Hello all-The time of year has come for us to plan our July camping trip. We've been visiting National Parks, and have decided we want to visit Bad Lands, Wind Cave, Theodore Roosevelt and Voyageur National Parks during the first 2 weeks of July (yes we know it's busy then, we've been doing this time frame for 12+ years :) ).I'm hoping to find a nice campground in between Bad Lands and Wind Cave so we can visit those parks from one base camp. Then I'll need a nice CG near each of the other 2 parks. We'll have 16 days for this trip.We need full hookups at each CG and prefer to have pools at each as well. Any help is appreciated! FYI we've been to most of the other National Parks close to these already, so we won't need to check those out. We're looking for awesome CGs and things to do in those areas. We usually limit day trips to about 1 - 1 1/2 hours from camp. Thanks in advance!

You are betting on the parks being OPEN and Clean/Habitable by summer ???????

you can stay in Custer, SD and visit Bad Lands and Wind Cave from there. There are a lot of rv parks in the Custer area. Rafter J is very nice. Beaver Lake campground is good. Custers Gulch, Custer Mountain, French Creek RV park..to name a few of them. But make your reservations as early as you can.For Teddy Roosevelt Park, you'll need to look in or near Medora I think.

For TRNP (south), we stayed in the Medora Campground just outside the park entrance, and we're really glad we did. The road into the campground in the park was under construction and you had to follow a pilot car for the first 10 miles (we drove through in the toad). Call before you go to see if this is still going on. If so, I would think twice about going to the park's campground.

Hart Ranch seems to be pretty central to Badlands and Wind Cave and has lots of amenities if that's your thing. We are an old couple with no children with us and much prefer Custer State Park, Gamelodge Campground.We were disappointed with Voyageurs since we don't have a boat or fishing equipment with us when we travel. We did take the park boat on the park lake tour and enjoyed it. When we visited there it was part of staying a couple of weeks in Gilbert, MN at Sherwood Forest Campground which is a city park and has very basic facilities but you can swim just downhill from the campground at Lake Ore-be-gone which has a nice beach area. It's about an hour and a half from Voyageurs so you may find somewhere closer and more convenient.

We did exactly what you are planning by camping at Angostura Recreation Area, a SD state campground on Angostura Reservoir SE of Hot Springs. We had a beautiful, well-maintained, paved site on top of a hill with great views of the lake and Black Hills out our rear picture window. New restroom building with showers and reasonably priced for a campsite with hookups. After staying there, we moved to the Sylvan Lake cg, part of Custer SP, to see Mt. Rushmore, Jewel Cave, the buffalo and donkeys, and the Needles Highway. However, if I had known then what I know now, I would not stay at Sylvan Lake again--very tight, small sites and no dump.PS--When we went to Voyageurs NP, we stayed at Birch Camp located just west of International Falls. For more info on it, see my review on RVParkReviews.com.

Trip planning help - Dakotas and Minnesota National Parks

padredw
Nomad
Jan 15, 2019
Busskipper wrote:
Custer's Gulch, which is Just outside Custer, is where we stayed and we loved it as every trip provided great Landscapes and made each day even better. So Yes Custer is IMHO the Center of it all.

Once again, I could not agree with Busskipper more. Custer's Gulch is right where I would go back.
Busskipper
Explorer
Jan 15, 2019
Roy&Lynne wrote:
The town of Custer is right in the heart of it and we spent 4 days there last summer. Wind Caves is just south, Custer State Park is just east and Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse is just North.

Custer's Gulch, which is Just outside Custer, is where we stayed and we loved it as every trip provided great Landscapes and made each day even better. So Yes Custer is IMHO the Center of it all.

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dewey02
Explorer II
Jan 15, 2019
fanrgs wrote:
dieseltruckdriver wrote:
FYI, while at Wind Cave, drive the back roads. There is much more to that park than the cave. You will see bison (100%, no cattle DNA), pronghorns, and very possibly elk. Also there won't be traffic jams to see them like in Yellowstone.
We agree on that back road. We drove through several herds of bison along the road and we were the only vehicle in sight.

A couple of places we had cows and calves right in the borrow ditch along the road not more than 6-8' from the truck. We DID NOT STOP in those places, but did stop a safe distance away a couple of times for photos (from the truck!). The most interesting sight was seeing bison rolling around in the dirt taking dust baths just like you see on TV.

You can also see bison in Custer SP, but usually farther away and always with a crowd of other vehicles and people (more like Yellowstone). This herd is not purebred and excess animals are auctioned off every fall.

X3 on this. Great experience, and not a single other vehicle in sight!
Roy_Lynne
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
The town of Custer is right in the heart of it and we spent 4 days there last summer. Wind Caves is just south, Custer State Park is just east and Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse is just North.
dewey02
Explorer II
Jan 14, 2019
I lived in Northern MN for 25 years. Unless you have a decent boat you are pulling with you, I would pass on Voyageurs NP. It is almost solely water-based and there aren't any top notch RV campgrounds in the immediate vicinity.

Instead, travel to the north shore of Lake Superior, which is chock-a-block with 8 beautiful state parks, lots of great waterfalls, Superior National Forest, Grand Portage Natl. Monument (so you can still visit an NPS area!) Lots of state park, USFS and private campgrounds but best to get a reservation early. Burlington Bay CG (Two Harbors, Mn) and Grand Marais CG are town operated rv campgrounds right on lLake Superior.
fanrgs
Explorer
Jan 14, 2019
dieseltruckdriver wrote:
FYI, while at Wind Cave, drive the back roads. There is much more to that park than the cave. You will see bison (100%, no cattle DNA), pronghorns, and very possibly elk. Also there won't be traffic jams to see them like in Yellowstone.
We agree on that back road. We drove through several herds of bison along the road and we were the only vehicle in sight.

A couple of places we had cows and calves right in the borrow ditch along the road not more than 6-8' from the truck. We DID NOT STOP in those places, but did stop a safe distance away a couple of times for photos (from the truck!). The most interesting sight was seeing bison rolling around in the dirt taking dust baths just like you see on TV.

You can also see bison in Custer SP, but usually farther away and always with a crowd of other vehicles and people (more like Yellowstone). This herd is not purebred and excess animals are auctioned off every fall.
dieseltruckdriv
Explorer II
Jan 12, 2019
Angostura might be a good spot to do both Wind Cave and Badlands NPs. There is a nice RV park in Wall which is 10 minutes from Badlands, and Custer SP would be a very good one to see Wind Cave from, plus it will get you much closer to Mount Rushmore NM. There is a campground in Wind Cave, but sites are small, and there are no hookups or dump. It is very quiet and peaceful.

FYI, while at Wind Cave, drive the back roads. There is much more to that park than the cave. You will see bison (100%, no cattle DNA), pronghorns, and very possibly elk. Also there won't be traffic jams to see them like in Yellowstone.
Addy15
Explorer
Jan 11, 2019
I second the idea of the Lake Angostura area at the south end of the Black Hills. Didn't camp there, but we had a lovely time visiting there.

Voyageurs is pretty remote, and I am not too familiar with the actual Voyaguers area because we don't usually go quite that far north and haven't been there, but this place is right on Lake Kabetogama about a mile from the Voyageurs Visitor Center. It looks like a nice place, though a little on the spendy side...

Pines of Kabetogama

You could also take a look at this place:

Voyageurs Sunrise Resort

We stayed two nights at the Medora Campground when we visited TRNP. It's OK. A little tight and packed in. Our site had a beautiful view of the ridge. I don't think we were able to put out our awning. Sites are packed dirt so could be really muddy if it rained (we were lucky...) Suprisingly enough, there isn't much for campgrounds in that immediate area.
RVman3252
Explorer
Jan 11, 2019
I agree... Rafter J, in Hill City, SD is a nice park! There sure is a lot to do in that area too.
CharlesinGA
Explorer
Jan 11, 2019
I am going to add this link to my brief trip report about my 2017 Badlands, Black Hills and Solar Eclipse trip. You might find something in it worth considering or visiting.

Badlands, Black Hills, and Solar Eclipse trip, 2017.

Charles