Saturday, April 1, 2017

ECHO VALLEY CAMPGROUND, CUSTER, SD-Camp 17


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Nestled in the shadow of the Crazy Horse Monument is this pleasant privately owned campground, Echo Valley

While small it is full of personality.  The owners are a friendly couple who go out of their way to be helpful and to supply you with all you need.  They currently have a few 50 amp sites and have plans to add more.  The rest of the rv sites are 30 amp.  They have a few cabins and rvs to rent, and several tents sites available if you just want a pleasant reasonably priced place to stay in the Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse area.

Be sure to check their website for their internet special coupon to lower the cost of your stay.  We paid $25 per night using the coupon and enjoyed every minute there. That was for full hook-ups and internet.

There is a nice honor system laundry room at the main bath house as well.

If you enjoy hiking, you have it here, trout fishing too. 

Gary was able to fly his quad copter here and got some beautiful shots of the campground and the land it is on.


Surrounding attractions are numerous there in the Black Hills the obvious being Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse Monument I have already mentioned, but in addition you are not far from Deadwood, Keystone, Custer, Hill City, Four Mile Old West Town or Horse Thief Lake.

If you are planning on participating in the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Echo Valley would be a good stop over point for you.  You will find they are one of the few campgrounds that do not raise their rates during the rally.

We were there for close to two weeks and never ran out of things to do in and around the campground.  Just driving the roads offered up breath taking views.







The famous Needles Highway is in this area as well, but we never seemed to find time for it.  Be aware that if your are driving or pulling an rv you should NOT go on the Needles Highway.  Many an rv has suffered difficulties and damages on the switchback roads and low narrow tunnels of this highway.  We heard story after story of people who thought they knew better than the highway department and tried to squeeze their rigs down this road and paid dearly for it.

Therefore, it is our recommendation that you camp at Echo Valley and then use your pulling or towed vehicle to travel the Needles Highway if you really want to travel it.
One of our favorite activities while there was hiking






 talking to the owner about the history of the property including the story of the squatter


and the homestead on the land.


taking photos of the wild life





Sunsets,



and the horses and mules from the nearby horseback riding facility. 



 Each evening the horses were pastured just up the hill from the campground and were enjoyable to video and photograph.

If our travels lead us to this area again in the future we will definitely stay at this campground again.


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