Driving down the iron Mountain Road to Custer Park was the most amazing driver ever, then driving along the wildlife loop rd we were able to hang out with Bison or buffalo what ever you call them but it's a cool experience, other wildlife are out there too and not shy to come up to your window, park is open 24 hours so we stuck around until night time to watch the starts luckily that day there was a meteor shower so we were able to experience that. read more

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Custer's Last Stand may not have gone the way he hoped, but the state park that bears his name may be one of the most amazing camping destinations we've ever seen. And our stay at Grace Coolidge Campground will always be a treasured memory. There are many campgrounds spread around Custer SP. Coolidge is a small-ish one set along the banks of a creek. There are about 20 sites here, most of which are tucked in the trees, providing plenty of shade. We checked in right at dusk, after a long day of driving. The campground attendant introduced himself, and pointed out our spot. There's potable water at the bathroom/shower building, and he asked if we wanted to fill up before we parked. (We didn't, but it was nice he asked.) Our spot was nice and level, the perfect place to tuck in our teardrop for the night. Though the campground was full, everyone observed the quiet hours, and it made for a pleasant evening of watching the stars. In the morning, we took our pup on two short, but beautiful, hikes, before hitching up and heading to our next destination. If all the campgrounds at Custer are as nice as Coolidge, we may just have to spend a month staying at each of them. read more

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Avoid this park!!!!!!!!! Not worth the 20.00 and not seeing any wild animals especially when there main advertising is Buffalo's Very disappointed............just save your money and go to Yellowstone much nicer and worth the money! read more

We haven't seen the park during the day, but we came to the Halloween Night Hike and loved it so much. We can't wait to see what this place looks like in the daytime. The Night Hike was awesome because we were told there was a missing prairie dog, and we had to listen to different animals around the park to find out what happened to him. It was really entertaining, even for the adults and we all had a great time! We will definitely be back to check out the area in the daytime, and we will come back for any of their night hikes in the future! read more

Custer State Park - Halloween decorations... - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

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One of the best state parks with huge bison herd, wild donkeys, prairie dogs and horse camp. We were lucky to see the bison herd across huge field and stopping traffic. Make sure to drive the gravel roads and head to Needles Hwy with Sylvan Lake! Spectacular and unique pinnacles with tunnels. Must see! read more

After visiting Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial, we headed to spend afternoon at Custer State Park. I did some research beforehand, but was still surprised by the size of it and quantity of things you could do at the park. Wildlife loop is a must, but don't just drive, take hikes too. Needles are one of the kind, Wild burros stole our hearts and Sylvan lake offers the best way to cool yourselves after exploring this park for at least half a day. read more

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Just know what you are facing if you drive the Wildlife Loop Road. You pay $20 to enter the park and the road is long and VERY curvy with hairpin turns. Two weeks ago our son saw zero wildlife but we hoped to see some and what we saw after all that curvy driving was a herd way off in the distance so you could see brown spots on the landscape. Then at the same spot 4 mules walked around all the cars looking for food and some people fed them so they hung around. So much for wildlife. If you are bringing kids on that curvy road don't make any promises. The scenery is pretty, but more or less the same. Sylvan Lake is a lovely stop with high rock formations behind it. Be sure to put Yellowstone and Grand Teton on your wish list for more guaranteed wildlife experiences. read more

This is my happy place. I stopped here with my family on our last two cross country trips and it's great. Next time, we plan to stay in Custer and visit the park during the day just to change things up. read more

There are so many great things to say about this park but perhaps the photo's sum it up best. If you love the outdoors, nature, animals, climbing, hiking and exploring...you'll probably need to put this park on your bucket list. And if you can, spend at least one full day exploring it, if not several..as you really need to spend at least two full days driving through to experience a little bit of everything it has to offer. I'm grateful for the time I've been blessed to spend here, it's heaven on earth. read more

Custer State Park - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

Love this State park although $20 is steep for the day use. With that being said, you really need a few days to explore this State park. Lots of scenic trails to hike and rocks to climb. There is a lot of animals to see too. We saw buffalo, prairie dogs, pronghorn, and white tail deer, along with burros! read more

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This is a MUST go. It's $20 for the day. There is so much to do. Do NOT miss the wildlife loop. There are so many animals, the best part by FAR is the buffalo. I would pay $50 to go see them again. They are right by the car, crossing the road. We even got to see the calf's. Needles highway is also a GREAT drive. If you have anyone that gets carsick, pack some meds for that. It's a lot of windy roads. read more

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Huge and awesome state park. If you want to explore the whole area, you will need to dedicate at least a whole day to it. Some hiking trails start at the visitor center, but a good portion of them start at other locations within the park. My favorite ones start at Sylvan Lake. All of the trail heads are within a hour of the park Be prepared to use a good old fashioned map and compass here as signal dies out in most areas of the park. Oh yeah, $20 dollars for a week pass. This is how they get you to come back, it works =( Lover's Leap Trail: Named after a tragic native love story. 3 Mile loop that starts at the visitor center and leads you through the huge pine trees. Nice little sign that says "Lover's Leap" at the top for a picture to show that you completed this hike. Not so good for views because of the pine trees. Prairie Trail: Save this hike for last because it is farthest trail at the south end of the park. So, just hike all of the other trails and make your way down. Also, you will be close to Wind Cave national park if you want to swing by afterwards. 3 Mile loop with an amazing view of Custer State Park. This trail will bring you into contact with bison, deer and lots of other animals. Caution: you will see animal poop on this trail. Sunday Gulch: Great hike, but confusing to find. This hike is a 3 mile loop that is about hour away from the visitor center at Sylvan Lake. Type in "Sylvan Lake Lodge" in Google Maps to get here. Typing in "Sunday Gulch" in Google Maps or Waze will not lead you to the trail head. Once at the parking lot, there will be a map that shows you the hike. Once you see a sign that says" Sunday Gulch", then you will know that this hike has begun. To start this hike, start at the left side of the lake. Before the railings over the small dam, look to the let for a hole between two rocks (also good for photo shoots, look in my pictures to know what that crack looks like to find the trail head.) Head through that crack and go towards the right to find the "Sunday Gulch" sign to start the hike. During winter, this hike might be very slippery due to the ice. Also, you will be very high up in terms of elevation, so make sure to dress warm. Sylvan Lake: If you are coming here from Mt. Rushmore, put Sylvan Lake straight into your GPS and not Custer State Park. It will save you 30 minutes of driving if you want to go to Sylvan Lake first. Really fun lake to hang out at and also contains the trail heads of the more popular hikes. Coming at sunset will reward you with an amazing reflection of the sun in the lake Needles Highway: Pretty much a feast for the eyes. Scenic drive towards sylvan lake, but check with the visitor center before putting this drive into your plans as it might be closed due to the weather. read more

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One of the best parks I've visited in my life. Seriously! After paying a short visit to Mt. Rushmore, we decided to drive to Custer park. I read about it online and the thought of seeing one of the largest buffalo/ bison herds got me all excited. It is about 20 miles from Mt. Rushmore but, the drive takes about an hour. That is because it is a one lane road with pig tail bridges. Some of the bridges are a single road for both incoming and outgoing traffic. You have to wait for the traffic in the opposite direction to pass before your turn. Sounds scary but, makes the drive more exciting. It was a beautiful drive. We saw some of the best views of Mt. Rushmore while driving to Custer. Stop by the scenic spots and take in the scenery. The Black Hills are a wonderful sight. It was somewhat irritating once we got to the park entrance. They have two (seemingly) high school students to take the entrance fee. They did not know what they were doing. Their inefficiency held up the line. To add to this confusion, there were stupid people asking all sorts of senseless questions when everything was just explained to them, twice. The scenic drive was breath taking. It is about 18 miles but it took us about a couple of hours because we pulled over to watch the animals. We saw only a few bison during the first 20 minutes and were getting impatient as to where the herd was. All of a sudden, comes this huge herd of bison tumbling down the mountain....big ones and little ones. The calf were frickin' adorable. We had to stop to let the bison pass the road. It was one of the most magnificent sights. Hundreds of bison walking by you and not even caring you are there. They look at you as if "why the hell are you here?". I am here to admire your beauty, you magnificent beast! We also saw plenty of white-tailed deer and mountain goats. But, they pale in comparison to the bison herd. If you get a chance, go during the annual buffalo roundup. The cowboys and cowgirls round up all the bison to vaccinate them. It is an event to witness. One of the best parks in this country. read more

Custer State Park - Bison herd - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

This is an outstanding state park - it is more like a spectacular national park. The Wildlife Loop is superb - we saw all kinds of animals - antelopes, donkeys, lots of buffalo and baby buffalo. The Iron Mountain Road when you drive out of the tunnel to see Mt. Rushmore it;s breathtaking, We stayed at Sylvan Lodge. Sylvan Lake is very pretty and it was fun staying at the historic lodge. The lakes, creeks, etc all make this an exceptional park to visit. read more

Custer State Park - Custer State Park Baby Buffalo and Their Mom - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

To be honest we started driving the Wildlife Loop and within 5 minutes we couldn't believe we bought into the hype about this place! We weren't seeing anything we couldn't out our back door in Denver. We drove up to a lookout tower and it was cool but still, we were kind of "meh, we live near the Rockies.." But then it happened. About 20 mins into the drive we literally were stopped by a herd of wild donkeys coming up and begging for food out the window of the truck. We had pumpkin seeds so we gingerly gave them some. They were very friendly and gentle and we loved hanging out with them but we had to move on so others could have a chance. Next we encountered a massive herd of bison, again, literally IN the road. We weren't about to try and feed them and it's not at all recommended but we did get some great photos. Such a cool experience. I wish we had looked into staying at any of the many cabins inside the park. Beautiful place and a unique experience. Don't visit the Black Hills without visiting here. read more

Custer State Park - Feeding the wild donkeys - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

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We love this park!! So much area to explore. See wildlife all over (bison, pronghorn, deer, birds, butterflies). Roads are good. Beautiful picnic and camping areas. Lakes, hike and biking trails. Lots of helpful information at visitor centers and lodges and stores. So friendly and helpful!! read more

Custer State Park - Pronghorns near Wildlife Visitor Center - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

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Best state park EVER! I have been here a couple times over the years. I love how when you first enter, you start to see wildlife. Coming from a big, congested city - it's strange to be out in the open and see free-roaming buffalo all over the place (there is a very large herd here). There are deer and all kinds of wildlife; it really is a beautiful place. There is a very nicely paved road thru the entire park. This is a great place to bring your family or just come for some peaceful reflection. The best part for me, tho, was the donkeys. They come right over to you and are SO sweet. To me, Custer State Park is as important to this area as Mt. Rushmore is. I love it! read more

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5stars to Mother Nature. Beautiful! 5stars to everyone who helps maintain this massive park. Lots of buffalo, prairie dogs and mountain goats on the wildlife loop, road 4. Its a gravel road. Needles is not to be missed. The views of Mt. Rushmore through the tunnels are breathtaking. read more

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Beautiful State Park. This is well worth the price of admission. We toured the northern section of the park and it is incredible. Our first stop was Sylvan Lake and spent the good part of an hour or two hiking around the lake, and then settled in for a quick lunch at the store at the entrance. It is a smaller lake, but the landscape is serene and my daughter had a great time climbing on all the rocks and exploring. We then made our way south on the 'Needles Highway' through the park. There are height and width restrictions so pay attention if you have an RV, because if you are bigger than a standard Sprinter, you won't make it. The reason is there are three of four single lane tunnels carved out of the rock as you wind your way through the beautiful Black Hills. It is a breathtaking drive will multiple places to pull off and take in the scenery along with hiking trails as well if you want to make a day of it. All in all, this is great state park and I can't recommend spending at least an afternoon here (or days!) if you are in the area. read more

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We were told that we would see Buffalo and other wildlife on The Wildlife Loop. Not a Buffalo in site. The animals we saw were little burros. They should call it the anti-wildlife loop! Park was pretty. Lodges looked wonderful. read more

The rolling hills on open plains were initially sparse with bison until we came over a rise, then we got our wish - hundreds of bison grazing! What a beautiful sight! Including some very young ones. Occasionally some would wander down the same road as us. Got some great photos! Highly recommend touring this state park. read more

Beautiful state park with nice trails, bison, and boroughs. This park shows the beauty of the black hills and is well worth the SD trip!!!!

Stopped by here on the way to Badlands, beautiful lake with nice trail to stroll. There is a grocery store and restaurant so you can make a day out of it. The fee is 20$ for the vehicles. Would recommend if you have some spare time while visiting My Rushmore. read more

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Amazing, beautiful a must see. We spent two days in the park in awe of the beauty. Loved the bison , and wildlife. Will return!

I started out the drive thinking that we had wasted our money because we saw no wildlife. However, once we got about halfway we were able to see a lot! They have a HUGE herd of bison that came about 10 feet from our car. We were told the herd had 1,400 bison and I believe it because the here seemed to go on forever. There were also a fair amount of donkeys and prairie dogs to check out along the way. The reason for three stars is simply that the views were pretty but not super amazing. If you want to see wildlife, this park is for you but you can get some better scenery elsewhere. read more

Custer State Park - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

What a wonderful scenic trip. My husband and I started on Hwy 385, making our way into the park. We saw buffalo, antelope, elk, rabbits, coyotes...so much. The scenes were breathtaking too with a light dusting of snow. I would highly recommend this scenic drive! If you keep on route, you can also wind up the mountain and get a free, awesome view of Mt. Rushmore! We were actually on our way to the monument but it was great seeing it this way too! read more

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This is such a beautiful place and I love the nature that was provided was breath taking. You could see the buffalo roaming around the park and it is SO cool to see them right in front of your car. We took the buffalo tour and that took about 2 hours and I would totally recommend that to anyone. There are also donkeys to pet. Would come back to this place read more

Custer State Park - Donkey - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

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Seeing al kinds of wildlife Buffalo bighorn sheep donkeys & deer! The views are awesome at the park The park rangers at the visitors center where awesome full of information and very friendly and easy to ask questions ! Recommend going to the visitors center at the park they can supply you with maps aareas for spotting animals read more

6-18-19 and 6-19-19 Loved the place so much we came back the next day! We came here several years ago when passing thru. So many animals (I love animals!). We seen herds of buffalo and had them walk right in front of the car. We even seen one scratch his hip on a car. :) We also seen a couple big horn sheep, so many prairie dogs, herd of burrows (donkeys), coyote, deer, antelope, and a even a couple female turkeys with babies. We had lunch one day at the State Game Lodge. It was buffet style. Pork Tenderloin, roast beef, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies, rolls, salad bar, and dessert table. It was around $13 each. Very reasonably priced. Friendly staff!! Really nice gift shops and museum areas. Would definitely recommend families. We had our dogs with us. We waited til we left the park to let them walk around. To much wildlife to let them out on leashes. This is top of my list if I ever come back thru this area. read more

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What a great park. BRING BINOCULARS! We drove it twice once in the snow and once in the sunshine, Both were amazing. Sadly both Needles Highway and the Tunnels were closed due to weather. The wildlife loop was amazing bison, white tail deer, mule deer, prairie dogs, and coyote. We stopped at the State Game Loge for lunch, it was good. read more

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Custer State Park/State Game Lodge Wedding Venue Review Unless you've always wanted your long-awaited, extensively-planned, and undoubtedly expensive "big day" to basically serve as a dress rehearsal for State Game Lodge (SGL) staff to practice for next weekend's wedding, you should probably consider another venue outside of Custer State Park (CSP). I won't go into great detail about our very first trip to SGL in February 2017 ahead of our eventual May 2018 wedding; or the difficulty we had in scheduling (and later confirming) a tour of the premises with the (since-fired) wedding coordinator; or the utter, and almost deal-breaking, lack of ability for SGL to return voicemails and emails in the weeks that followed our first visit as we tried to lock in our first-choice weekend. The communication pitfalls were seemingly improved when SGL hired a new wedding coordinator, Kyle, who took over well ahead of our wedding in plenty of time to finalize the details. Once our questions were answered by the old wedding coordinator, eventually, and the contracts were signed, there was a lot of downtime as we booked our vendors and carried on with life in general. It's a good thing we had that downtime, too, because even though my fiancé had her heart set on an outdoor wedding at SGL, I was ready to forfeit our deposit, cut our losses, and find a new venue based entirely on SGL's clear inability to effectively communicate with us. Let me continue by saying that SGL's new wedding coordinator, Kyle, did a much better job of communicating with us, comparatively speaking, and usually got back to me within 48 hours if I didn't catch him in the office. It was a big improvement over what I dealt with in 2017, and something I commended Kyle for often leading up to our wedding. It is unfortunate that as the new coordinator, I can say from our experience that Kyle had not had any/many outdoor weddings under his belt before ours at the end of May. The issues we encountered were the direct result of an obvious lack of staff supervision and disregard for attention to detail. Aside from that, if the disappointment of not having our expectations met wasn't frustrating enough, SGL and CSP rubbed salt in the wound over two weeks later by brushing off our concerns and either blaming us for something totally unrelated to the issue raised in order to distract from our complaint or by saying that they appreciated us bringing certain things to their attention and would correct it for weddings in the future. So basically our early spring wedding was a dress rehearsal for later peak-season summer weddings, for which SGL and CSP charges higher fees. The effort of writing this review comes down to SGL and CSP simply refusing to just apologize for their mistakes and refund us a mere $185.88 that we were owed. We paid SGL and CSP well over $10,000 for the venue and for catering (this does NOT take into account additional tens of thousands of dollars that our guests spent on lodging, dining, and drinking during their three days at CSP). While I should have disputed the ridiculously petty $185 amount with my credit card company, I've instead chosen to share our experiences in the hopes that someone will take it to heart and either pass on this venue or hold SGL and CSP accountable for their mistakes at your own wedding if the same things happen to you. Due to size restrictions, please see attached JPEG images of pages 2-5 for the full details: read more

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I can't express how much we loved our time at Custer State Park this year. We hiked, we drove through the scenic routes, we got out of the car and watched the bison, we learned history, and we randomly stopped the car to adventure into the beautiful landscape. The memories our children take from this vacation will last a lifetime, and influence the way they view the world, and environment. And how much did all of this cost us for an entire week? $20 (for the vehicle, for one week). Highly recommended. read more

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All I can say is wow!!! My family and I rented a cabin at Legion Lake in Custer State Park. We stayed for one week and loved the beauty of the area. We had a visitor, Bob the Buffalo, that came by our cabin three mornings. We also saw deer, wild turkeys and ducks at the lake. We loved our cabin as it was tucked in the woods. We had a fire ring to cook meals on or could eat at the lodge. I recommend the buffalo sliders. We were close to Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse. We also visited the Badlands, hiked Sunday Gulch, ride ATV's and went horseback riding (at Blue Bell Lodge). I would highly recommend Custer State Park. The manager, Christopher, was wonderful and made us feel at home. read more

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10 out of 10. The $20 fee seems like a lot even if you're driving through but we still paid it. We'd do it again. read more

Custer State Park - Parks Near Me - Custer, South Dakota

Custer State Park is South Dakota's first and largest state park so why not take a lovely loop here. The wildlife loop definitely lived up to its name. At first we didn't see any animals and were worried until we saw a huge herd of bison. The herd walked across the road actually stopping cars. As we drove we saw herds of hundreds in the distance as well as so many more animals. We also saw prairie dogs and pronghorn throughout the drive. Along the drive we encountered something we didn't expect, burros. These burros are actually famous for flocking around vehicles, begging for food. The fact that the park isn't going out of it's way to ask people not to feed them really goes to show that these burros are already too used to it. Some of them grazed on grass, some simply rested, but the majority were trying to grab every vegetable and fruit they could. This loop is 18 miles long and is surrounded by grasslands really allowing for animals to be seen farther away if not nearby. read more

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It was pretty but it felt not worth to me in terms of cost and things to do. I would not go again.

Custer State Park is gorgeous! If you love the wilderness and climbing, I would highly recommend it! There are a shit ton of routes around here and there's a lake. Would definitely recommend hiking to Black Elk Peak formerly known as Harney Peak. Sylvan Lake is also gorgeous if you'd prefer a more relaxing day. The famous Conn Diagonal sits behind the lake, well sorta, kinda. I know how to get there, just explaining it to people can be a bit fustrating but it's not far. I've not climbed Conn but it's on my list and I'm definitely going back to climb it in the future. Following the road from the entrance takes you to another "realm" of wild life. The road will definitley be tight so please don't speed! But I must say, this road brings you to some breathtaking, beautiful views of the midwest. This road also leads to the Catheral Spires a fun hike and if you're a climber, definitely try International Chimney and Spire 4. It is absolutely amazing. On this trip, I've learned so much about myself and I fell in love over and over again each day as I climbed, hiked, and spent it nature. Hundreds, if not millions travels far and wide to all national parks and forests each year, but what are the percentage of getting to the top of a spire and witnessing the best view of all? Probably 1%. I'd say try it, climb it, hike it! You won't regret it! read more

Amazing! The park itself is beautiful, but the ability to see buffalo roaming the park (sometimes VERY close) was wonderful. Be safe and not stupid when you see them - too many people forget they are wild animals. read more

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Wow, of all the parks I have been to I think THIS park I have seen the most wildlife fairly close up or at least as close as I want to get. This place is known for its grazing buffalo so you have to check them out from a safe distance and lots of antelope. We also saw goats, deer and rodents! We stayed in a cute cabin near the lodge and had dinner in the lodge's restaurant which was beyond our expectations for being in the middle of nowhere! We will definitely return when passing through South Dakota! read more

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We saw bison, burros, prairie dogs, deer, turkeys, & were in the car a bunch. With little ones the car was our best bet. When we bought our pass I wish we could have got more information about what was going on in the park, but we discovered that they were working the bison as it was a few weeks after the round up. Meaning we saw most the heard in one place as the y branded the newborns and checked on the adults. I enjoyed the hills and the unique roads. If you are in the black hills this is a must stop. read more