Dakotas Road Trip 2022: Custer State Park (and Glamping!)

Jaclyn

Mar 31

When planning our somewhat-last-minute trip to the Dakotas, I knew that the South Dakota portion of the trip had to include Custer State Park. It's a huge park, with a lot of wildlife and plenty of scenery, so I also knew I had to research it to figure out how best to use our time there - since we'd have one day, and one day only, to explore.

For a first priority hike, I settled on the Cathedral Spires Trail. It had pretty much everything I was looking for: the right distance, cool scenery that we definitely couldn't see at home, and enough ups and downs to keep things interesting. To get there - bonus - we had to drive part of the Needles Highway, a narrow road that winds through spectacular scenery and includes some excitingly tight tunnels.

The trail starts out winding through the forest - beautiful trees all around. We took our time, stopping to examine flowers growing by the side of the trail and snack on wild berries. (Kids, don't try that at home - unless you know what you're doing! I learned about edible berries in Girl Scouts.)

Eventually, after a bit of a climb, the trail leaves the woods and breaks out into a hanging valley surrounded by towering rock formations - the Cathedral Spires of the trail name.

They were absolutely glorious!

Steve said it felt like hiking through a landscape created by Disney. I couldn't have agreed more.

It felt like no time passed at all before we reached the end of trail marker at a big rocky overhang. We loitered around for a little while, drinking water and eating trail snacks, and then turned back and headed downhill to our car, bound for the next stop in the park...

Sylvan Lake, a short drive away, boasted a general store - where we picked up lunch - and an easy, mostly flat, trail around the water. We perched on a rock and enjoyed sandwiches (adults) and Lunchables (kiddos) with a view of the water, then set off for an amble about.

About halfway around the lake, we bumped into a mom and two little girls who were staying at the same campground. The kids had met over dinner the night before, and Peanut - who was big into the Babysitter's Club last summer - was enjoying supervising the littler girls.

I'd be leaving out an important detail if I didn't tell you about the big event that was taking place while we were there... so when we were at our gate in the Chicago airport, waiting to board our flight to Rapid City, we noticed that - with the exception of one other group whose Osprey backpacks and little munchkins gave them away as headed on a family hiking trip - everyone at the gate was in head-to-toe Harley Davidson gear. Steve did some quick googling and discovered... the Sturgis Bike Rally. Not being motorcyclists (or knowing any avid bikers) we did not know that this was a thing. We quickly discovered what a very big thing it is: an annual event that more than doubles the population of the host state. (I thought I had trouble finding lodging because the trip was so last-minute. Pieces of the puzzle started to fall into place...) The first part of our trip, up to North Dakota, took us out of the action. But when we returned to South Dakota, we were in the very epicenter. And there were motorcycles everywhere.

(You might be thinking, as my dad noted, that there are no bikes or riders in any of these pictures. The explanation is: I am quite good at angling humans out of my hiking photos. Put it down to long practice taking pictures that don't include other people's kids.) I'm only mentioning this to share my big learning with you: from now on, when planning a vacation, I will google to see if there are big events of any kind scheduled to take place at my destination, and I'll either change destinations or pick a different week if there are. The huge crowds definitely changed the experience - didn't ruin the trip, by any means, but something I will try to avoid in the future. On the bright side, "the time Mommy made us go to Sturgis" is now family lore.

About finding lodgings with a big event going on... it was a challenge, but I ended up finding something great and I do want to tell you where we stayed. We booked a deluxe campsite with a kids' tent at Under Canvas Mount Rushmore. To be honest, we stayed here because it was the only place I could find with availability (and there was only one campsite left when I booked). But I'd also always wanted to try glamping, and the entire experience was a hoot.

The campground included a main tent - where breakfast, lunch and dinner were compiled from fresh, local ingredients; the food was delicious - and a collection of campsites ranged around the property. The main tent included "indoor" (really just... under canvas) and outdoor deck spaces for eating and lounging. There was a board game corner where the kids dominated, and complimentary nightly s'mores overlooking the sweeping view across the Black Hills to Mount Rushmore.

Our tent was a canvas platform tent with a little deck seating area, a giant - comfy! - West Elm bed, and even a working shower. The kids had their own little canvas tent just feet away, and they slept on cute little cots under big, fluffy duvets every night (until the final night, when a loud thunderstorm had the whole family snuggling together in Mom and Dad's bed). I can't tell you enough how much we loved Under Canvas. The staff was warm and welcoming, the food was fabulous, and the glamping experience was just a total riot (and very comfortable). They're not paying me to say this - they don't know I exist. But it felt like a huge win to find this spot and grab the last available family campsite on short notice, and I'd definitely like to stay at another Under Canvas location in the future. (Funnily enough, the week after we got back, my friend Adriana posted pictures on Facebook about her stay at Under Canvas Grand Canyon - which she also loved.) Only regret: I never made it to early morning yoga on the deck. Next time.

Well, this has been a novel of a blog post, so I'll pause here for you to go make your glamping reservations for this summer. Next week, we check out Wind Cave National Park! Will we finally see the elusive bison? You'll have to read my post next week to find out.

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