Custer-Mt. Rushmore KOA

I received a text the morning of arrival telling me "If you are an RV, please know you will be going to the left as you pull in to the drive way. An escort will be there to get you to your site." When we pulled in, we saw a building that said Camp Store with an arrow above it pointing to the left that said Campground. We went left, pulled up the hill and was looking for who was going to meet us. Finally, a golf cart came out and yelled at us and told us to back down the hill with our 5th wheel and check in. I told him what my text said. He said I was probably at the wrong KOA. He said I should go back down the road to the other one. Boy, I wish I would have! Unfortunately, I was at the correct one. I went into the camp store. At this time, one of the young check in people was watching the commotion out the window and proceeds to say, "we are going to have a collision, he's backing up and I have someone else trying to pull in." I then told her what was going on and that I was doing exactly what my text told me to do. An older woman than proceeds to ask me how I was going to check in if I didn't come to the office??? SO, I explained to her, 1) I was doing exactly what my text told me to do 2) the sign on their 'office' does not say OFFICE, it says "Camp store" and 3) the arrow above the door points to the left and says "campground" It is very confusing to someone who is arriving for the first time.
There was a nice gentleman that met us at our site and helped us get backed in and talked to us about the area.
Our site was very small, but we didn't plan on spending much time there. The view was horrible. It overlooked a private residence with trash in the backyard. Most of the campsites were occupied by full timers.
We did some exploring and had dinner, and came back that night about 7:45. The kids wanted to swim. I looked at the KOA website. It did not list pool hours, so I called. They closed at 7:30pm. It does not get dark until closer to 9pm. Not sure why they close so early.
The next morning, we took our time packing up and leaving. My husband chatted with the neighbors who lived their full time.
A golf cart kept circling us. Finally, about 10 minutes before checkout, they just parked right in front of us and watched to make sure we pulled out on time. We pulled out on the dot.
The sites are very close. You will probably not be able to use your fire pit without catching your neighbor's camper on fire. Your neighbor's sewer hook up is also right in your face.
Do yourself a favor and stay else where. We passed a very large KOA close to Mt Rushmore that was beautiful. I know nothing about it, but I do wish I would have checked that one out. It had lots of amenities I could see from the road.

I reserved a spot for one night that was so short I had to unhook my tow vehicle. Ok, annoying when you are planning on leaving again first thing, but not the end of the world. I called up front to ask if there as any other site I could switch to for the night and was told there was 1 pull through but it didn’t have sewer. Since I mostly boondock and had wanted to do laundry in my rig and refill my fresh water tank, I stayed in the tiny site. There were 5 empty sites down the side of me with gradually increasing lengths. They were still empty when I woke up. Tried to wash dishes in the morning, no water. No notification. Called the front office and they confirmed water was shut off for an undetermined amount of time but water was working in the bathrooms up front. Since I was leaving in an hour, I asked if there was anywhere I could fill my fresh water tank. I was told no - they don’t have that. ???? I will NEVER stay here again. Spaces are minuscule, packed in like sardines (or would be if they were anywhere near capacity). And don’t get me started on the man that “helped” me back. I was doing fine on my own, and where he left me was in an uneven position on the gravel.

Each morning they serve a nice long list of breakfast items, their pool is rarely crowded and a great size, the public restrooms were clean enough, each site seems to have a fire pit and picnic table. The super friendly staff also deliver fire wood to your site. The laundry room is small but not a problem. They have a honey wagon or what we like to call a potty wagon to dump the sites that are without sewer for a couple bucks extra charge.

They have cabins and mainly pull-thru sites. Our site was right in front, convenient to the office and pool, not tons of privacy. The internet worked really well the whole time! We were able to upload and download files so having speedy wifi nearby or having to use our hotspots was not an issue for us.