Custer, South Dakota area recommendations

[youroo]

Originally Posted by HATCHET19

Wife and I are planning a trip to the Custer South Dakota area in mid September. Planning on staying a week or so. I've been reading Campground reviews for a few days now, but thought I would ask here as well. We are traveling in a 35 foot Class A with our dog. We prefer campgrounds that are not crowded and have lots of trees and shade. The resort type campgrounds are too expensive and have lots of stuff we don't want or need. I am looking at 2 campgrounds in Custer State Park. The Game Lodge Campground and the Stockade North Campground. Neither of us have been to South Dakota before. So I guess I'm looking for some firsthand suggestions for this area. Thanks for your input.

hatchet

You didn't say if you had a "Toad",this will limit "Some" of the "Neat Tunnel Roads to the Heads"! Youroo!!

[fmjnathan]

Dutchman campground is very nice. Located at Deerfield Lake (elevation 6,000 ft) it is a bit from Custer, but not too far. Site 22 will handle your rig and give you a nice view. White tail campground is also there, but only a few sites will fit. Recreation.gov is your best bet for more info. The whole Black Hills are filled with very nice spots. It's a good place to live.

[keith_h]

We stayed at the Blue Bell campground in site 9E this past May for a few nights. The sites were all good sized and the area was fully treed. While the camground is on a hill the sites themselves were all fairly level. The bathhouse was older but very clean and well maintained. The sites are electric only. We also ate at the Blue Bell Lodge restaurant one nite which is an easy walk from the campground. There is no dump station so we used the one near the East exit as we left. We are planning another trip out that way in a couples of years and based on our recent visit will likely stay at Blue Bell again.

As far as RV sizes I saw several large 5th wheels fitting sites just fine. The campground information on the website provides site sizes and has pictures.

[BuzzWolfAR]

I stayed at The Roost two months ago. Is a very small campground but meticulously clean and great location. About 1 mile from town and 1 mile for the entrance to Custer State Park.

Won't work for a big rig as the property is relatively small, but a great place to stay.

[CTGREG]

We have been to Game Lodge twice. LOVE IT! Lot of space between sites but make sure you go to the state park web site to select your site. They are all back in but VERY easy! Only have 50 amp hookups, but the water and dump station in Game Lodge very easy. Sites 11-15 are very good. I have also stayed at 18E Also very good. Family members stayed at 19, 21 and 7. Everyone had a 5th wheel so a Class A,B or C would be no problem. At the times we were there the rates went from 20-23.00 per night. Tat is a great rate for the Black Hills. SD State Parks has a great website that you can see photos of the actual site that you may be interested in. The space between sites is great. A minimum of 50 feet between most of the sites.

[CTGREG]

Suggest that you see needle highway, in the toad of course, Hill City a must, Alpine Inn in Hill City, Deadwood, and of course Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse. Lots to see and do in the hills. Sivan Lake is one of the most picture perfect places for a picnic! The Game Loop road in the park is a must. Don't be disappointed if you don't see the Buffalos, wild burros, prairie dogs, etc overtime. They tend to come out to avoid the intense heat. Probably best in the am and in the afternoon before dusk. Keystone was OK, but I felt a little more touristy with all of the souvenir stores etc. I will try to post photos of Custer State Park trip later.

[CTGREG]

I have other posts on this thread. As the travel from one side of SD to the other is about 350-400 miles into the hills, I recommend a couple of stops in SD. Sioux Falls is a great city with great parks. There is a French pastry shop in all places in Sioux Falls that is AWSOME! The owner had been rated in the top 10 french pastry chefs in the US. The shop is called CH Patisserie. Website is CHPASTRIES.COM He will also be opening a custom made small batch Ice Cream shop downtown. The Falls Park in town is very nice. But before you get to Sioux Falls, one of our go to stopovers is at Grand Falls Casino in I believe Larchwood, Iowa? GRANDFALLSCASINORESORT.COM It is just east of Sioux Falls. They have a limited number of pull through camp sites with full hookups for 20.00 a night. Now as you go across the state, I recommend stopping in Chamberlain area for fuel and stop to look over the Missouri River. Nice stop for lunch. Don't forget Wall Drug. Very much a tourist stop icon, but you can say you went there. You might be there for a hour or two. I neglected to mention the Minuteman Missile historic site. Might be a worthwhile stopover for about a hour. Now when you are in the hills, try to see a performance of Brule. BRULERECORDS.COM That is a well known Native American (Lakota Sioux) band. I have seen them perform at least three times and have never been disappointed. Believe one of their permenent performance venues is in the Black Hills but I am no sure of the name of that location. I do know that they will be in Yankton, SD August 20.

[aspengirl]

Originally Posted by CTGREG

We have been to Game Lodge twice. LOVE IT! Lot of space between sites but make sure you go to the state park web site to select your site. They are all back in but VERY easy! Only have 50 amp hookups, but the water and dump station in Game Lodge very easy. Sites 11-15 are very good. I have also stayed at 18E Also very good. Family members stayed at 19, 21 and 7. Everyone had a 5th wheel so a Class A,B or C would be no problem. At the times we were there the rates went from 20-23.00 per night. Tat is a great rate for the Black Hills. SD State Parks has a great website that you can see photos of the actual site that you may be interested in. The space between sites is great. A minimum of 50 feet between most of the sites.

We've stayed there several times and they do have 30 amp sites. If you click on the sites on the reservation map, it will show 30-amp. Just in case the 50 amp mentioned above would scare anyone off.

[CTGREG]

[CTGREG]

Some photos of Custer State Park and our layover place at Grand Falls Casino. Grand Falls not so special but cheap for a overnight layover spot

[aspengirl]

Originally Posted by CTGREG

I have other posts on this thread. As the travel from one side of SD to the other is about 350-400 miles into the hills, I recommend a couple of stops in SD. Sioux Falls is a great city with great parks. There is a French pastry shop in all places in Sioux Falls that is AWSOME! The owner had been rated in the top 10 french pastry chefs in the US. The shop is called CH Patisserie. Website is CHPASTRIES.COM He will also be opening a custom made small batch Ice Cream shop downtown. The Falls Park in town is very nice. But before you get to Sioux Falls, one of our go to stopovers is at Grand Falls Casino in I believe Larchwood, Iowa? GRANDFALLSCASINORESORT.COM It is just east of Sioux Falls. They have a limited number of pull through camp sites with full hookups for 20.00 a night. Now as you go across the state, I recommend stopping in Chamberlain area for fuel and stop to look over the Missouri River. Nice stop for lunch. Don't forget Wall Drug. Very much a tourist stop icon, but you can say you went there. You might be there for a hour or two. I neglected to mention the Minuteman Missile historic site. Might be a worthwhile stopover for about a hour. Now when you are in the hills, try to see a performance of Brule. BRULERECORDS.COM That is a well known Native American (Lakota Sioux) band. I have seen them perform at least three times and have never been disappointed. Believe one of their permenent performance venues is in the Black Hills but I am no sure of the name of that location. I do know that they will be in Yankton, SD August 20.

Unless Brule has changed locations, the permanent performance venue is at Hill City ... another fun little city to check out when traveling to the Black Hills.

[mogman]

Last summer we stayed at Ft Welikit just outside of Custer. Lots of trees and shaded pull thru sites. We drove right thru the middle of Sturgis during Bike Week. A wonderful experience.

[allenb12]

We stayed at Beaver Lake in Custer. Really enjoyed the camp ground. The state park is wonderful.

[BuzzWolfAR]

I loved staying at The Roost. Very small, but very nice people.

[tumbleweed gypsy]

Just got back from staying 5 nights at Big Pines in Custer. Beautiful park & great host's 😄

[knockando]

Rafter-J is the way to go if you want full hookups. Game Lodge or Blue Bell if you want to stay in Custer Park (electric only) which is our favorite.

[67L48]

I'm biased toward CSP. It's just so pretty, animals everywhere, and it's the epitome of outdoor camping, to me. And, it can be as remote or as convenient as you want, since there are myriad campgrounds within.

We stayed in Stockade Lake South, CSP 3 years ago. Really a great campground, but for 25' or less. So, that's out for you.

I have booked reservations in Stockade Lake North, CSP for 2018. I like the Stockade Lake CGs due to proximity to Keystone, Rushmore, and other places. There is a ton to do in the area, so you want to be able to easily access the road system. For example, Sylvan Lake is one of the prettiest spots and has the scenic lake there (e.g., National Treasure 2) ... but it is a bear to get in and out of.

Bluebell looks very pretty, but it's farther south along the game road in CSP ... so, again, you're not as conveniently located to the road system. Game Lodge looks too RV Park-ish to me -- racked and stacked layout. Not my thing.

You can check out campsitephotos.com for a site-by-site photo library of every single campsite of every single campground. The CSP site also has photos. This makes it possible to see at least 2 angles of every site.

As mentioned above, you need to act fast. CSP has a 12-month booking window, so things fill fast.

Good luck.

[SailorSam20500]

Reopening the newest of old threads that came up in a search I made.

We are planning a visit to Mt. Rushmore in May and are thinking of staying at Fort Welikit Family Campground. They have some good reviews but noted that the CG is on a hill. Issue was that sites at the bottom of the hill can flood if it's rainy. I can't tell which sites are where. We are looking for a 30amp FHU site. Looks like 46, 51-57, and 69-80 meet our needs. Can anyone point me at the higher sites?

TIA

[DaveAlb]

We camped at Stockade Lake last year in a smaller unit. Not sure if it was N or S...but really enjoyed it and the beauty. The Wildlife Loop is a lot of fun to see great wildlife on, especially bison herds. We drove it in the evening. Custer State Park is first rate!