We are heading to the Black Hills for 8 days in about a week. It was planned rather last minute due to another trip/music festival cancellation. We have reservations at Custer's Gulch RV Park just outside Custer, so that part is taken care of, but if anybody has any tips for that particular park, I'm happy to hear them. My question for all is, any suggestions on interesting/off the beaten path stuff to do up there? We of course know about all the main attractions... Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, Needles Highway etc. Good restaurants/brewery suggestions are welcome too! It's just the two of us in our late 30s, and 2 of our dogs. No kids.

We visited Custer State Park several years ago the week after Labor Day -- had to fly in and rent a car so we weren't in our RV at the time. We stayed at both the State Game Lodge and Sylvan Lake Lodge, and although you wouldn't be staying there, I recall the restaurants in both of them being quite nice -- not pricey, but good food in a nice atmosphere. Might be worth a try.I also vividly remember going through the park and feeding the donkeys. They loved the small carrots. Even if initially they're a distance away, showing them that you have a bag of carrots will bring them right to you!

I wouldn't miss Bobkats Purple Pie Store in Custer nor Black Hills Burger and Bun also in Custer.

Needles Highway, Sturgis (Buffalo Chip Saloon), DeadwoodMost of these are not out of the way, but interesting.

We stayed at Custer Gulch about 10 years ago. The owner and managers were the nicest, friendly people and easy to be around. We rolled in with no reservations and asked about a spot. They had one spot open each night (of 4 we needed) but each at a different site. As we moved each day they apologized for having us move even though they were doing us a great favor by working us in even though we were at fault for not planning ahead. If I were going back to the Black Hills again that is where we will stay. Very clean, quiet and pleasant place to stay and right outside the park west entrance.

Black Hills suggestions | Good Sam Community

Busskipper
Explorer
Jun 05, 2020
Dick_B wrote:
...... What movie was filmed in the Black Hills?

.............

North By Northwest - :)

We saw this movie when it opened in Radio City Music Hall in NYC, as we Relocated to The Left Coast - we stopped to See MT Rushmore, a few days later to see the Presidents, it was awesome then and has been everytime we go, Love the Black Hills.

JMHO,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_by_Northwest
gkainz
Explorer
Jun 05, 2020
Dick_B wrote:
What movie was filmed in the Black Hills?

Many more than just 1 ... numerous movie set sites in the Hills all the way back to 1914.

https://www.filmblackhills.com/shot_in_sd.php

Disclaimer - local knowledge as I grew up in Custer.
JAC1982
Explorer
Jun 05, 2020
ksbowman wrote:
We stayed at Custer Gulch about 10 years ago. The owner and managers were the nicest, friendly people and easy to be around. We rolled in with no reservations and asked about a spot. They had one spot open each night (of 4 we needed) but each at a different site. As we moved each day they apologized for having us move even though they were doing us a great favor by working us in even though we were at fault for not planning ahead. If I were going back to the Black Hills again that is where we will stay. Very clean, quiet and pleasant place to stay and right outside the park west entrance.

Great, thank you! Some of the reviews mention people having issues with staff but I feel like that's a situation where there's two sides to the story :) We are looking forward to staying there!
JAC1982
Explorer
Jun 05, 2020
A1ARealtorRick wrote:
We visited Custer State Park several years ago the week after Labor Day -- had to fly in and rent a car so we weren't in our RV at the time. We stayed at both the State Game Lodge and Sylvan Lake Lodge, and although you wouldn't be staying there, I recall the restaurants in both of them being quite nice -- not pricey, but good food in a nice atmosphere. Might be worth a try.

I also vividly remember going through the park and feeding the donkeys. They loved the small carrots. Even if initially they're a distance away, showing them that you have a bag of carrots will bring them right to you!

Good tip on the carrots!

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