A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 186 miles from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming.
Author: David
Travel from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming
We drove our coach 186 miles, about three hours of driving, from Custer, South Dakota to Buffalo, Wyoming.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Custer:
Bighorn Sheep Crossing:
6% grade:
Welcome to Wyoming:
Fun with zoom:
Ordering sandwiches for lunch at Heidi’s deli inside Coffee Cup Fuel Stop in Moorcroft:
Back to our coach:
Our step wasn’t working (an ongoing issue):
Lunch:
A Starlink dish on the roof of a trailer… hopefully well-secured, but not very aerodynamic:
Narrow roadworks:
Buffalo:
Fuel stop:
Filling DEF:
Arriving at Buffalo KOA:
Our site:
Custer Wildlife Loop drive
Another scenic drive: the Custer Wildlife Loop drive, where we saw hundreds of buffalo aka bison.
An interactive map of our route, starting from the campground (and including the visit to Wind Cave, which we did first):
A coyote:
Lots of buffalo:
One-lane bridge:
Another one-lane bridge:
Bridge:
Prairie dogs:
Buffalo hiding behind a sign:
Dirt road:
Sun rays:
More buffalo:
Wind Cave National Park
We visited Wind Cave National Park again; the previous time, back in 2023, the elevator to the cave was broken, so we were unable to do a tour (but the surface stuff is good too).
This time we were able to do a cave tour: the Garden of Eden tour. This is a one-hour, quarter mile tour (their easiest option), featuring boxwork, frostwork, flowstone and cave popcorn.
Cave tours:
Cave map:
Heading into the elevator, about seven people at a time:
Waiting for everyone in an airlock at the bottom of the elevator:
Exploring the cave:
Back to the elevator:
Model of the cave tours in the visitor center:
Conditions at the cave mouth; neglegible wind:
The little hole of wind:
Not the most impressive cave, but still more interesting than Mammoth Cave.
Gordon Stockade
Our campground is near an entrance of Custer State Park. Just before the entrance is the historic area of Gordon Stockade.
Info signs:
Custer
The town of Custer, South Dakota.
An interactive map of the town:
Iron Mountain and Needles drive
We did one of our all-time favorite scenic drives, along Iron Mountain and Needles Highway.
An interactive map of our route, starting from the campground, and going counter-clockwise:
A buffalo on the road:
Tunnel clearances:
Scovel Johnson Tunnel:
A peek of Mount Rushmore through the trees:
More tunnels:
Tunnel to spiral bridge:
Another tunnel:
Another peek of Mount Rushmore from the tunnel:
Another pigtail spiral bridge:
Passing Mount Rushmore:
Mount Rushmore side view:
Interesting rocks:
Hood Tunnel:
Sylvan Lake:
Popular jumping spot for kids:
Needle Eye:
Needle Eye Tunnel:
Sun over rocks:
Another tunnel:
Such a fun drive.
Custer’s Gulch RV Park
We stayed at Custer’s Gulch RV Park in Custer, South Dakota. (Campground Reviews listing.)
Last time in the area we stayed inside Custer State Park, in a campground without water or sewer hookups. This time we decided to stay a little outside the park, primarily so we could have full hookups. A nice, convenient campground.
Dates:
- Check in: 2025-08-19
- Check out: 2025-08-23
- 4 nights
Weather:
- Sunny, a little rain
- High temps 68-88°F, lows 52-65°F
- Some wind, gusts to 21 MPH
Noise:
- No road noise
- No train horn noise
- Little neighbor noise
Site:
- #50, back-in, gravel
- Needed to disconnect toad, parked in front of coach
- Somewhat level site; a little high on passenger side and front; used hydraulic leveling
- Gravel driveway about 90 feet long by 12 feet wide
- 26 feet to neighbor on passenger side
- 30 feet to neighbor on driver side
- Just grass between sites
- Picnic table
- Fire pit
- One tall tree towards the front of the site
- Clean site
- Elevation 5,240 feet, front facing NW
Utilities:
- 50 amp power, conveniently located; breaker was unreliable, cutting out a couple of times
- 60 PSI water, conveniently located
- Good sewer connection, fairly conveniently located (1.5 10-foot pipes needed)
Internet (in usage priority order):
- Starlink: 180-230 Mbps down, 20 Mbps up, 40 ms ping
- RoamLink: 24 Mbps down, 0.3 Mbps up, 170-1,500 ms ping (the RoamLink service picks the best network)
- AT&T: 8-32 Mbps down, 0.05-0.2 Mbps up, 113-140 ms ping (I have AT&T on my iPhone)
- Campground Wi-Fi: not used
Amenities:
- Garbage dumpsters
Our review on Campground Reviews:
Beautiful campground nestled in the Black Hills
We’ve visited the Black Hills several times, and this campground is now my new favorite place to stay in the area. It’s conveniently located near all the best things to do in the area, and the only way to get closer to Custer State Park is to stay within the park. However, none of the campgrounds in the state park have full hook-ups, so Custer’s Gulch clearly wins in that regard. We had a large back-in site that was tucked up against a hill and had a nice view of the other side of the gulch. Although the campground is situated off the main highway, it’s far enough away that we didn’t hear any road noise. All utilities worked well, and the site was in good condition. We will definitely stay here again when we visit the Black Hills in the future. We camped at Custer’s Gulch RV Park in a Motorhome.
Campground map:
An interactive map:
Our (very long) site:
Other sites:
Pond:
We’d be happy to stay here again.
Video: Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota motorhome travel timelapse
A timelapse of driving our RV, a Tiffin Allegro Bus motorhome, 324 miles from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota.
Travel from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota
We drove our coach 324 miles, about five hours of driving, from Mitchell to Custer, South Dakota.
Here’s a map showing our route, heading west:
Here’s another variation of the map showing time zones (Mountain and Central) and elevations for the whole year, with a circle showing the highest elevation of this trip; a lot of climbing at the end of the trip, though not as much as ones coming up soon:
An interactive map, with potential stops pinned:
Wind turbines and corn fields:
Dignity of Earth and Sky sculpture at a rest area:
The aforementioned rest area:
Crossing Missouri River:
Fun with zoom:
Sunflowers:
There seems to be a Beetle crawling up that silo:
Paladin reaching out to touch my foot:
Fun with zoom:
Entering Mountain Time Zone:
Stagecoach art:
Rest area:
Narrow roadworks:
Passing Badlands:
More roadworks:
Exit:
Buffalo sculpture:
Interesting rocks:
Arriving at our campground:
