Custer State Park, South Dakota

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We had to be careful what route we entered Custer State Park as two of them had low tunnels that we would not have fitted under. We were told that this was a mini Yellowstone. In that there are bison, pronghorn and prairie dogs, that is true, but it’s nothing like Yellowstone. Our first campsite was in Blue Bell which reminded us of Jasper as our site was nestled in around the Ponderosa Pines and green grass in between. A sign at the entrance to the campground, says that if you haven’t booked, then you need to before going any further! The sites are electric but a storm that morning had knocked out the power, so we didn’t have any for the first few hours. We went out on the wildlife road for a few miles and saw a few bison and two pronghorn. There were traffic jams for prairie dogs which Lindsay thought was hysterical and he would get frustrated at being caught behind them. He forgets that we thought they were cute when we first encountered them.

The next day we moved to the Game Lodge campground. This is a really nice campground with large powered sites with lots of space around each one, green grass, a dump station and a laundry only a few metres away from our first site. Perfect. Before moving to our third site the next morning, we left early in the hope of seeing some mountain goats around the needles area. No such luck. We encountered the tunnels we had seen on our map and got through with just a 5cm (2”) gap either side of our mirrors.

Last year when we drove to South Dakota, it rained the entire time. This year has been similar, in that it has rained at least once each day.
with 5cm (2") either side of our mirrors
the Needles section of Custer State Park
the southern 'green' section of Custer State Park
Location: Custer State Park, 13329 US Highway 16A, East Custer, SD 57730, USA

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