Stockade North Campground — Custer State Park

Fishing in Stockade Lake was insane. My son was fly fishing and pulling gills out left and right. The lake was gorgeous and just down the hill from our site. The site was on the corner and easy to back in, level spot. We saw a few bison, real close to the road.

We stayed here two nights because of the five stars. It does not have a dump station nor sewer and water sites. So I edited the amenities. In the future I will verify dump stations on the host site. Electric and some non-electric sites and with two campground spigots accessible from the road only. We arrived after 6 nights of boondocking and were disappointed with the inaccuracy of the amenities. Over all it is a nice campground with a good amount of room between most sites and quiet. Close to Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Jewel Cave, and Wind Cave. Plus some great drives.

This lovely pine-filled campground is set off the main road just enough to keep away the road noise. Some of the sites will need a bit of leveling as it’s very hilly. The bathroom/shower building is older, but very well maintained and clean. Sites for Custer start booking a year in advance, so snag one early to experience all this wonderful park has to offer.

The park is awesome.  We drove the Wildlife Loop Road twice, once late morning and saw about 1000 buffalo blocking the road and a few other things, then again in the evening. It was beautiful up on the higher elevations.

The north campground is quiet. The bathhouse was clean and ok to use. The water was hot and the shower itself was quite large. They have vault toilets in certain areas if you need them. There is a nice walking path that drops down to the lake from the south part of the campground. I literally walked across the road from SN33E and stepped on the trail to walk my dogs. Very cool. 

There are two dump station locations. One in the Game Lodge Campground then two just south on the entrance to the wildlife loop. Could be problematic because the bison were standing on the dump station when we drove by in the morning. Guess we will see soon.

good campground with amenities - free showers! very few tent sites. mostly RV’s. Our tent site 21E was VERY close to the neighbors. close to stockade lake which was much more peaceful than sylvan lake.

I stayed two nights here in June, in addition to nights at 2 other campsites in Custer State Park and Stockade Lake North was by far my favorite. There is SO much space between sites (I was at 14 and 9–I’m convinced 14 is the best site in the entire campground) and the entire campground is very quiet and peaceful, plus easy to access. The bathrooms look fairly recently renovated, but unfortunately were less clean (but not filthy!) than other campgrounds I stayed at, but I would have been there right before they were cleaned.

First time at Custer state park, super nice place, camp site was clean, bathroom clean, very big state park with lots to do, I entered on the east side but campsite was on west side, only stayed two nights, so we will definitely be back !

Nice quiet Campground, we were camping mid week in early July. Campground is at 5300 get so it was a bit cooler,slight breeze and no bugs. Sites are spaced out nicely among the pines. Love all the Custer State Park has to offer, however we pulled in after 4 nights of boondocking and asked where the dump station was. Host said it was 8 miles down the road at game lodge Campground. Wish I knew that earlier. But that was the only inconvenience of our time here.

Stayed here last year and enjoyed it so much we came back again and stayed 6 nights. Nice location and large sites that are spread out. Some have electric others do not. 2 water spigots in the campground. Dump station located near Game lodge Campground. Hosts are super nice. Showers and bathrooms are very clean. Saw deer and wild turkeys roaming the campground. Kayaked stockade lake and saw turtles and osprey. Would come back here again.

This campground seems easier to book than other Custer State Park campgrounds and we aren't sure why. In comparison to other park campgrounds, it is wooded, has spacious sites, and is located near a gorgeous lake. The showerhouse was clean and the campground was well cared for with kind hosts. The walk around Stockade Lake was a great hike with some beautiful views, especially near sunset.

Nice camp ground in Custer State Park. Nice size Rv spots with good room between sites. Restrooms and Showers were very clean.

Electric only, one water spout in each of the two loops. Hilly sites, will take some work to get level. Only 1 dump site in this park - be prepared to drive, with your rig, to dump- no blue bell

Lots to see, good trout streams all over and the bison roam even near the campgrounds so keep your eyes open. The wild life loop is very scenic, make sure to gas up first. I though a state park would be smaller but this place is huge. There are numerous smaller scenic 1.5 lane roads to check out with a postcard perfect view everywhere. The lakes are pristine and even the rustic store is well stocked and taken care of. Be sure to buy the annual state park pass- it is not much more than a day or two. The horse camps are pretty neat to see when venturing down dusty trails. There are 10 different areas to camp….yes. 10 campground areas with numerous sights and different scenery.

We stayed at center lake campground and easily obtained a same day reservation.

This place is on the same level as a national park it is massive. We saw 100s of wild Bison on the wildlife loop, but also saw dozens of bison throughout the park in a more wild setting. Home to many species of wildlife and tons of beautiful roads to drive on. Campsites are generally quiet and remote semi remote feeling for a state park.

This is by far the best camping park I’ve ever been to. Because of early presidential interest (Coolidge & Eisenhower, it’s a combo of NP vista’s & experiences, State Park amenities in stellar shape, & Resort level lodges, shops & restaurants. Hiking, kayaking in several lakes. The Bison and Begging Burros, elk, deer, etc. amazing!!!

Good campground with big spots. Accessibility is also good. Came here with 23ft RV

Spent 6 nights in Custer state park. Prettiest part of the country I’ve been in so far. From trout fishing to hiking to watching the herd of bison as well as nearby attractions of Sturgis, Deadwood, and Mount Rushmore, there’s always something great to do. Highly recommended trip!!!

We just loved our campsite in Custer! Very private and close proximity to the bathroom and lake. We stayed at Center Lake. Apparently, this campground is a same day reservation only campground. The campsite hosts were so nice and came around to each site to make sure all of our questions were answered and that we didn’t need anything.

The park was beautiful during our stay and we were lucky enough to see Bison and Elk.

Really cool area with prairie, rock formations and forest all rolled into one place. Super quiet during the end of the season so plenty of picturesque photo opportunities!

Definitely bringing the daughter and granddaughter next year! Beautiful area, awesome drive with scenery and WILDLIFE! I thought more about Teddy Roosevelt then Custer while here. Roosevelt was all about wildlife , etc. the park has the animals you relate to “the West”. The park had the feel of cowboys/covered wagon era. I enjoyed my visit so much, a surprise around every curve. Wind Cave National Park and the Badlands are an easy drive from here so you can continue the experience. Nice campground , well maintained and nice staff.

Beautiful park with a bison right on the road ! Campsite nestled in the pines, gorgeous lake !! Can’t wait to go back !

We love this park. There are lots of campgrounds within this State Park. We have almost camped in everyone of them. See "RV Camping Journal" for details.

Love love love! Stunningly beautiful, breathtaking, rush to this place if you haven’t been. It’s AMAZING! Yes I am shouting but I am in awe of this place. Maybe it’s because I am from Louisiana and this is so very different from bayous and alligators but this is the sort of place that you leave wanting more! I highly recommend you visit. We barely scratched the surface of the wonders in this place during our visit. Also convenient to Wind Cave national park.

Loved Custer State Park and camping was great. Quiet campground plenty of space between sites and the amenities were in good condition. Loved all the drives through the park, up Needles highway or up thru the south end of the Park from Wind Cave.

My father, daughter (8yo), and myself stayed at Stockade North campgrounds Saturday night through Wednesday morning. We had an overall positive experience. Rangers and host were very friendly and very helpful. I did not use the vaulted toilets but my father said they weren't too terrible. The shower house was nice and clean, free, warm showers. Downfalls-- I felt like this camp ground was geared more towards RVs than tent camping. I picked our site online, it had a picture that made it look very appealing, however it did not accurately portray the topography of the site. Therefore we had one tent on fairly even ground the other, not at all. The neighbors seemed pretty close by and the trees were too young to provide much cover.

This place was filled with kids and was really fun associating with them . Y=there are ranger programs and the sites are the one of the best. The rangers were really friendly and the night wasn't too cold. The sites are a little difficult to get because this is a pretty popular place to camp. There are a lot of animals and you can pet them.