Stockade North and South Custer State Park Review

We brainstorm our visit to the beautiful and very pop Custer State Park.

I arrived at Custer State Park belatedly on Sabbatum.

At that place are nine campgrounds in the park and they are all on the reservation arrangement. At Custer you tin can reserve a site one twelvemonth in accelerate. This is the crown jewel of South Dakota's Country Parks and information technology fills up fast. Notwithstanding, 1 campground, Center Lake, works a scrap differently. You can only make same twenty-four hours reservations. That means yous retrieve the reservation office at 6:00am mountain time to get a spot starting that twenty-four hour period and have to be there past 10:00pm. Like all campgrounds here, the limit is fourteen days. That's what I did on Saturday morning before leaving Badlands.

There were only two tent sites left and I nabbed i of them.

Sunday I collection into the town of Custer City, near 13 miles away, for shopping and laundry duties. I also bought an ant feeder. Very useful here. No mosquitos or biting flies, just pesty flies. Ant food.

Just earlier that I walked down to the lake at sunrise.

The mist coming off the lake was very, umm, misty.

Looked like dancing ghosts.

On Monday I drove around looking for cell reception and so I could write and post the concluding weblog. I plant a expert spot at the solar day use area on Stockade Lake.

As I was finishing up the rain started to fall.

Aye. It has rained every mean solar day here. Not for long and usually in the afternoons accompanied by thunderstorms. I accept finally figured out the cause of the bad weather that seems to plague my trips. Me. Merely I will get into that later.

Over the adjacent few days I visited all the campgrounds in the park except Sylvan Lake. I have reservations there next week for a couple of days that I made in dorsum in March.

This is my site at Center Lake, number 3.

I am glad I got a tent site because they have squeamish gravel pads that drain water very well…

There are two loops hither with a total of 71 sites, but no electricity. The lake is a 2 minute flat walk from the lower loop and slightly longer and very steep walk from the upper loop.

If you can, ask for site xx.

It'due south at the finish of the lower loop, flat, easy to back into, and next to a creek. And it'south very large.

Anyway, permit's go check out some campgrounds.

There are 27 sites here, some with power. In fact, all the other campgrounds in the park offer sites with electricity so I won't bother mentioning it again. Half the sites are open, like number 2.

The residual are shaded along a creek that empties into a line-fishing pond.

I talked to some campers in that area. They take been coming to the same site at the same time for over 15 years. In fact, several other campers have been coming at the same time for many years. They telephone call them their camping friends and have watched each other'southward kids abound up. Their only connection is the fourth dimension they share at the campground. Kinda cool. They told me they made their reservation for side by side yr the day they got hither.

Across the road at that place are vi walk in tent sites. Several right along a bubbling beck. I liked number 26.

A few miles to the east is Game Lodge Campground.

Similar Coolidge, it'southward 57 sites are divided between open ones like number two,

And shaded ones like number 43.

They also take a very pretty bathroom business firm.

It's called Game Social club for a reason. Herds of hairy tacos seem to congregate in this area.

See the big balderdash on the left? He must of known what I was thinking because he gave me the evil eye.

I stopped back at campsite for lunch and idea of him.

I love alfalfa sprouts with tacos and burgers. Accept not been able to observe them in a while and it was a treat.

Legion Lake campground is nearly 6 miles west of Game Lodge.

There are 21 sites hither with numbers thirteen-15 having some shade. Hither is number xiv.

A few hundred anxiety away is Legion Lake.

There are four resorts in the park. Game Lodge, Legion Lake, Blueish Bell, and Sylvan Lake. I will check them out this week and characteristic them in my next blog mail service.

The dock in the left of the photograph above is the gunkhole rental concession at Legion Lake Resort.

Another 5 miles w is Stockade Lake.

This is the solar day use expanse and beach where I practise my uploads.

There are two campgrounds that share this lake. Due north and S.

South has 24 sites and I was impressed past number 12 the most.

It has a rock fireplace, electricity, and enough of room to spread out.

I found an even improve military camp at Stockade North.

There are 42 sites here spread around under the pine trees. Get number 37 if yous can.

I had to accept this photograph from a distance to show the size of the site. There were people lounging on chairs in the commencement bit of shade beneath the trailer. Through the magic of Photoshop I was able to delete them. I hope information technology didn't hurt too much.

Between the ii campgrounds and on the other side of the road is Bismarck, a National Forest Service campground.

Y'all have to enter Custer Country Park to get to it but if you don't programme on exploring Custer (highly doubtful) you can avoid the $fifteen entrance fee, expert for seven days, or the $thirty almanac fee.

I currently have four annual State Park passes on my auto. Colorado ($70), Nebraska ($25), South Dakota, and Minnesota ($thirty). I'll try to remember to go a photo some fourth dimension. I also take the National Park laissez passer ($lxxx) which covers entrance fees to all federal lands. California charges, at last look, $250 for their annual pass and that doesn't include parking at some of the more popular beaches. Gotta love the Golden State.

Only I digress.

Bismarck has 23 sites, no hookups, and was booked solid for upcoming weekend. This is site 21.

Maybe information technology had something to do with lake and, co-ordinate to the people I talked to, the splendid angling.

Heading dorsum east and south 10 miles nosotros come across the horse area of Custer and Blue Bell campground.

There are 35 sites here and since the Sturgis Bike Rally was starting the next day, Friday, Harley'south were starting to sprout like mushrooms, like in site 33.

You can hire (lease?) a horse here for trail rides.

Merely the existent horse crowd heads 3 miles upwardly a dirt road to French Creek Horse Camp.

Near a mile up the road I was flagged down by a gal on a horse holding another by the bridle. The conversation went something like this:

"Can I aid you?"

"Are you heading up to the horse campsite?"

"Yep"

"I demand a favor"

"Certain"

"Can y'all tell a gal named Bernice that her daughter Bell fell off her horse. She isn't hurt but refuses to become back on. She needs to bring a friend and drive back hither to the span (we were at a bridge, luckily) and pick up Bong in the machine"

"Um, I accept heard that if you fall off a horse you need to get right back on"

"Aye, but she won't. She's just ten"

"OK, how volition I detect Bernice?"

"She has a red Ford F350"

I left and headed towards the campground. There are simply 26 sites. How hard could it be to detect a red Ford truck.

Very easy, every bit it turned out. There were 8 of them. I finally found the correct i and Bernice and her friend left to pick up the daughter and equus caballus.

Anyway, site ix was i of my favorites, fifty-fifty though it was the wrong truck.

The horses gave me a expect as I left but I told them not to worry.

Not still, anyhow.

Friday I took a break from visiting campgrounds and went for a bulldoze upwards the Needles Highway.

Those are the Needles on SD 87, not a great photo, but I plan on doing more of that stuff this coming week.

There are also a few tunnels on this road, the narrowest being a mere 8 feet 4 inches wide. Seriously.

It gets a little narrower as you caput into it.

Neato.

On either side of the tunnel the road has two lanes which acquired quite a bottleneck as cars and motorcycles ventured in at the same time from contrary directions.

I finally made it to Hill City, 20 miles north of Custer SP, still about that distance s from Sturgis if not more.

The roads were getting crowded and I wanted to get back to camp before dark, so I turned around and headed dorsum due south.

Saturday morning at 3:30am. A massive thunderstorm hit the area.

I turned on my phone to capture the sounds and the lightning flashes using the video recorder. It didn't pick upwardly most of the flashes, which were happening almost constantly, in fact the video is mostly blackness, but the bigger ones testify the inside of my tent. And the sound of pelting and thunder. It's only 2 minutes long. Turn up your volume.

Around noon, later processing all the previous campgrounds at my site and heading towards my upload area at Stockade Lake, I passed by this on the side of the road near Legion Lake.

Yeah. It was melting apace but we did become a skilful dose of snow/hail in Baronial. A ranger told me that they had to plow the streets of Custer City and the tunnels on Needles route were blocked. The ones I went through the day before.

Then I finally figured information technology out. I am a Pelting Maker. Wherever I get the water follows. And that could exist a good thing. Maybe I should showtime camping ground in drought-stricken areas. The Moisture Human.

I volition let you know how that works out afterwards. For now I withal have Yellowstone ahead in September. Place your bet on an early snowfall.

Regards, Park Ranger

lindgrenwhatiall.blogspot.com

Source: https://www.campsitephotos.com/blog/campground-reviews-adventures/custer-state-park-part-one/

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