Best Glamping near Lead, SD

I stayed here for 3 weeks at the end of May beginning of June 2020.  The staff is super friendly, they will go out of their way to help you or give you information about the area.  There is a beautiful creek running through the property that allows you to fish or fall asleep to the sound of the water!  Restroom & showers a very clean, as well.  You are just a short drive from Lead for Grocery Shopping and mining activities and a short distance to Deadwood with their replay of the Gunfight with Wild Bill Hitcock as well as the capture and trial of Jack McCall the man who shot Wild Bill in the back as he played poker (the deadman's hand).  You will not regret camping here, very beautiful area with lots to do!

The pros:

• 100+ spaces for campers/motorhomes accommodating all sizes, even the real big diesel pushers.
• They have small cabins to rent, tree houses, and glamping tent/cabins.
• The bathrooms are clean and have private showers.
• There are laundry facilities on site.
• Full hookup sites.
• Two swimming pools.
• Close proximity to Keystone, Custer, Rapid City
• Each gravel pad may require minor leveling but they are pretty good.
• A nice picnic table is located at each site.

The cons: We ended up here because I called 17 other places between Custer and Rapid City and all were full. Many of the sites offered by the competition are nicely spaced out with mature trees surrounding the pads, that’s not the case here.

• The RV area is tight with a sea of RV’s. For us it’s less like camping and more like a townhouse development. It’s not as bad as the parking lot variety, there is grass between the sites and some trees.

As a Ranger on The Dyrt, I sometimes receive compensation for reviews like this one. We received a coupon code for The Dyrt's online product store in exchange for trying out the new online camping reservation system to make a reservation for Buffalo Ridge Camping Resort. 

We reserved a campsite for Buffalo Ridge Camping Resort through The Dyrt, and it was a breeze to go through the process. We were emailed the reservation information, payment was taken via bank card, and it all made the check-in process very fast upon arrival. We decided to change from a tent site to a log cabin and all the contact information was in the email, so we called and they made the change for us at the office. When we arrived they handed over the key and off we went. 

Buffalo Ridge is conveniently located in Custer, South Dakota. It is at the location of the previous Flintstones Resort(my kids miss that place), and some of the playground equipment from the Flintstones Theme Park were located at the campground. My boys loved playing on the teeter-totters and in the old Flintstones car that were there. Good memories. The resort is sectioned into areas- a tent area, the glamping tipi area, two RV areas, and the cabins. There is a main building where you check in and they have a nice little gift shop with trendy, outdoorsy items and camping needs available. The heated pool is coming… they have broken ground behind the main building! However, since the pool is promised on their website, they partnered with another of the Custer Hospitality’s properties, Comfort Inn, which is across the road, and provide passes to the indoor swimming pool there until their pool is done. My sons were thrilled as the night we stayed at Buffalo Ridge it got down in the 30’s- that would have been a very chilly outdoor swim for June! 

The RV sites are pretty typically spaced, and there are small trees throughout. The tent sites are large, have a fire ring, and some have picnic shelters as well as tables. There are two types of cabins, log (think KOA-style) and rustic. They sleep 4-5 comfortably. Cabins also have fire rings and picnic tables, and there are trash cans right outside the cabin! What a nice touch(you can tell we aren’t in bear country here!). There is a really nice, new laundry and shower facility and a bathroom building with two toilets and a very large outdoor sink for washing dishes. 

The price for this campground is more than reasonable compared with others in the area! We were happy to see both their tent sites and their cabin prices were about$10 below the local competition. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and helpful, and did their best to insure a positive stay. 

The log cabin we stayed in did not have A/C, but they do provide a space heater(which we needed in June, believe it or not), but they are situated near the top of the ridge so get a nice breeze. There were two sets of beds inside, one twin bunk and one full-twin bunk. Five could easily sleep there. There is a nice porch with chairs and a swinging bench as well. Our sons asked if we could stay a second night, they enjoyed it so much! 

Right now (as of June 2019) they are working on installing the outdoor pools, expanding the second RV area(looks almost done), they just paved the east entrance this week, and are putting in more gravel and possibly paving more of the main roads. It is going to be a very nice campground when it is finished, as it already has a great start! There were a ton of RV’s the night we stayed, and they have an employee that leads you to your site using a golf cart, which is always a nice touch. Class A’s fit easily into their sites, as well as RV’s with slides. Plenty of safe room for kids to run around and play as well. All around, we are very pleased to have Buffalo Ridge in our home town and will stay there again just for the fun of it!

For the techies - excellent Wi-Fi service is included all over the campground, and there is a  very good 4G Verizon signal at the campground.

We originally booked the teepee which is adorable but after arriving we felt we needed some more space. Luckily for us there was one glamping tent available for the dates we needed. Quite the price difference but we were ok with it. 3 beds (2 queen and one twin!) all with trundles underneath! The front and back porch were amazing for coffee and yoga in the am. The bedding was luxury and the decor was amazing nice touches to the experience. The mini fridge came in use and we loved the location of the tent to the pool and the shower house located just a few feet away. Beware that SD gets some pretty epic storms and two nights were slightly scary being in a canvas tent with wind gusts of 50 plus mph but they held up well! The teepees on the other hand 😆 not so much. Glad we upgraded! The pool.....there is a kid side and adult side which was awesome! The kid pool was super gross so I was glad to have a spot to go with crystal clear water! It was crowded later in the day. The pool stays open and extra hour for adults which is nice 9-10pm. The facility could use a couple more washer and dryer units as a lady pissed and moaned at me that she couldn’t do her laundry because they were in use by me. Our first vaca Karen and she did not disappoint lol. The little store in the lodge is adorable and has a nice little area to chill, play games and a deck to outside with a nice grill for guests to use. They offer popcorn and coffee all day. Let some of the nicest people and we made so many memories at this property. I’ll be sure to share with clients who head to SD!

I should have checked Recreation.gov to confirm this campground is open before heading there, it would have saved me some time. It closed as of September 11th 2020, and is reopening in May 2021. Looks like May- Sept. is what's planned for next year as well. Boo! Still, glad I did actually go because now I know where I might head next time I'm in the area. Noticed some other campsites in the Black Hills are closed as well, so I might have timed my camping trip to the area poorly. Live and learn. Anyway, about the campground… 

Easy to get to, good LTE reception on Verizon throughout, BIG area with what looks like four different loops, some closer to the water than others. A tent-only area, which I appreciate- those tend to be quieter than the RV spots, and the tent area was close to the reservoir. Standard campsite amenities- tables, fire pits, bathrooms. Swimming seems like an option. Plenty of trees for us hammock dwellers. Could easily see myself spending a few days here when it is open, assuming it isn't too much of a zoo, which large sites like these can devolve into.

NOTE: this is a duplicate listing of another Dyrt listing for the same campground. That listing is under the name "Pactola Reservoir Campground" which is the accurate name according to the Forest Service. That listing has more reviews and info, but has incorrect GPS coordinates. I've submitted a fix, so hopefully they'll fix the GPS for the other listing and merge them, but until then, just a heads up. Here's the other listing: https://thedyrt.com/camping/south-dakota/south-dakota-pactola-reservoir-campground