Camping in the Black Hills, South Dakota

[klindgren]

I can't find the original thread, but a couple of months ago, there was a thread on camping in the Black Hills asking for recommendations. At the time, there were several recommendations for the Rafter Bar J Ranch in Hill City. I said I had reservationa at Horsethief RV Resort in Hill City and I would report back on that campground. Well, we are here. Arrived yesterday afternoon (August 20th).

I highly DO NOT recommend Horsethief RV Resort. If I had know (been able to look at campsites) I would never have picked this place. The campsites are very narrow. The campground is on a hill side so the sites are terraced up the side of the hill. But the terracing is done poorly with only enough room for the camper. When you step out of your door, you actually have to step up the side of the hill.

The interior roads are poorly maintained with water ruts running down the hillside. There is only one road in and one road out to the section we are in. You have to pass too close (my opinion) between to big pine trees and to get out you have to pull around a couple of other large pines. I'm really concerned about how I can make the turn around the end of the road without scraping the side of the camper against one or more of those pines.

I could add a whole lot more comments, all negative, but suffice it to say, you'll be much better off staying at the Rafter Bar J Ranch. From what we could see as we drove by on our way here, it is a whole lot nicer.

 

[Piperflyer]

Stayed in Rafter's and it is a whole lot better

 

[Niles]

We stayed at Rafter J a lot and always liked it, the fellow who ran it was great, sadly he passed away and his boy took over. It's still a great place just not the same imo, he turned it into a resort and raised the prices a bunch. If you don't mind paying the price it's a wonderful place. Of course when going to the black hills you can expect to pay a little extra at all campgrounds, it is what it is. Horse Thief campground we've passed many times and always looked at it as a sort of place, across the road we have seen horse on the porch and a week later seen people standing on it staying there. We found a place just outside of Custer we like called Custer's Gulch. The folks that run it are really nice and it's not a huge park like some. It's close to the entrance of the state park(1.5 mile) and a great little local restaurant across the road. Just thought I'd put my 2 cents in.

 

[SweetP]

The times we have been to the Black Hills, we stayed at Fort Welikit. Awesome campground, off the beaten path, but close to Custer. The owner is an Army veteran, a very well maintained campground. I highly recommend it!

 

[JohnD]

We stayed at Big Pine Campground about a mile west of Downtown Custer.

Awesome place . . . will stay there again next time we go that way!