Stockade Lake South Campground — Hotel in Custer

I unexpectantly booked a cabin here for a few night on our way back from Wyoming. I thought I had booked for Bluebell Campground, but when I got there to check in, we were informed that we had actually booked for Stockade South. Not only is it closer to the town of Custer, it was also very near the lake. It's much closer to Sylvan Lake, the Needles, and Rushmore.

The cabin was much larger than I thought it would be with room to sleep 5 comfortably and had plenty of electrical outlets. The only downside is that the heat is located close to the ceilings, which made it too hot for my younger daughter overnight while us other 3 were comfortable.

The inside table is large enough to seat everyone comfortably and there's benches in front of the bunks, easy to sit on or store your clothing bags on. There is also plenty of benches outside also for seating everyone comfortably, cooking on, setting coolers on and firewood underneath. There was a storm that came through and the eave was large enough that we could sit under it and watch the rain while staying dry.

The cabins are on a hill, so the walk back from the bath house was a little winding, but not bad. The cabins are also spread out so you have a lot of room to roam and don't overhear your neighbor if you're enjoying a fire at night.

The bathrooms were clean and the shower was decent. It's a push button shower without any temp dial, but it was sufficient to get the day's dirt off the body before going to bed.

I would definitely recommend these cabins to anyone. My only wish is that they allowed well behaved dogs, which they don't. Also, It'd be nice to be able to buy wood here, but with the National forest right in your backyard, you can always forage for dead wood and fallen trees, which there is plenty...

It's the best campground in the park. Nice ponderosa pines. Close to the lake and a hiking trail. Bike trail close buy you can take all the way to Custer City or up to Crazy Horse and beyond. The lake has a beach with a playground for kids. Good fishing. Trout, crappie, bass, pike, blue gill, and walleye. The town of Custer is close by with nice restaurants, brewery, grocery stores, and a really nice dog park and very friendly folks all around. Enjoy the atv trails all around as well. You're not too close to the highway, so you don't hear all the traffic. Wild life is abundant as deer, turkey, owels, eagles, osprey, mountain blue birds, and coyotes may be seen or heard. You're not too far from the wildlife loop where you can view Bison (Buffalo), Prairie Dogs, Elk, wild Burrows, Pronghorns, and Big Horn Sheep. Also, the campsites are large and cabins in this loop. Bathhouse is also very clean. Come and...

Really comfy spot. It's well away from the road and the sites are spread out a bit and point in different directions, so plenty of space and privacy. It's just a mile or so to the beach and park at the end of the lake, and the Game Lodge dump station is convenient if you're leaving to the east.

The sites are on a forest hillside, so not much flat ground. Each site seems to have a good size flat area, but you have to scope it out. You also have to scope out the best way to back in - each site definitely has one. There's a water spigot behind the very clean bathroom & shower building.

This campground is convenient to the Wildlife Loop and the Badger Clark Hole memorial. The Stockade Lake North campground is quite nearby. It has more for kids, but is not as convenient to the "beach". Either way, you can't go wrong.

Of course the best thing is that it's in Custer, which is a spectacularly...