Awesome State Park

Everything about this park is exactly what we wanted, beautiful park, lots of wildlife, historical sites and helpful staff. To make this park 110% on the visit it agan would be to add water at the sites, perhaps the winters wouldn't allow. We loved our visit, lots of walking trails, we rented kayaks and enjoyed everything.
 Hunter Reed
7/27/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  5.0

Fishing at oakwood

 Retired camper
7/27/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Great value

 Moses
7/24/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Long camping weekend

 RFM
7/23/2026
Overall Experience  4.3

Pleasant

 Tapatio
7/17/2026
Overall Experience  4.8

Great park

The campground is wonderful, but please put in more showers. One shower house is not enough for all the campers.
 Pete
7/15/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  4.3
Facilities  3.4

Disappointed

We were excited to stay at Oakwood. Had many recommendations to go there. As we are tent campers we were disappointed With our stay. The people across from us in campers were out using a leaf blower at 1:30 in the morning to start their fire and left their LED lights on all night that shined into our tent. I seen the camp host once when we first got there and that’s it. No enforcement on quiet time in the park between 11-6.
 Camp site t1
7/15/2026
Overall Experience  2.3
Services  2.3
Facilities  3.8

horse camp

Would love to see electric hookups. My grandkids 7-10, like to ride at Oakwood because the trails aren't too difficult and they love having the arena to practice skills that we can't do at home. Please put the sign back up that lets people know the arena is not a pasture/grazing area while they go swim or whatever. We also love the option of renting kayaks
 Horse grandma
7/8/2026
Overall Experience  4.8
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.9

Happy Campers

 Great Facility
6/29/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Happy Camper

I was totally impressed with this park! It was well taken care of (it looks like a golf course!!), but with a lot of trees - I hope they don't loss any more of them!!! We had a cabin near the comfort station - which I truly love, not far from the cabins making it very handy!!! Loved their events on the weekends calendar. Surprisingly, their 'quiet time' is at 11pm, however the campers that were there - they ended up being quiet around 9:30-10pm - there were just a few still up quietly visiting around the campfires after that time. Our site was Cabin 2 - Founding cabins very close to the outhouse and comfort stations in campground 1 - wish ALL state parks have that, making it more user friend for even those with medical issues!! I will be back because of that!! Unfortunately so many SD Parks don't have that luxury. Only thing I would love to see at this park, meaning it is so far from a town (void Bruce, SD - they don't have a grocery store or a gas station with a convenience store) having the following at the main office; ice machine, a convenience store - like at a gas station minimum for basic supplies, and a small laundromat. Why am I saying this - we had to go to Brookings, SD (about 17-20 miles one way to the Walmart and add about 1-2 miles to the laundromat -meaning we had stayed at Oakwood Lake for 8 nights in one of their cabins). The last thing is a "fish cleaning station". The closest one to this park is about 15 miles away. Meaning this park is surrounded by water - it would be nice to have something at their boat ramp area (it is center located within this park between the two campgrounds 1 and 2 and easy access for the ones that caught fish from their boats, user friendly!!). These are suggests - but it would make it a lot easier for those that don't have a RV. Don't forget us that camp with either the smaller RVs, Tents or Cabins (it is not just the larger RVs). We saw a lot of tent, cabin-usage, and the smaller RV (very limited on storage within their unit) . Thanks for listening!!
 Happy Camper
6/26/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.5

One of the Best Parks

It would be really helpful if you would put a dumpster in campground#2 instead of a quarter to a half a mile away. It is very inconvenient for those of us that stay in that area. Also we had no internet as stated as part of the perks this year.
 Moola
6/23/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  4.7
Facilities  4.3

Pleased

Our girls capsized their canoe in high winds out on the main lake. Ranger staff acted swiftly and recovered the canoe and our girls and returned them safely. Their swift action is greatly appreciated.
 Grateful Grandpa
6/18/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  4.8
Facilities  4.9

Well kept

Nice campground, but needs a fish cleaning station.
 sd_marine
6/17/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  4.8
Facilities  4.8

Park stay

 [email protected]
6/15/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Bad trees

The tree next to the site was half dead and the tree behind the site needed trimming so as to not effect our camper.
 OWLSP#81
6/12/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.8

Wonderful

 Camper 33
6/5/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Oakwood cabin experience

Cabin 6 is an okay location to stay, having to walk or drive to the bathroom with running water was our main down side. We did have a screen door that didn't latch. We enjoyed having a place to stay out of the rain. The ticks came out when we went for our usual walks throughout the park trails. We had a relaxing weekend in the park the weekend after memorial day.
 Naturefrog
6/4/2026
Overall Experience  4.5
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.1

Nice park

Bath house was very clean. The guys on the mowers did an excellent job-the park looked excellent (like someone cared about their job!). Only complaint is that the people on our site prior to us left big logs that weren't suitable for burning, not to mention that outside firewood is not allowed in the parks.
 Jacks
6/2/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.4

Always come back

 Betty
5/30/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Memorial weekend

 LPN1970
5/28/2026
Overall Experience  5.0

Memorial weekend camping trip

 Jd
5/28/2026
Overall Experience  4.0

last minute site

 refugee
5/28/2026
Overall Experience  4.8
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.8

Great weekend, but a few campers were were noisy into the AM. I wish there was still a brush/privacy barrier between the campers and the tent area.

 Tyler
5/26/2026
Overall Experience  4.8

Peace and Quiet

We enjoyed the quiet campground! Not a lot of people around but we have always had a good experience staying at this campground. The restrooms are clean and the staff is friendly! It's nice to walk the trails around the lake as well.
 Camper Queen
5/18/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.6

AMAZING

Becky was my point of contact & she made sure everything was perfect. We held my daughters wedding at the park. She had a large dumptster brought over & also brought down 3 extra picnic tables. The cabins were in perfect shape.
 MANNY
5/17/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  5.0

State park stay

I have been coming to Oakwood for 25 years and never had a bad experience;)
 jimmy
3/27/2026
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.9

Almost Forgotten

We arrived at our cabin a little after the allowed time of 4PM and found that we were unable to gain access using the last 4 digits of the phone number used to book the reservation. Since this was a winter stay, and a Sunday, there was no park staff available to assist. I had to call a number in Pierre (that only stays operable until 6PM) and after about 15 minutes on the phone, the operator said someone would be coming to help in about 20 minutes. After another 30 or so minutes a park employee showed up in a personal vehicle and apologized for the inconvenience and stated they didn’t realize there was a reservation booked for the night (I had booked 3 days prior). She then proceeded to clean the cabin as it had not been done since the last guest stay. We finally gained access around 6PM. This was a frustrating and stressful process for something that costs as much as it does to rent.
 MtnManJayDoor
2/21/2026
Overall Experience  2.8
Services  3.3
Facilities  3.0

Where's the electricity

I hate that there isn't any electricity at the horse unit. The recent expansion of Palisades State Park was very disappointing as well in that horses are still not allowed in the grassy parts of the park. I even offered to help mow and designate the trails! Residents would like a place to ride off the roads and ditches, and this would have been a great opportunity for horse enthusiasts (it STILL could be!!). Remember, the State Sport is rodeo!! I was thrilled to see the hydrants and bathroom added to Newton Hills Horse Unit. That is awesome!! However, as a grandmother, Oakwood is the better park because there is more to do for kids. We ride horses in the morning, (the arena is awesome!) then we take the dog for a walk along the same trails, let him wade in the water, and then we get the bikes and ride through the campground and to the beach. We love the park, just would like to see the electricity added to the horse unit. We'd come up a lot more!!
 SD horse lover
10/18/2025
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0

Bushes

We always love camping at Oakwood. Nice park and always clean a friendly staff. The thing we did not like is the keep taking all the bushes and small trees out. That was nice privacy and great wind breakers on some sites. I understand cleaning some out but they are taking all of them out. It was nice having wind breaks and some privacy with some and now they are all gone.
 Ditchcreek
10/17/2025
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  5.0

Oakwood is a gem!

Oakwood has such an array of great parks, spread out campsites with great mature tree coverage, easy trails, and the cleanest bathrooms. Love that the bathroom facility has a family unit on one end with bathroom and shower in 1, huge plus for a family with a few kids under 10.
 Zboys
10/6/2025
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  5.0

Very nice

The sites are nice and large so you don't feel like you are on top of each other. Nice mature trees to give lots of shade. The tent area has so much space you can easilty put 2 tents on each site. 1 improvement would be to have walk in carts provided to be able to carry stuff in rom the parking area. Staff doesn't like it when you park on the grass. And the swings could use some grease. We could hear the squeak across the gounds.
 ManateeLuv09
10/2/2025
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  4.8
Facilities  4.4

Oakwood fun

 Jane Does
10/2/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

camping

 grumpy
10/2/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Beautiful Autumn colors

 NS
9/29/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Fall Camping

Really nice camp. Very relaxed in the Fall.
 GP Square
9/26/2025
Overall Experience  4.0
Services  4.0
Facilities  3.6

Great stay

 Family advocate
9/23/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Nice campground

 NA
9/21/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Nice campground

 NA
9/21/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Nice campground

 NA
9/21/2025
Overall Experience  4.8

Camping Trip

 Cam
9/11/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Oakwood camping trip

 J_Dog1
9/11/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Oakwood

Water pressure needs to be addressed at the bath houses.
 Cheeto
9/8/2025
Overall Experience  3.8

Pleasant stay

Quite park for the most part plenty of space between campers, it’s a Great Lake for kayaking and they have a nice launch and rentals in campground 2
 Jim N
9/2/2025
Overall Experience  3.3
Services  4.4
Facilities  4.2

nice park

 Jacks
8/25/2025
Overall Experience  4.3

Weekend fun

 Retired campers
8/24/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Mosquitos

Park staff sprayed the evening we arrived. The mosquitoes were thick before and after spraying. If you aren’t handicapped please let those of us that are use the designated handicap shower.
 Grandma Camper
8/23/2025
Overall Experience  4.3
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.2

Nice weekend except mosquitoes

 Campfreak
8/23/2025
Overall Experience  4.5

Great week

 Moola
8/23/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Oakwood Lakes is the best!

Oakwood Lakes State Park is our favorite! Grounds are well maintained and restrooms are updated and clean. Staff is wonderful!
 TB
8/17/2025
Overall Experience  5.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.7

Our weekend at Oakwood Lake State Park was wonderful. That is a great campground,, the campsites are well spread out and trees everywhere very well kept. Staff was great also.

 Quiz#3 Our weekend at Oakwood Lake State Park was wonderful. That is a great campground,, the campsites are well spread out and trees everywhere very well kept. Staff was great also.
8/13/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

What a calm stay

 Campnforfun
8/13/2025
Overall Experience  4.0

Always a pleasure to camp at Oakwood

Loved the flowers and plants by the comfort station. The comfort stations were very wet and slippery. We had grandkids that hurried in and slipped which had me, a senior citizen, concerned about falling. Maybe a fan to help dry it up after cleaning?
 Grandma
8/11/2025
Overall Experience  4.0
Services  5.0
Facilities  4.7

Fun time, would like more shore access for fishing

 Shawn
8/11/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Camping

 dorseygirl605
8/11/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Favorite trails

 Bc
8/7/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

Great State Park

 Katherine Scott
8/2/2025
Overall Experience  5.0

get away

Very nice campground we have stayed there many of times never disappointed . One thing I would like the parks to do is look at the sites and do some tree trimming . With campers getting taller and more slides there needs to be more tree trimming. We have stayed at three state parks so far this year and all of them could use some trimming Branches rubbing on slides and roofs. Thank You
 camp-a-lot
7/30/2025
Overall Experience  4.5
Services  4.7