Going out West

Thanks, everyone for your help. We just booked the Headwaters RV Park in the Tetons for 6 nights and Grizzly RV Park for 8 nights. Glacier next.
Glacier booked, 6 nights at KOA St. Mary's.

Some good advice so far; time spent at the various locations is a subjective thing. We spent a week in the Black Hills, still didn't do & see everything we wanted to, and felt it was one of our best camping vacations ever! I could spend a whole day at Crazy Horse, though 2 hours seems about right for Mt. Rushmore. :) Lots of good choices for camping in the Hills; search this forum for "Mt Rushmore" or "Black Hills" and you'll find a lot of recommendations. Custer SP was mentioned, and it's quite nice. Also lots of recommendations for YNP CGs on this forum as well.

I would NEVER consider trying to camp in/near Yellowstone & the Tetons in the summertime without reservations. There was a good point made about having a generator - if so, you could perhaps get into one of the first-come, first-served CGs, which have no hookups (only Fishing Bridge RV Park in YNP has any hookups; otherwise you will have to camp outside the park), but there's a trick to that too - mostly arriving between 9 and 10 AM and just waiting until a site opens up. There's always someone who gets lucky, it seems, and advises folks not to bother with reservations, but I have seen people turned away because everything is booked solid. Don't risk it. You can use one base camp for both Yellowstone & the Tetons, though Mammoth would be the worst choice for this option (opposite side of YNP from the Tetons).

There are two campgrounds in Grand Teton Nat'l Park that don't even accept reservations and they each have 300 sites. It would be no electric but they do have a dump station and water fill. They are Gros Ventre and Colter Bay.

Grand Teton Campgrounds

They rarely fill and if you get there by 1pm you'll definitely get a site.

Yellowstone also has many campgrounds that don't accept reservations. With the small size of your RV you could use any one of them. We've easily gotten into Mammoth with our 40' MH but we arrived early morning.

Yellowstone Campgrounds

If you're uneasy about doing that I would say get a reservation for Yellowstone but wing it for the Tetons and you'll be fine.

If your trip is for early June that's even better. Have a good one!

You will need 4-7 days to see the Black Hills area. Pick a base camp , then day trip to Devils Tower, Badlands.
Wherever you stay within the circle of places that interest you, the driving time will equal out.
Go to campsd.org for camps, blackhillsbadlandsandlakes.com for attractions and sites.

I suggest you get a senior park pass. we got ours many years ago and have gotten many parks free since then.

Devil's Tower is pretty cool as you're approaching it from Sundance, but when you get to the NP, you're really too close. Kind of like looking at the top of the Empire State Bldg. from the sidewalk right in front of it. IMO, the best part is the prairie dog village at the entrance. But its only 30 miles from Sundance, and there's a private CG with hookups maybe 100 yds. from the entrance. They used to show "Close encounters" every night on an outdoor screen.
You can hike or drive around it.

I need to be at Glacier in late June and many be limited on when I can get away so I may have to do the 2200 miles in three days as there not much I need to see again on the first two days. I think the Bad Lands are well named BUT I like places with trees. Later in the summer I plan on being at the Tetons and Ystone again this summer without reservations for the 5th+ time. My point is I would not make any reservations assuming you have a generator and can boondock for several days. Once you make a reservation then you loose flexibility as you make like the BAD Lands and want to spend more time there.

Depends on how much you get out of the vehicle and walk trails and so on.

Badlands 2-4 days
Rushmore - 2 hours
Wind Cave 1 day (but there are two caves so a day each)
Crazy Horse - 2 hours
Devils tower over night and a walk around the tower.

You can spend 2 weeks at Yellowstone and not see half of it.
Tetons- 3-5 days
Almost the same at Glacier but the weather is a big factor there, we've been three times and it rains most days that we were there, every time. Plan a week anyway, stay on the east side.

Consider the water temp at Yellowstone and Glacier before canoeing. Falling in the drink is a major emergency in those lakes.

"For those with experience, how much time would you spend at The Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Wind Cave, Crazy Horse and Devils Tower?"

We camped at Badlands for a couple of days. It is as the name implies, beautiful, but bad. In my opinion the others are day (or less) visits. Put Custer State Park on your list. Jewel Cave is awesome too. There are just too many neat spots to stop and get to know people on the way. Cody, Cheyenne, Jackson, etc.,etc.

Don't short change yourself by rushing to a schedule.

I'm sure you have heard that Yellowstone can be a challenge during peak months, so I would get there before if you can.

Lots to read on past posts about all.

Max

Suggest you stop on the way from Rushmore area to Yellowstone.
at the Little Bighorn National Monument. While in the Rushmore area go to the The Mammoth Site

We did Mount Rushmore Crazy Horse and The Mammoth Site in one day and we were at Devils Tower about 3 hours.