Badlands Custer mount Rushmore

[Cdaddy]

Is it best to do 2 campgrounds in the area since it's spread out? Hoping to get to devils towar also but seems pretty far trip with nothing in between. We are spend 7 days in the area.

[Lake Huron]

Well, back when I was a kid in 88, we camped at the KOA at Mt Rushmore for a few days. We got there in the afternoon and saw the Mt in the evening. We left the next morning headed for Devils Tower. I thought it was only a couple hour drive there.

I'll never forget that KOA. We went to purchase some firewood from the store and that lady looked at us like we were completely out of our minds. That was the year they had the BIG wildfires out there. Dad told that lady that rain was coming that nite. She told him that if it rained she would refund him that nites stay. That evening we were catching a shuttle from the campground up the the Mt and the driver radioed in saying they were running behind because there was a bad hail storm up there that dropped 2" of hail and the roads were pretty bad. We got the shuttle ride up there, it was dark and they had no power from the storm. They finally got the power on to light up the faces on the Mt. Really cool to see it at nite. We took the shuttle back and the campground was half flooded from the monsoon that came blowing thru while we were up at the Mt. There was a river of red mud and water running right down the driveway they got so much rain and a bunch of tents got all shredded. Later that nite another monsoon set in and my brother and I tent got ripped all to shreds too. Theres more to the story that can go on for a while, but needless to say when we left the next morning dad got his money back. Lol! Good times!

[DocBrown]

It's about 1 to 1 1/2 hours drive from the Black Hills to the Badlands depending on where you are coming from. Unless you are doing some day hiking the Badlands are not that big and can be seen in a half a day of your time (There IS really good hiking in the Badlands). Afterward drive North and spend an hour or so at Wall Drug. Fun place, the epitome of cheesy road side attractions.

In other words the Badlands and Wall Drug are a day trip.

[curver900]

if you go from Mt. Rushmore to devils tower it is a full day 2 hours to drive there 2 hours back plus your 4 hours at devils tower which is probably more than enough time...

Get there early so you can park. During the summer it gets hot so early is always better.. don't go the second week of august unless you like motorcycles...

[jimp]

Wife and I were out in that area in '18, we did the Badlands 2x's cause we enjoyed it so much. The week long pass is not much more, actually cheaper than 2 day passes IIRC, and hopefully the $$ goes to a good cause.

[Jagiven]

Can't tell you about Devils Tower.

We tend to stay in West Stockade Lake CG, near the west entrance of Custer SP. We like it. As I recall it does not have full hookups. I feel that it is a good central location to jump off to many different areas. We commonly will do the wild life loop many nights, we have taken off to crazy horse, mount Rushmore, Hill City (1880's steam train), cave tours, and a lot more. We tend to stay 5-7 days. Wish it was a few hundred miles close.

Badlands is a Full days drive away. We stopped there early and spent one night. They do not take reservations, so get there before 3, and they will have lots of spaces still open. Also if you pick a site at 3, setup, eat an early dinner than go out to see the sites, there is no one around and you do not have to fight any crowds.

I see on the map it says it is 2 hours away . So it could be a day trip.

[Camper_bob]

We made the drive out to the Tower from Rafter J Bar Ranch. It's a long, boring drive, but it was worth it. A day trip is enough IMO. We drove out there, walked around the base, ate lunch and drove back to the Black Hills. DW and DS slept the whole 2 hrs back. We were able to go back to Rushmore that night to see the "lighting" ceremony. We toured it the previous day, and your parking pass is good for a year IIRC.

We also took a drive through Custer State Park and saw plenty of Bison and a few other critters.

We didn't make Badlands on that trip because DW was tired of being in the car, and my intent for Badlands was to drive the scenic loop and stop at the visitor center for a bit. We didn't intend to do any serious hiking out there. Instead, we took the 1880 steam train from Hill City to Keystone and toured a gold mine. My son lost his mind he had so much fun.

[RedHorse1]

We stayed at Big Pine in Custer SD and found it an excellent CG. We visited all the local sites including Devil’s Tower. The city of Custer is a bit touristy but we enjoyed it. Each evening the local wild turkeys would take a stroll thru the CG and put on a fine display.