South Dakota camping

[Oldtimer]

Planning trip to SD next spring and looking for recommendations for camping locations. We will be mainly looking to stay in the Custer , Mount Rushmore areas as there is a lot to see in this area. Appreciate any and all suggestions.
Thank you
David n Vicki

[cpaharley2008]

There is KOA located within the Badlands NP by Wall, SD which is another site to explore, Wall Drug, the "South Dakota equivalent of South of the Border advertising".....

[Oldtimer]

Tks Jim not a big fan of Koa kinda looking for smaller camp ground one tends to be packed in like sardines in a koa lol

[padlin]

We stayed at Blue Bell in Custer SP and did all our sightseeing right from there other then the Badlands, at which we stayed in their campground, Cedar Pass. If you go west out of the badlands on Sage Creek Rd there is another small park cg, Sage Creek, with no hookups that was a lot cheaper then the one we used.


Sage Creek CG is pretty much out in the middle of nothing.

[NEWYORKHILLBILLY]

Custer state park is a great place to stay..

[Vermilye]

I've stayed at the Badlands Interior Motel & Campground next to the park in 2014. Don't know it is the same, but fairly open sites (for a commercial campground) back then.

[JStelly]

Legion Lake Campground at Custer SP is one of our favorites. It’s small, the sites are well spaced and it has a big bull Buffalo that walks though every day. It’s also about in the middle of the park so equidistant to a number of other attractions.

[alanmalk]

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

...We will be mainly looking to stay in the Custer ...

Photo of the Custer S.P. dump station.

[dfandrews]

Originally Posted by alanmalk

Photo of the Custer S.P. dump station.

By the way, that is the only dump station around, other than in private campgrounds.
Edit: When we camped in Custer SP in 2017, one of the rangers told us the only dump station was on the east side of the park. We were at Stockade Lake South, which was nice. No hookups.

[Ruthe]

We spent a week at a private campground called "Wolf Camp" which is just outside of Custer State Park. Our preference would have been to stay in the park itself, but we hadn't made reservations and there was nothing available besides a primitive campground, which was quite nice actually but very hot and buggy -- we wanted air conditioning. Wolf Camp had a laid back kind of hamburger grille restaurant-- we didn't use it -- we weren't packed in too tightly, but if memory serves, there was a seasonal user next to us who never came. So the sites weren't huge but we had lots of room. And there was lots of open space in the campground itself. However, do your best to get reservations inside Custer.

In the Badlands we've stayed a couple of times in the campground in the National Park that someone else has mentioned. It was fine -- in the summer a site with electricity was important to us because it gets very hot. We were there once without electricity and we couldn't do much during the day. Just took cold showers and held still.

On our way to the Badlands from New Jersey we've often stopped in Sioux Falls where the best accommodations are in the Fairgrounds -- almost no one there, an accommodating host, clean bathrooms -- it's not fancy but it has served us well and is right near a bike path that goes for a long way. We enjoy Sioux Falls -- good restaurants and we like visiting the falls.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

Tks Jim not a big fan of Koa kinda looking for smaller camp ground one tends to be packed in like sardines in a koa lol

While this maybe true with KOA in metro areas but the Badlands KOA is pretty much spread out. Everything out there 30 minutes that way or 60 minutes this way. In addition you will not be there much during the day as too much to see elsewhere. They also have a ice cream social in evening and pancake breakfast in am. saves time cooking..also they have a large fenced in dog park if you travel with dogs.

[Oldtimer]

This koa just got put on the list to stay at tyvm. Momma n me greatly appreciate all the info n suggestion that y’all have given

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by Oldtimer

Planning trip to SD next spring and looking for recommendations for camping locations. We will be mainly looking to stay in the Custer , Mount Rushmore areas as there is a lot to see in this area. Appreciate any and all suggestions.
Thank you
David n Vicki

Hi David and Vicki
Sent you a private message on my thoughts on the black hills and the badlands. We’ve seined most of the big bait and some minnows too in the last 50 years visiting the Black Hills about 25 times. It’s under a thousand miles one way for us so made a good one week vacation when we were working and took vacations. Let me know if you have more questions.
Iowa Dave

[Oldtimer]

Got yer message Dave tyvm

[padlin]

If you are going up thru NE on 385, Chadron State Park was a real nice in the middle of nowhere park, just before you get into SD.

[Iowa Dave]

Originally Posted by padlin

If you are going up thru NE on 385, Chadron State Park was a real nice in the middle of nowhere park, just before you get into SD.

When we lived across the river from Omaha, the local TV station would give weather forecasts for towns all the way to western Nebraska. Chadron, Cozad and Valentine were memorable for the blizzards in the winter and violent weather especially in May and June. In later vacations I went out of my way a couple times to visit these towns and a couple times experienced big rainstorms with high winds. I was thankful I never dented a vehicle up with hail because they certainly have the weather for it at times. I drove around a storm while bringing the 21 back from Chilliwack and stayed in Holdrege Nebraska. A 120 mile extra detour south then East to come in behind the storm but it was worth it to me. Stayed in the city campground which wasn’t much but looked pretty good to me considering the circumstances.
Weather in western Nebraska makes Iowa weather look like a Sunday School picnic. Watch the radar and either keep driving to outrun big weather or hove to well short of where you’ve calculated the intersect. That’s some free advice.
Iowa Dave