had super large site just steps away from a great bathhouse. And to top it off, they have a fantastic pancake breakfast for $5. We cannot wait to get back!

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Colleen McIntosh 2025.09.28

     

Best Campground in the Black Hills SD We stayed at Rafter J Bar Ranch in Hill City SD for 5 nights. What a phenomenal experience. It's a huge campground and spread out over acres of beautiful woods, Black Hills and swathes of lawn for the energetic pups. Every RV site was spacious and level and clean. We were in a quiet section and were not disappointed. The bathroom and Laundry were clean and stocked. The staff at the main office were so nice and friendly and we even had security after hours - which was nice since we were surrounded by forest and potential wildlife. Great hiking and biking in this area. We were close to every possible experience we came to enjoy. Hill City is quaint and fun. We had breakfast at the local cafe every day. We were out and sight-seeing all day every day and happy to come back to Rafter J Bar Ranch in the evenings. Perfect location for everything in this part of SD. Beautiful surroundings with the Black Hills and we absolutely will come back to Rafer J again. I'd give it 10 Stars if I had that option. We also met some fantastic people and felt so welcome!! Thank you Rafter J Bar!!!

Date of experience: 13 September, 2025

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Stan Beagley 2025.09.23

     

We just spent a week here. Here are my thoughts: Location 10/10 Facilities 5/10 Staff friendliness and helpfulness 1/10 We specifically asked for a spot in the trees and were assured we would have trees. Nope. We were out in the middle of the field. Asked to switch and were denied even though it was off season and there were lots of open spots. The whole experience was disappointing. It is such a pretty area but I would look elsewhere. They responded that they didn't have any notes on our request but we made it and when we asked them to help us out they seemed bugged and wouldn't even make an effort to resolve.

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.09.19

Hi Stan,
Thank you for taking the time to contact us. The team shared some of the requests your group made. I sincerely apologize that your group was not able to be moved together. While some sites may appear to be able to accommodate, we have other guests checking in or at times maintenance repairs underway that are needed.

The notes upon booking did not reflect the request for shade. I always encourage guests to double-check the confirmation emails we send of booking accommodations and requests. Online booking, reserving a guaranteed site, with reviewing our site map can be a wonderful option as well if you return. If you’d like to chat further I’m happy to connect over the phone; we can coordinate that @ 605-574-2527

Thank you again for reaching out.
Kind regards

Linda Smith 2025.09.22

     

Campground is close to many parks and monuments. Spacious sites. Lots of room to walk. Wide open spaces. Would stay here again. The only downside was no dog park but plenty of places to walk.

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Debra St John 2025.09.12

     

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JGB 2025.09.10

     

We stay here every year, we love it.

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Brian Bruder 2025.09.10

     

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Kristy Aldren 2025.09.01

     

We are local the Black Hills. Rafter J is our favorite place to the camp. The sites in ranch camp are spacious, level, and scenic. We have plenty of room to explore, play, and set up our hammocks. Our kids can ride bikes around the loop without fear of heavy traffic. The pool is clean and warm. The playground is fun for all. The shower house is clean and plenty of hot water. We especially like getting ice cream from the camp store. Generous portions of high quality ice cream. The lack of road noise is a main reason we continue to come back.

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.09.13

Thank you so much for your review and taking time to share your experience!

Matt Howard 2025.08.29

     

We were there the last week of July. First time staying. The place is awesome. Very clean and well kept. Staff was extremely friendly. The store is great. They have pizza and ice-cream for the nights you may not feel like cooking. We had one of those nights. Our site in Line Camp was nice and roomy. Plenty of space between units. Will definitely be staying there again.

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Colton Jinks 2025.08.28

     

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Carol N 2025.08.20

     

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Shara Schmidt 2025.08.20

     

We are avid campers and this was our first time to the Black Hills. This campground was wonderful. Very well kept! Our site was large, had a great fire pit and was very quiet. The pool and hot to were great with zero complaints. Even the laundry facilities were very clean! Would love to come back.

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Jamie Hyatt 2025.08.16

     

Stayed at a full hookup site. Wonderful staff and service! Great location, central to many of the attractions in the Black Hills with a very short drive to most. Wonderful time, will be back! Wifi could use some work so plan accordingly for that.

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Bill Croghan 2025.08.16

     

Beautiful RV Park. Only thing that could have been better is if we stayed more than one night.

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Vinny Himes 2025.08.11

     

Amazing place! Super clean, great views

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.08.14

Thank you so much for taking the time to review the Rafter and we are thrilled to hear you enjoyed your stay!

Bill Erie 2025.08.08

     

Had nice RV sites with some space and shade with trees.

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.08.08

Thank you Bill for your feedback! We are serving breakfast pizzas instead of the pancake breakfast this year :)

Faith Belcher 2025.07.30

     

Spent 3 nights here July 2025. It was fine. I wasn’t blown away or wow’d. Sites were gravel and spacious, but we were in base camp with zero shade or view. We were a long way from a bath house too. At check in I asked to be near a bath house and girl acted like they couldn’t move me but we saw lots of open spaces during our stay. No wifi, hardly any cell signal on Verizon. We were too busy to enjoy any amenities, basically just slept there.

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.07.31

Thank you for sharing; while at times we have one night availabilities or cancelations our front desk is very good at reviewing sites that work for specific RVs.
Our different areas each have a different niche. Base Camp fits some travelers preferences great. It sounds you may have enjoyed Island or Ranch Camp better if you look to stay with us again.
Safe travels!

Tom Walsh 2025.07.28

     

Rafter J Bar Ranch has to be one of the nicest campground in the USA! This place came recommend from so many people when asked for places to stay centrally located in the Black Hills and they all were right! We had an amazing site in the Ranch Camp section that backed up the forest and were greeted by the grazing herd. This campground is very close to Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer, and only a short drive to Sturgis and Deadwood. We stayed for 5 nights of our 4 week trip from NY and wished we planned to stay longer. Our CO2 detector went out on us and I had a new one delivered to the campground, and was delayed getting to SD, on the morning we were leaving they made a quick trip to their PO box in the morning and picked it up and delivered to our site. Just one example of their hospitality! Thank you for the great memories and hopefully we will be back one day!

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Reply from Rafter J Bar Ranch 2025.07.29

We are so glad to hear you enjoyed your stay with us at the Rafter! Thank you so much for your wonderful review!!

Oshien Music 2025.07.24

     

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