Best RV Parks & Resorts near Black Hills National Forest

I absolutely LOVE the Bulldog Creek Campground!   Nestled against the Black Hills National Forest, it is scenic, relatively quiet, peaceful and entertaining! First, the Rates...$40-50 per night with full, 50a hookups,$30 for 30a full hookup,$10 for tent camping, if you're just going to stay a night or two. If you just want a safe, quiet place to dry camp overnight, it's$20.

Now the really good part; if you want a base camp for a month or more and enjoy exploring the Black Hills, Sturgis and Rapid City, you can get 50a full hookup, pull-through site for just$550 per month plus electric! That's a bargain in this area. I was at the Ellsworth AFB famcamp who had just raised their rates to a whopping$54 per day, with no discounts available for long-term stays.

The campground is just off I-90, but set back farther than most, so not a distraction. There is an active rail line along the highway, but so far, I've not seen more than two trains in a day, and none at night. So even if it's for just a week or two, and not a month.. call Aaron, the owner. I'm sure he'll work the numbers a bit, just to have your business!

And as for entertainment, on my first night here, there was a heard of at least 2 dozen deer grazing through the campground. Several of them came within a few feet of my door as I talked to them! This mornings sunrise, accompanied by a hot cup of coffee, was exceptional. You just have to come visit!

Long term stay. Great rates. All staff very courteous. All facilities clean and well maintained. Level gravel pull through sites of varying sizes. Each site has grass area except on the new end. It is very close to the highway, so there is a lot of road noise. Other than that our stay here has been excellent. Good cell reception. Standard campground wifi, but good reception. Haven't used cable. Nice enclosed dog exercise area. Playground for kiddies. It is off season, so pool, tennis court and some other facilities closed right now. We will be leaving the end of November, but after having been at several campgrounds over the past 2 years, this will be our go to place in the Rapid City area from now on.

Campground Review:

The Stockade Lake North Campground is located just inside the west entrance to Custer State Park in Custer, South Dakota. This prime camping location is 15 minutes from Mount Rushmore, Wind Cave National Park, and just minutes from historic Custer, the Gordon Stockade, and a scenic jaunt to the State Park Wildlife Loop.

The sites at this campground are reservation-only, even on same-day arrival. In order to secure a campground, campers need to call the reservation number. However, once the reservation is made, campers can proceed to their campsite without having to worry about checking in with on-site staff, and no hassle with hanging a tag on the campsite post.

The campground is open for camping from the beginning of May to late September, weather permitting. There are 42 campsites available, many with electricity and several pull-through sites, but no full hook-ups. There are both vault and flush toilets, a shower house, and drinking water available. There is also a nice little playground in the center of the campground and an adjoining amphitheater where they may show informational films in the summer. Campsites here are well-spread among the trees, offering relative privacy and quiet space, with enough room to hang a hammock or two!

The campground is just a quick walk up from Stockade Lake, where you can fish, swim, put your boat in, view wildlife, and enjoy the small beach and playground. Across the small highway is Bismark Lake, in Black Hills National Forest, which is stocked for fishing, and provided us with a delicious fried trout meal our second night! There is also a pair of osprey that are seen frequently between the two lakes, and are a joy to watch as they fish and soar over the lakes.

We stayed on opening weekend in our small RV with electric on site 32E, and the campground was relatively empty. Our site was a bit unlevel, but very scenic and shady. Only one other site was close to ours, and luckily, no one was in it over that weekend. Sites are all gravel, and each one has an aluminum picnic table and fire ring. Most of the sites appear wide enough to accommodate slide-outs on RV units. Although there are long sites available, we did watch two large rigs struggle to back in their vehicles due to the narrow, curved campground roads. When viewing the reservation map, those sites that appear distanced from others truly are - try to reserve those if you can. Another pro tip: If you need to buy firewood, there is a Lutheran church just west of the state park entrance that offers wood for a donation, and supports their youth programs.

SInce it was the beginning of the camping season, the vault toilets were exceptionally clean and smelled great. We did not use the showers, but they looked to be in great shape.The drinking water was easy to find, and there is even a place to fill the RV tank before heading to your site.

For a video summary of our campground and the backpack, see our YouTube video: https://youtu.be/pElJjB1t4XA.

Product Review:

As a Ranger for The Dyrt, we get products to test from time to time, and since we knew we would be out all day fishing and hiking, we took along the Renogy Solar Backpack (https://www.renogy.com/renogy-solar-backpack). We wanted to be able to keep our electronic devices such as our cameras and phones charged throughout our weekend adventures! This backpack is exciting! It sports a 5.6-watt solar panel and you can connect any usb device with its 5V charging port (maximum 1.2A output).

The weather all weekend was partly cloudy with isolated showers, and yet the backpack was able to charge a battery bank for our electronics 3/4 of the way in about three hours. We believe that if the sun had been out constant all afternoon, we would have easily charged bank one full and a second bank at least half way.

Other highlights of this backpack include the nicely padded strap-side that rests against your back, a slot on the left strap for sunglasses, an expandable water bottle (or other small gear) pocket, and plenty of space inside for jackets and other layers that were shed throughout the day as it got warmer. Thanks to a plethora of inside and outside pockets, we carried water bottles, battery banks, two phones, a tablet, headphones, snacks, a sweatshirt, and a jacket all at the same time with ease and comfort. A smaller laptop would also fit nicely inside the main compartment.

This backpack can be used without the solar panels exposed, with a quick zipper flip-around, and it looks great! IAt only 2.2 lbs, it also carries the inside pack weight very comfortably for a range of sizes, from a 6’ 4” father to 5-foot, 11-year-old son. Both mentioned that they felt the backpack was a nice way to carry their gear for a day of hiking and fishing.

Arrived and parked at the new Gateway Travel Center in Newcastle to check in. We have been coming to this area for an annual hunting trip for 8 years. We stayed here two years ago and upfront its not the best of campgrounds (CG), but looks like some improvements are being attempted. This CG is still the best option for the area. The travel center and RV park used to be an outdoor movie theater back when. You now check in inside the travel center’s convenience store. You go to the check out counter, fill out your paperwork, and get your assigned site. We were traveling with another RV and were assigned sites 30 and 28, which are FHUs with 50/30 AMP. Technically there were sites 31 and 29 adjacent to our sites. The sites were small enough as it was, but if someone would have come in beside us into site 31, we would have been literally an arms length away from each other.  With both of us in our party having fifth wheels with slide outs on both sides, there was no way anyone could have pulled into site 29 between us. However, no one was placed next to us during our 5 day stay and we believe the new CG management wouldn't purposely place someone next to a big rig. We recommend that once you receive your assigned site, go scope it out. They were putting in new site signs but had not gotten to our site so the number was written on the electric box with a permanent marker. Some of the sites here are standalone 30 AMP or 20 AMP, perfect for travel vans.  There is no WiFi in the CG but the travel center has free unsecured Wifi near the pumps and in the convenience store that also has a Taco Johns. The last time we stayed here, there were pipeline workers and the CG was full. This time there were only a few transient workers. They have two pretty nice tent camping areas in the grass and their restroom/shower/laundry facility was well maintained and clean. They have 2 washers and 2 dryers that were very reasonably priced at $1.50 to wash and $1.50 to dry. The RV sites do not have picnic tables nor fire rings but the the tent areas have a few. Every morning and evening we had wild turkeys and mule deer roaming around the CG. With the Fountain Inn Hotel and the RV Park pretty much co-located, this CG made a good choice for our RV and hotel staying hunting group.

Nice area easy to access, better road coming in from Peacefull Pines Rd right off I90 which turns into Deadwood Ave with no potholes. Pet Friendly. Courteous Staff are helpfull. Relatively new management with lots of improvements in process. Discounts for long term.  Starlink Wifi. Clean spacious bathrooms. Good water pressure. Some cabins with AC and full mini frig and microwave, no water in cabins but several water posts nearby. Cabins are 1 room and really comfortable Queen beds.  Picnic table outside with covered porch, some with swing bench or chair.  

There is a kids park with some climbing structures a swing and grassy area,

We appreciated the pre arrival phone call to confirm we were still coming and letting us know our site was open whenever we wanted to arrive. Check in was very easy and informative concerning what to do in the area. We then proceeded to FHUs pull-through site 9. Utilities were conveniently located to include outstanding water pressure so use a reducer. Since we were only staying here two days, we decided to opt for the$2.00 a day additional charge for cable versus putting out our satellite dish. We received over 60 channels that worked great. Campground WiFi was satisfactory and we got 2 to 3 bars on Verizon. Along with the owners/camp hosts being very friendly, the office had a great store that carries not only RV supplies but other novelty items and they do propane tank fills. The campground sites were very well laid out. We visited at the end of the season, so a lot of their sites were already closed up in preparation for shutting down for the year. The back in and upper level pull-through sites had more spacing between sites versus the lower level pull-throughs where we stayed. The park was far enough from I-90 so there was basically no road noise. The fenced in dog park was a nice addition. Being only 30 minutes from Devil's Tower, this campground was very convenient to see local sights. Also take a tour of Sundance, this is where The Sundance Kid got his name and he had been jailed in the old courthouse. This park is a winner whether you need a nice overnight stop or a place to hang out for a while. We would definitely camp here again.

Horsethief Lake Campground in Black Hills National Forest was surprisingly peaceful and serene though it is close to Mount Rushmore. The traffic to and from the monument doesn’t disturb the “atmosphere”.

There’s a trailhead “Black Elk Wilderness” nearby that takes you into the woods. The lake below is a popular fishing spot.

Primitive sites with shade and good size area to set up in. Requisite picnic table and fire pit.

A lot to do in the area or just sit back and enjoy the scenery. There’s an ADA parking pad with cement walk/roll way to enjoy the lake.

If you have an RPI membership, this place is a no-brainer. It’s a huge and well maintained RV resort with tons of family friendly amenities. Onsite restaurant and convenience store with gas station. Large pool with hot tubs. Tennis, basketball, pickleball, and shuffleboard courts. Mini golf and an activity center that will loan you a variety of sports gear and well as rent bikes and golf carts. A massive dog park. Our kids also attended a 2 day horse camp onsite which was very fun for them and very reasonably priced. The list of activities is endless. Tons of kids biking around and playing, so easy for kids to make friends. They also have cabin rentals and a few tent sites. There’s a weekly rodeo held onsite during peak season. It’s 15 minutes from Rapid City and close to the Black Hills. If you are looking for a base camp to explore this area, Hart Ranch is a great choice.