Game Lodge Campground, Custer SD

18-21 July 2016

Lat/Long:  43.760274, -103.4

Location:  Game Lodge Campground, Custer SD

Electric Hook Up:  Yes

Water Hook Up: No, Water fill up in the middle of camp ground

Sewer Hook Up:  No, but located also in the middle of camp ground

WiFi: No

Bathroom:  50+ yard walk

Shower:  Yes

Site:  11E

We took a much needed break from life and escaped to Custer for more then a weekend.  Stayed Monday night thru Thursday morning.  We have an added bonus as Friday afternoon we'll check back into Sheps Canyon for the weekend with friends.  

The campsite is wonderful.  Plain and simple.  Something I've always enjoyed when we are out is meeting people.  Tuesday a BIG, by big I mean GI-NORMICA RV backed into the site next to us.  Thing was huge.  Really nice family of 5 gets out.  I joked with him that he should have gotten the bigger one.  I could tell he was confused by my comment and after talking with him he explained they were from the Netherlands., english was "so-so."  They came to see the States via RV.  I drove him down to the store to get eggs and bacon Tuesday night as their only mode of movement was via "big birtha".  Was just really nice to meet and talk with them.  They brought us fresh made brownies that I'm sure the bakery located within their RV whipped up.

We canoed on Tuesday at Stockade. Had a great time exploring.  Wednesday we just went an sat on the beach as it was close to 100 degrees, so touching the lava hot canoe to get off and on seemed like a bummer and we know we'll get lots of time in this weekend at Angostura.  

Karon has been cooking all the wonderfuls.  We had steak, have had breakfast burritos, cooked hotdogs on fires.  Just a freaking awesome week.  We'll take one night off and stay at the house, play a game or two on our downtown league and then head back out.  

Happy Camping Campers.

Sylvan Lake, Custer SD

8-10 July 2016

Lat/Long:  43.8461838, -103.5642992

Location:  Sylvan Lake Campground, Custer SD

Electric Hook Up:  Yes

Water Hook Up: No, Water fill up at camp host site

Sewer Hook Up:  No, Had to go to town to Dump

WiFi: No

Bathroom:  5+ yard walk

Shower:  Yes

Site:  36E

Well, It was nice to be out.  Site 36E is probably the worst site that the Sylvan Lake Campground has to offer.  Now - it wasn't awful - but it wasn't fantastic either.  Fire pit was on the opposite side of the camper, we had a hill on the door side and we were about 5 yards from the bathroom/shower area - so had a bright light shining in during sleep hours.  BUT - we made do.  ;)

We purchased a little visor for the Pod.  What a GREAT addition as the tent room can be a real pain to set up.  The little visor is super easy to set up and is totally self sufficient, no drilling into the POD, no added things necessary.  Totally worth looking into if you are a POD owner and want some easy fast shade.  

Had a nice fire Saturday night, friend came up to meet us for dinner.  We had a delicious steak dinner cooked over the campfire that took us a few tries, a purchase of dry wood and about 55 paper plate burnings - but finally got a good blaze going.

Sylvan Lake had a LOT of traffic, we didn't go down there at all - just hung out, read and watched the fire.  BUT - we will be prepared for the next trip as we purchased a canoe this weekend.  Gonna have bars installed on the 4 Runner and go pick it up Tuesday afternoon.  Super stoked to be able to enjoy MORE of these beautiful hills.

Stockade Lake, Custer SD

18 June 2016

Lat/Long:  43.7647084,-103.5140822

Location:  Custer State Park, Stockade Lake

Electric Hook Up:  Yes

Water Hook Up: No, Water fill up at camp host site

Sewer Hook Up:  No, No Dump Station on Site had to dump in town

WiFi: No

Bathroom:  20+ yard walk

Shower:  Yes

Site:  16A

What a fantastic first start to the season.  Met up with some friends - made a night of it big time.  Steak, potatoes, stories, guitar playing and about 1 ba-zillion laughs.  Camp host was great, retired Navy officer who was very accommodating to us all.  Our friends and two kids didn't have reservations and they graciously let them stay with us which was really nice.  

Pod of course was a dream. We let friends use it the week prior as they were PCS'ing to Texas and needed a place to stay while they were in transition. 

Stockade Lake is GORGEOUS.  The campsites are really well laid out.  A few have really nice rock stove type dwellings.  We didn't get one, but they looked pretty awesome if you lucked out enough to score a site with one.  We will DEF go back there - don't think I saw a bad spot anywhere on the camp ground.  

Gave us an itch to spend more time on the water....thinking of a canoe.....more to follow on that.  

Happy trails campers.  Hope you all are starting your camping seasons with a bang.