Late-Season Camping In The Black Hills

More money is rolling into the Black Hills, thanks to late-season campers.

The changing colors in and around Spearfish Canyon have area campgrounds seeing green.

Just a couple days ago, this campground was packed.  All you need to do is take one look around to see why.

"The weather is quite nice, the colors are wonderful and, like I say, the places are uncrowded.  Not only the campgrounds but other scenic sites and such," camper Russ Larsen said.

For the owners of this Spearfish campground, the autumn scenery tops off a successful year.

"We've had a really good season with the warm weather starting in April. We had a lot of good weather then and tourists out early," Chris's Campground owner Lanna Christensen said.

Although many people think that the camping season ends after Labor Day weekend, that's just not the case for much of the Black Hills.  The owners at Chris's Campground in Spearfish say that the changing fall colors bring people into the area all through September and into October.

"The weekend before is always the Southern Hills' big thing with the Buffalo Roundup, and then we get the Northern Hills for last weekend, which was very busy," Christensen said.

And it's a specific group of people who make up most of the late-season campers.

"It's mostly retirees, I'm sure, who are traveling. You know the place is beautiful and you've got all the space you want," Larsen said.

It's space that Chris's Campground is more than happy to share.

"Get out there and see our scenery and happy camping!" Christensen said.

The fall colors in Spearfish Canyon hit their peak last week. However, places like Chris's Campground plan to stay open year round.