Simplified: Palisades State Park doubled in size in the last year, with a new entrance, visitors center, camp sites and day-use area. Now, as the park gears up for another summer, even more additional recreation features are on the way.

Why it matters

  • The park expansion is years in the making. Plans to acquire more land date back to 2019, when a partnership between the Game Fish and Parks Department and the South Dakota Parks and Wildlife Foundation raised the funds to purchase an additional 268 acres to the park.
  • Last spring, Palisades opened 77 new camp sites, four cabins, a new playground that meets ADA accessibility requirements and a new day use area. Those additional camp sites helped increase park traffic by 24% last summer, Park Supervisor Luke Dreckman said.
  • A year later, improvements to the park are expected to continue with a new disc golf course, new hiking trails and an outdoor archery range, and it's likely there will be even more to come.
"There’s certainly more opportunities to come down the road," Dreckman said.

Tell me more about the park expansion

The park expansion is largely to the southeast of the original park, and with that, the entrance is now on the east side of the park.

  • Driving in, visitors will also see about 40 acres of grassland, which Dreckman said has brought more local wildlife to the area.

The new camp sites have been one of the biggest draws to Palisades – which in years past saw campsites filling very quickly.

  • The addition nearly tripled the amount of camping spots, with 71 new sites with electrical hook-ups, four new cabins and six new tent sites. There are now 111 camping sites in total.

In its first year, those new camp sites didn't fill up as much as expected, Dreckman said, but he's anticipating more traffic this year as more people learn about the expansion.

For day-use visitors, Dreckman said the new playground has been one of the most popular new amenities, especially because of it's accessibility.

What happens next?

The new disc golf course is expected to open this year, with the archery range to come later in the fall or next year.

Camp sites are available to book 90 days out, so Dreckman recommends planning ahead, especially if you're looking to get one of the cabins.