camping in mount rushmore

[greaves]

I am taking the boys (6 and 10) to Mount Rushmore in June from Houston (if I don't lose my courage to drive cross-country). After Mount Rushmore we plan on going to yellowstone. Where are the good camp gounds? Also we are going to take the drive nice and easy - can anybody recomond stops or interesting thing to see along the way?

Thanks
Gmr 2006 2619 w/ honda pilot

[BobRederick]

Greaves
Been there, done that and have the T-shirt. I got a BS at the School of Mines in Rapid City. Now, THAT was a long time ago! I suggest you stay in Custer State Park for starters. Or at least go thru there. You can go to Rushmore from there and other places. Last time there, I stayed in Spearfish which is on the North boarder of the Black Hills. In fact, we rode ATCs from my Bro in law's house 40 miles into the BH.

Next stop for me was Code Wy. Check out the neat sporting goods store there which is a factory outlet. I kayaked on Island Lake, 8000 feet, in the snow!!! Rented the kayak at a local shop in Code. Also, don't miss the Buffalo Bill & gun museums there. They keep adding more gun vendors. I think it started Remington, but now is Colt and others. You will see the guns crafted for the CEOs of the respecitve companies and all kinds of other firearms.

From there, next stop is Yellowstone NP. If you are senior, it only costs $10 for Golden passport and $9 per night. You might want to get reservations there or else you will have to take which ever is open and that might be a longish drive. I had to camp south of the south loop and that made quite a long drive to visit the north loop. Fishing Bridge is the first one you come to and will no doubt be full, so if you like that location (in the middle), call ahead -- like right now.

If you take the south exit from Yellowstone, you will be in the Grand Tetons and following the Snake River. That river just kept calling my name for 100 miles or more and tempted me to get into a kayak. But I was on a short fuse for getting back to work and had to boogie right on past.

And lastly, get a resource on campgrounds. I used my Garmin 60CSx GPS and found the Points of Interest/lodging to be very helpful with phone numbers and simply hit "Goto" when you find something you like on the cell phone. Else, get something from Good Sams or Camping World. None of the books are very complete, so the GPS is about as good as any and it is really easy to use. I love that toy!!!! Can hardly drive without it any more.

And don't forget to take your laptop if your are into that. You will find free wifi at restaurants, Loves fuel stops, Starbucks and campgrounds, but ask as some don't have it. Use the GPS & cell phone to find restaurants and phone #s as well.

Best wishes. I had a wonderful summer vacation on that loop and hope you do as well.

[wbmiller3]

Also in the general area are the Badlands National Park and Devils Tower. We enjoyed both.

[grakin]

Also a Wyoming State Park - Keyhole State Park is relatively close, a bit west of Devil's Tower if you want to get a jump start on the drive to Yellowstone. No hookups there (besides MAYBE water, can't remember).

[tucsoncarol]

You will love the drive, just be prepared for road work. When we went to Yellowstone two years ago, the road we needed to take to get to Mount Rushmore was closed. Of course we could have gotten there another way but not within our time frame. About camping in Yellowstone, contrary to common belief, most of it is first come first served, not reserved, and only one campground has utilities (that one takes reservations). Arrive before noon and NOT on the weekend. We came in the west entrance, so the first campground we came to was Madison. It is breathtaking. As it happened, we were accepted that day because of our smaller wheelbase while larger trailers were refused. We were there for almost two weeks, and every day 5th wheel drivers would bring the "wranglers" to our site insisting they could be accommodated in these sites if we were.

[rickst29]

In my youth, I spent summers there as a climbing instructor. Rushmore is very good, both for daytime and their nighttime with-fireworks show.

But you need to have a second day-- For the Needles, and the animals, down at Custer State Park. You will love driving the "Needles Highway", and so will the kids!

Now of course, I lived in town most of the time, and my 'camping' outings were without TM or Hookups. In spite of that, I recommend a PARTICULAR place, even though I've never stayed there or even seen it. This recommendation is because they're consistently winning the South Dakota State Tourism "Great Service" award, which is a hard prize to earn:

http://www.fortwelikit.com/

This puts you a bit far from Rushmore, but close to Needles. The Campgrounds/RV Parks I've seen near Rushmore are all HORRIBLE and OVERPRICED, unfortunately.

- - - - -
I spent over two hours suggesting Black Hills itineraries and destinations in another Thread early 2006, titled "Suggestions for Custer, SD". The Ripp ended up staying at a different campground, but there's TONS of advice in that Thread. Go look at it:

http://www.trailmanorowners.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3747

[rickst29]

you want the "Fishing Bridge" RV park (only place with hookups). Otherwise, you'll have to stay outside the park. You're probably already WAY too late for ANY dates in the 2007 peak season, but give 'em a try anyway, staying inside the Park does save some driving time while you're there:

http://www.travelyellowstone.com/Fishing-Bridge-RV-Park-1705.html

[rickst29]

skip Devil's Tower, if you have too. The GOOD Black Hills stuff is more interesting, and Devil's Tower doesn't have much of anything except the Tower itself and a big Prairie Dog town. The Tower close up isn't much different than it is as seen from I-90. But close up slows your trip down by 2+ hours. BTW, I've dragged "climbers" up the Tower many times, we used to call it " 'rist wrestling". :p

As Bob already mentioned, the Cody Gun museum is REALLY good. If you like Western Art, it's REALLY good-- one of the top three or so. (The others being Smithsonian and Heard, MAYBE Denver and the Met I leave out the Richardson because it's focused on only Russel and Remington.... and YMMV.) 1/2, day at least.

I would avoid going in and out Yellowstone the same way twice... once you've 'done' Cody and US-14, repeating the drive across the Wyoming basin to get the the BigHorn Mts. feels like it's taking forever. Take a different way out--- if you're headed for the Interstate anyway, leave by Mammoth and Gardner.

Mt. US-212 through Cooke City and Red Lodge is an AMAZING drive, but I wouldn't try to handle the TM with a Pilot SUV in either direction. It's a steep grade, big stress on the unibody, frame, and TM brakes going down. And it's much higher than the other passes into/out of Yellowstone. You could combine the NE entrance with the 'Chief Joseph Highway' WY 296 to get back to Cody a different way, VERY scenic, but the same issue arises: After Cody, you've got a lot of ugly country to cross, and the Bighorns eat a lot of time when you cross them in both directions.

[MukaboutintheNW]

Greaves,
Thanks for starting this discussion. Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone is a trip I've been thinking about taking in the next few years. All the suggestions are great. We are not necessarily cross-country campers either, we just hang out in our state and neighboring ID and OR. Although my parents trekked us across the U.S. camping when I was a kid, and Lake Louise/Banff/Jasper in Canada. I sure would like to take that trip again too.

You've inspired me to make a plan!

Sharon

[Bob&Karen]

We've made the trip twice (neither time was with a TM - both were with a pop-up). First time we stayed outside the east entrance to Yellowstone. Really enjoyed Cody and the museums already mentioned. The last time (3 years ago?) we stayed in Gardiner, MT, just outside the North Entrance. In my opinion, that was the best. Very close to the north park loop, and the south loop isn't that far that you can't do it on the second day. US 89 coming south from I-90 at Livingston is a beautiful, easy drive to Gardiner - they call it "Paradise Valley" for a reason.

As far as Rapid City, there's a lot to do there - School of Mines, Natural History Museum, etc. We could spend an entire week in Rapid City. Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse are both doable from there. As mentioned, don't miss Custer State Park - even if you don't camp there, go through the park.

Regards,

Bob

[rickst29]

Leaving (or arriving) via the North Entrance is very easy and fast to I-90, and once you're there, you avoid BOTH:

- the dreary Cody-to-Bighorns drive in the Wyoming basin full of NOTHING except stinky oil fields; AND

- the Crossing of the Bighorn Mountains themselves: I-90 goes around them to the North, so although it's a longer total distance back to Buffalo, the time is the same, maybe even a bit faster.

- - - - -
Following the Yelowstone river is kinda pretty. But the 212 --> Chief Joseph loop to Cody is even prettier, it's only problem being the two items listed above.

If you want to spend some time, I have a couple of "radical" ideas for you. If you go West from Livingston instead of East, you can see either (or both):

- The nice natural history museum at MSU, in Bozeman (lots of world-class Dino stuff.) and/or

- a WORLD CLASS cave at "Lewis and Clark Caverns" State park. This is a bit more than twice as far West, maybe 3-4 hours from Livingston. rivals Mammoth, Carlsbad and Karchner in quality of decoration-- in comparison, the Black Hills caves are relatively ugly and colorless holes in the Ground (don't even bother with 'em if you're going to include Lewis and Clark). It was once a National Monument, but the State of Mt. stole it away as their first State Park before the feds ever chose to turn it into a NP. The camground is nice, there's a dump station but no hookups. Again, WORLD CLASS. But it'll cost you a whole additional day. (And from Texas, I'd go to Carlsbad and/or Karchner instead.)

These places are also reachable by going out the West entrance, up a VERY pretty river canyon (the Gallatin river, gorgeous but a lot smaller than the Yellowstone.) The time to reach Bozeman this way is a bit less from anywhere except the North end of the Park, because it's more direct.

[Paul_Heuvelhorst]

I am taking the boys (6 and 10) to Mount Rushmore in June from Houston (if I don't lose my courage to drive cross-country). Where are the good camp gounds?
We plan to visit Mt. Rushmore again, on our way back from the mid-west in late July. We plan to "camp" at Battle Creek Campground, a Good Sam park to the north of Mt. Rushmore. It is in Pennington County, near the town of Keystone. We've never stayed there, but it has a good write-up in the Trailer Life Directory.

[rickst29]

IIRC, I stayed there once (after retiring from the climbing biz, I went THROUGH the Black Hills many times on my way to and from Bozeman, MT for about 10 years in a row). It was way ABOVE average for the Keystone area, but nowhere near as good as the Southern alternatives.

If you're doing only RUSHMORE and then going back to Rapid, OK. :rolleyes:
But if you've done Rushmore before, I'll recommend that you concentrate on the Needles area, and up at Sylvan Lake. (Climb the "Little Devil's Tower Trail", it's not technical and has really great views.) you've done both these areas, but haven't done Spearfish Canyon.... there's a pretty nice resort there no camping but the lodge is pretty and the restaurant is public) and there's a campground EXACTLY where the closing "leaving the Indian Camp" scenes of "Dances with Wolves" were filmed. It's kinda pretty. No hookups, though.

The only two RV CAMGROUNDS with the SD State "Great Service" awards are the Fort Welekit joint which I mentioned above, just North of Custer, and a KOA in Hill City. I think that Welekit is probably BETTER than the place you've chosen, but these other places are a long ways South of Rushmore.

If you've done all 4 areas, Rushmore AND Needles AND Spearfish Canyon AND Iron Mountain, then PLEASE TELL ME to shut up-- because you know the Black Hills durn near as good as I do. :D

[rickst29]

In the big long tunnel at "The Needes Eye", you'll have about 5" of clearance on either side of a TM. It's do-able, and pretty big buses (driven professionally) go through there a lot, doing the 'motorcoach tour' thing. But maybe set up camp first, drive the highway without the Trailer. I've also seen a lot of "freaked out" RV owners turn around at the cramped tunnel entrances, creating nasty traffic jams, even though their vehicles could have gotten through. (With a careful and competent driver.) And some bigger RVs pull up to the tunnels without checking the map, they never had ANY chance at all.

Check the tunnel sizes on this map. That one #5, is the tightest:
http://www.sdgfp.info/Parks/CampMaps/CusterSP.pdf

Going to Custer via #16A, the "Iron Mountain Road" is easy with a TM. (3 tunnels, but they're short and PLENTY wide enough). Just be sure NOT to accidentally turn right, up SD 87 and into the "problem" tunnel, after you've passed the Game Lodge area.

[NC Camper]

Spearfish Canyon is breathtaking! Check to see when "Biker Week" is. Usually it's early to mid-July I think. Don't want to be anywhere near Sturgis for a couple of weeks during that time.

[rickst29]

This year is scheduled August 6-12.