Black Hills, SD and Crooked Creek Campground

[Denny_A]

A pithy report, I hope, about our trip to the Black Hills.

We stayed 2 nites at a commercial RV park, outside Interior, near the South entrance to the Badlands. Nothing special. The Badlands, OTOH, are special. Been here and saw 'em before - the Badlands are still awesome.

From there, it was a relatively short jaunt to Rapid City, thence UP the hill into Hill City. Two miles out of Hill City we pulled into Crooked Creek Campground. With my Passport America, we paid 11.50/nite. Very nice place, but not the kind of place kids would appreciate. Owners assume, rightfully, that since they are centrally located near all the major attractions, most folks will be out and about. Keerect!

Hill City is small, but the one fine restaurant (Alpine Inn) was indeed fine. Dining out is essential to marital harmony. So is the ocassional fine wine.

Since further detail is unlikely to draw more than yawns, I've put together a short photo juornal on Webshots. Go here:

http://community.webshots.com/album/93069728XAMtuX {No LONGER AVAILABLE}

to see a few selected shots (of the many taken).

Oh, yeah - 6 hours after arriving home from the trip, I made an extra trip - to the ER. But, it wasn't my heart, or spleen or... turns out travel and dehydration causes the plumbing to back up. ......I know - more than you needed to know! My mother always told me to share! ;D

Super trip. And the new (to us) 4Runner was all we had hoped it would be.

Cheers,

Denny_A

[Windbreaker]

Nice Photos, Guess I'm going to have to add another place to see.

At the campground I see water hooked up but no electric or sewer. Did they have them?

[Denny_A]

Nice Photos, Guess I'm going to have to add another place to see.

At the campground I see water hooked up but no electric or sewer. Did they have them?


Photos - thanks!

Hookups: Water and electrical were on posts, butting up to a rustic fence which separated back-to back rows of sites. All the hookhups are 15 ft directly behind the rear bumper.

We took a non-sewer site, tho sewer was available. Sewer sites, because of the time of year, were in the shade for a longer stretch of daytime than we were willing to accept. Campground is actually in a valley, next to a little crooked creek, with hills rising to the West and East. Made 4 days w/o trouble.

Thinking of selling my home and moving to Rapid City. But, then, I always say that when I've been somewhere cool. Monterey, CA, Santa Fe, NM, Savannah, GA and...........etc.

Denny_A

[RockyMtnRay]

Very good photography there Denny! The 2nd shot of the badlands (with the color striations) was particularly striking in composition and color...suspect it would have even more wow-factor in the more reddish/golden light of early morning or late evening.

The grass campsites totally amaze me. As I live in what's really a high altitude desert, grass is something you have to constantly baby to keep it looking good...and no-one in their right mind would ever allow people to freely drive on a plot of grass. :o

[Happytrails]

Denny, congrats on a great trip, and thanks for all the great pics........One of the places we'll have to visit sometime for sure........


Happytrails.......

[bonzaibeaver]

We took your recommendation and stayed at Crooked Creek Campground for 3 nights while we visited the Black Hills of South Dakota. It is a centrally located camp which lends itself nicely for taking day trips throughout the Black Hills. Our cost was $77 for the 3 nights using our Good Sam Discount. The camp is located on the Michelson Bike Trail which would be great for the bicyclists among us. We used the trail for taking a daily walk. It was a beautiful trail.

The one inconvenience of this campground is its back-in dump station. We've never seen one quite like this. The dump station was not too difficult to back into, but it certainly wasn't as easy as the usual drive thru dump stations.

http://www.crookedcreeksd.com/wel.htm