Campground Review: Lake Byre Recreational Area Kennebec, South Dakota

Continuing my trek out to Colorado I paused for three days at a really nice public campground a few miles off I-90 and northeast of the tiny town of Kennebec, South Dakota - Byre Lake.

The word "recreational" JUST made it into it's space!

Kennebec is a tiny rural town of 300 folks located on I-90.  Byre Lake is a couple miles northeast of the town which is good because there's virtually no highway noise from I-90.  The camping area is on the north side of the lake and is a sloping field that you just pick out a spot and there you are!  As I had the place entirely to myself during the three middle of the weekdays I stayed I chose a spot pretty near the water.

The Tank's site....right by the water.

Here's the data sheet for Lake Byre:

Hookups:                                             None                                                                          

Fire ring:                                              No                                                                              

Water Access:                                     Yes                                                                 

Fresh Water:                                        No                                                      

Trash Service:                                      Yes                                                     

Toilets:                                                Yes (vault)                                                     

Showers:                                             No                                                                              

Dump station:                                      No                                                      

WiFi:                                                   No                                                      

Level sites:                                          No                                                      

Laundry:                                              No                                                                  

Store:                                                  No                                                                              

Pool:                                                   No                                                      

Shade:                                                No                                                      

Verizon reception:                               4G, 3 bars                                           

Internet reception:                               3 bars              

Cost:                                                 Free for 4 days

From the brown grass in the recreational area it was obvious that this part of South Dakota had suffered under a prolonged drought but Mother Nature remedied that the second night I was there with a massive thunderstorm with extremely high winds that had the Tank a-rockin' but fortunately there wasn't any hail to speak of so no damage to the Tank.

The boat launch and fishing pier --nobody used them the whole time!

There were so many fish jumping in Lake Byre in the mornings I almost wished I'd paid for a South Dakota fishing stamp but states really tend to nail the out-of-stater with the stamp costs and unless I was going to stay somewhere for a month or so it's just to costly to own stamps from states that I'm just passing through.

A little peninsula that goes out into the lake that you could easily fish from.

The day after the storm it was still pretty dark and cloudy but I didn't have to worry about whether or not I could charge all my electronics by solar because there's one covered picnic area at the park that had a single working electrical outlet that I worked under while my stuff charged up.

It is REALLY quiet at the rec area, which I loved, almost as much as having a nice sized lake all to  myself!  I'm pretty sure that if I had come there on a weekend there would have been other campers and locals but if you go there on a week day don't be surprised if you get a little lonely!  The Lake Byre Recreational Area definitely goes on my "Will Return" list.

Thanks for reading!