Roughing it won’t be so rough beginning this summer in Custer State Park. Park officials and the concessionaire Regency CSP Ventures LLP are looking at plans to extend wireless Internet service to campgrounds near the State Game Lodge, the Sylvan Lake Lodge, the Legion Lake Lodge and the Blue Bell Lodge.
They could all be within WiFi range by the time they open for the season, said Park Superintendent Richard Miller.
These days, it seems, getting back to nature doesn’t necessarily mean leaving civilization behind. Campers are bringing their laptop computers along with their tents and sleeping bags.
Miller said modern campers increasingly want to stay connected. “It started with cell phone coverage, and now it’s extending to WiFi,” he said.
In fact, for a lot of folks their RVs and fifth-wheel camper trailers are their homes. They have satellite dishes, microwave ovens, even vacuum cleaners. Some private campgrounds in the Black Hills already offer WiFi hot spots.
If you can’t quite picture wide-eyed children gathered around the laptop, the glow of a YouTube video lighting up their little faces as they munch microwave S’mores, you might need to update your thinking.
Miller said details are still being worked out. He doesn’t know yet whether WiFi will be free, or how the hot spots will be configured.
Currently the only Wi-Fi-equipped state campground in South Dakota is below the Oahe Dam near Pierre. But you could be logging on at other state campgrounds, including those at the Lewis and Clark Recreation Area, sometime soon.
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