Crystal Park Campground

Very clean, not fancy but at $35 close to the Black Hills and Custer state park you can’t beat this. Level, bathrooms and laundry are clean. We had an electric only hook up and frankly it was just perfect. Right next to a large mowed field with tent spots and lots of deer moving through last night. directly adjacent to a large gas station that has a taco John’s. Grocery stores close, nice day we would stay here again

Arrived and parked at the new Gateway Travel Center in Newcastle to check in. We have been coming to this area for an annual hunting trip for 8 years. We stayed here two years ago and upfront its not the best of campgrounds (CG), but looks like some improvements are being attempted. This CG is still the best option for the area. The travel center and RV park used to be an outdoor movie theater back when. You now check in inside the travel center’s convenience store. You go to the check out counter, fill out your paperwork, and get your assigned site. We were traveling with another RV and were assigned sites 30 and 28, which are FHUs with 50/30 AMP. Technically there were sites 31 and 29 adjacent to our sites. The sites were small enough as it was, but if someone would have come in beside us into site 31, we would have been literally an arms length away from each other.  With both of us in our party having fifth wheels with slide outs on both sides, there was no way anyone could have pulled into site 29 between us. However, no one was placed next to us during our 5 day stay and we believe the new CG management wouldn't purposely place someone next to a big rig. We recommend that once you receive your assigned site, go scope it out. They were putting in new site signs but had not gotten to our site so the number was written on the electric box with a permanent marker. Some of the sites here are standalone 30 AMP or 20 AMP, perfect for travel vans.  There is no WiFi in the CG but the travel center has free unsecured Wifi near the pumps and in the convenience store that also has a Taco Johns. The last time we stayed here, there were pipeline workers and the CG was full. This time there were only a few transient workers. They have two pretty nice tent camping areas in the grass and their restroom/shower/laundry facility was well maintained and clean. They have 2 washers and 2 dryers that were very reasonably priced at $1.50 to wash and $1.50 to dry. The RV sites do not have picnic tables nor fire rings but the the tent areas have a few. Every morning and evening we had wild turkeys and mule deer roaming around the CG. With the Fountain Inn Hotel and the RV Park pretty much co-located, this CG made a good choice for our RV and hotel staying hunting group. The new phone number for reservations is (307) 746-2020

Take the money you would spend to camp here and find a nicer campground. This place is very overpriced. It’s basically just a gravel lot and they have some basic showers. I camp out of my vehicle and they wouldn’t let me get a tent site, so I had to pay $25 for an electric site even though I won’t be using the electric. There is no shade and not even a picnic table at the site.

Site numbers could be marked a better. I arrived after 9pm and it was plenty dark. The numbers are on the power box, but it was difficult to know which row my reservation was in, as there is no signage indicating which site numbers are in which row. Also there in no camp site map. It wasn’t to hard to figure out in the daylight. They just need better signage or a map for the late arrivals.

We stayed one night in the graveled lot campground. There were large Cottonwood trees and some grass for tents around the outside. The bathrooms were clean and the shower was hot. There are a total of 6 showers. Some full hookups, some electric only(#9 was electric only). Sewer dump on the way out and water. Self check-in after hours. Quiet. 3 bars AT&T good for 2 IPads.