Community Forums

Papa_Jim · 10-06-2018, 06:00 AM

We're in Pennsylvania, slowly heading home to Canada. We can go through Mount Rushmore territory next week.

Suggestions please on RV parks around Mount Rushmore and excellent things to do/see there.

Thanks in advance,
Jim

rasublett · 10-06-2018, 06:10 AM

We were just there about 6 weeks ago. We stayed at Custer state park in the stockade north campground. Only electric hookup but nice large sites. The Needles Highway connects the park with Mount Rushmore. Fantastic scenic route with one lane tunnels and pigtail bridges. But tunnels are small so cannot drive RV through them. South of Custer state park is wind cave national park. On the road there are herds of buffalo crossings and prairie dog towns. We loved our stay in Custer SP.

guardrail53 · 10-06-2018, 08:36 AM

We just stayed at Bever Lake CG, in Custer for 2 weeks! It is a nice, CG, but dusty! A lot of the CG's close for the season around Oct. so call ahead to make sure! They have already had snow this year!
There are many in the area around Mt. Rushmore, we use Rvparky.com to find all the listings, and read the reviews to make our short list, then call, and see which one will work! We have also stayed at Custer Sp. At the Gamelodge CG. Very nice big level sites! Electric only, but they have convenient dump and fresh water!
Rail!

Busskipper · 10-06-2018, 08:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa_Jim

We're in Pennsylvania, slowly heading home to Canada. We can go through Mount Rushmore territory next week.

Suggestions please on RV parks around Mount Rushmore and excellent things to do/see there.

Thanks in advance,
Jim

Generally we suggest Custer the Town and/or Custer State Park as a home base for the area -lot's to see and do - the drives in and around the area are super and IMHO a great reason to visit the area.

Home - is a CampGround we used and Enjoyed - Close to Town - Private - Close to State Park ad just worked well for us.

Old Post that might help - https://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/f...5.cfm#29741435

Hope this helps out,

Gordon Dewald · 10-06-2018, 09:01 AM

We stayed at Beaver Lake near Custer. Nice campground.

Close to Crazy Horse, reasonable distance to Rushmore. Take the Needles Highway. Also close to the Mickelson Trail.

Robmat · 10-06-2018, 09:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Papa_Jim

Suggestions please on RV parks around Mount Rushmore and excellent things to do/see there.

We too stayed at Beaver Lake Campground in Custer a few summers ago and found it to be a great location to see it all. I would recommend that you take in the Custer State Park. It has a paved road around the park but make sure you take in the gravel roads that cross the center of the park that is where you will see the wildlife. Also from Custer State Park take the Iron Mountain Road to Mount Rushmore near the end you will go through a short tunnel pointing to Mount Rushmore (a classic photo location). On the way back we took the Needles Highway. Check to see if some of the roads through the mountains are closed in the winter.

becks · 10-06-2018, 10:00 AM

Rafter J Bar is another good choice.

WDW · 10-06-2018, 12:29 PM

KOA in Spearfish is central to all points in the region. We enjoy exploring with our Jeep, so driving 40 miles to an attraction is in our playbook. But you’d better check the weather, region forecast was not RV friendly.

Road Pilot · 10-06-2018, 01:01 PM

We stayed at the Rafter J Bar which is close to Rushmore. It is a great campground. We've also stayed at the KOA in Custer and Elkhorn Ridge in Spearfish. Tons to do from Spearfish down to Custer SP.

HavingABlast · 10-06-2018, 03:14 PM

We were winging it as usual and tried for Rafter J Bar (as recommended by many on the forum). It it was booked. We stayed at Custer’s Gulch (just outside of Custer) Nice place. Very quiet. No road noise.

BirchyBoy · 10-06-2018, 06:50 PM

We are at Stockade North campground in Custer State Park for a second night tonight. We were going to stay until Monday but a winter storm is coming. It is an electric only site. The dump station is not convenient; it’s a few miles away in another area of the park. We will stay here again for sure.

We went around the wildlife loop today, dumped then went to Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore. My wife didn’t think she was interim Mt Rushmore until she saw it.

rasublett · 10-06-2018, 07:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rasublett

We were just there about 6 weeks ago. We stayed at Custer state park in the stockade north campground. Only electric hookup but nice large sites. The Needles Highway connects the park with Mount Rushmore. Fantastic scenic route with one lane tunnels and pigtail bridges. But tunnels are small so cannot drive RV through them. South of Custer state park is wind cave national park. On the road there are herds of buffalo crossings and prairie dog towns. We loved our stay in Custer SP.

Correction it’s the Iron Mountain Rd between Custer SP and mt Rushmore. Needles Highway is to Sylvan Lake. Both are scenic.

Papa_Jim · 10-07-2018, 01:55 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. Working on it. It's beginning to look like we might land into Mount Rushmore about Oct 15.

Any weather info I look up seems to show good weather for that time, but it looks like many of the CGs are closed then anyway

Jim