How old is Calamity Peak Lodge?

The original owners purchased the property in the late 1930’s and built what is now the lodge house and our residence as was theirs. The remainder of the facility was constructed during the forties and fifties and has been remodeled and updated by subsequent owners to the present time . Unit 10 was put into service in 2006. Unit 6 was remodeled in 2010 and a deck was added to the unit.

What is your cancellation policy?

When reservations are made, a one night non-refundable deposit, including the state tax of 6%, is required. The balance is due on arrival with no refund if guests leave before the end of their scheduled stay.

Special rules apply for Sturgis Bike Week and hunters. See below.

What is your pet policy?

We are pet friendly for friendly pets! We do allow pets as long as they are well trained and do not pose a threat to other guest, staff or the property. Problem pets and their owners will be required to leave with no refund if a problem arises with the asistance of the local authority. Please consider others if you are planning on traveling with your pets. Our policy is as follows: An addition $15.00 per pet per night is required, a credit card on hold will be required incase damage from pets is found. Repair cost and addition deep cleaning fees will be charged to the card if needed. If pets are to be left unattended in the unit, kenneling is required, clean up of waste on the premises is require, we can supply plasic bags if requested, a breach of this policy may result in immediate removal from the premises with no refund.

Do you have cleaning fees?

Included in room rate we offer daily trash removal, daily towels if requested, weekly bedding change, and a basic room cleaning after check out. Our kitchen units are equip. with utensils for your conveniance. For your safety we recomend that you clean them before and after use. It is expected that the kitchen utensils be left in clean usable condition  as a courtesy to other guest.  We reserve  the right to charge additional cleaning fees for excessive damage to property, addition kitchen utensil cleaning, deep cleaning cause by staining, odors, etc.

What is your check in and check out policy?

Check in is any time after 4:00 pm mountain standard time. Please call 605-673-2357 if you will arriving later than 6:00 pm mountain standard time.

We asked that our guest please be considerate to others by checking out timely at 10:00 am mountian standard time on the day of check out to allow enough time for general cleaning before the next guest checks in.

How can you offer nice accommodations at such reasonable rates?

The short answer:

We believe having a well maintained facility and building a solid reputation among our guests is good business.

As a result, we have a high percentage of return guests, several of whom have returned to Calamity Peak Lodge year after year for many years. We want everyone who stays with us to have an excellent lodging experience.

The long answer:

In the long answer, too, we must start by stating our overall goal is to provide excellent lodging offerings at very reasonable prices. Our units are very clean and well maintained.

Each year we devote significant resources to keeping a well maintained facility. Home owners know that home maintenance is an ongoing concern. In a sense we have ten “homes” to maintain. Each year we put a significant part of our income back into maintaining and upgrading our Lodge.

We think of ourselves as environmentally conscious. We have containers around to collect recyclables. We wash our linens and towels in a high efficiency (low water usage) wash machine. If you stay with us longer than a week we will change your sheets weekly. We do change towel daily if requested. We provide no shampoo or conditioner. So bring your own shampoo and conditioner. We generally use energy efficient bulbs. We replaced our large exterior yard lights with LED low energy-use lights.

Most folks who stay with us come to vacation in the Black Hills. Many plan their visits weeks or months in advance. Our policy of having non-refundable deposits reflects this. We collect non-refundable deposits when reservations are made. Typically the balance is due at check-in time. Our rationale for this is demonstrated by the following example. If we have a reservation made for a week and the reservation is cancelled shortly before scheduled arrival, the folks who were unable to come lose one night’s deposit – and we lose the expected income on the remaining days. If this happens very often it has a dramatic impact on our bottom line. Our refund policy for Bike Week is more stringent where we require two nights non-refundable deposit when a reservation is made and the remainder due is collected by July 1st and is also non-refundable. Thus folks who come for Bike Week have paid fully in advance and their payments are non-refundable. With folks (those who come during Bike Week and those who come at different times) who have been loyal returnees for many years we often waive or modify the non-refundable requirement. Hunters who typically come in the latter part of the season many times do not know how many days they will stay when they check in and we try to balance their needs with our bottom line needs.

Vacationers have enjoyed the Back Hills for more then a century. They come because of the many attractions but they also come for the climate and the environment. The Black Hills has few mosquitoes. In the summer the Black hills is generally cooler than the surrounding plains. Mid-summer in the Hills can see Hot days but Cool nights. In 2018 the average temperature for May was 66.3 on the high side and 42.4 on the low side. The highest day time temp. was 83 on 5/26/18 and the lowest night time temp . was 31 on 5/20/18 with an average temp at 54.4, June’s average was 73 on the high side and 49.1 on the low side. Junes hotest day time temp. was 92 on 6/14/18 and the night time lowest was 39 on 6/03/18 and 6/13/18 with an average temp. at 61. July’s average 77.9 on the high side and 54.3 on the low side.July’s hotest day time temp. was 91 on 7/07/18 and the lowest night time temp. was 42 on 7/1/18 and 7/30/18 with an average temp at 66.1. August’s average was 76.5 on the high side and 49.3 on the low side. August’s hotest day time temp. was 86 on 8/01/18 and 8/26/18, the lowest night time temp. was 35 on 8/20/18 with an average temp. at 62.9.  September’s average was 69.4 on the high side and 44.8 on the low side. September’s highest day time temp. was 88 on 9/12/18 and the lowest overnight temp was 30 on 9/28/18 with an average temp. at 57.1. October’s average was 51.6 on the highest side and 28.2 on the low side. Octobers highest day time temp. was 74 on 10/02/18 and the lowest night time temp. was 7 on 10/14/18 with an average temp at 39.9. Remember these are the average highs and lows. The hottest day recorded by NOAA. during our season was on June 14th, reaching 92. The coolest recorded temperature was 7 on Oct. 14th. The area generally as a rule will drop approximately 15 to 20 degrees from the day time highs giving a cooler evening climate. ( There are no units with air conditioning, we do have large fans in each unit.)

As stated more than once previously, people seem to like our approach and, more importantly, our Lodge. We have many repeat guests. If you are only coming to the Black Hills once, we would love to accommodate your lodging needs. If you come to the Black Hills regularly to vacation we hope you will become one of our many repeat guests. Many of our guests are willing to transfer between units, during their stay, in order to make us their home away from home while in the Hills.

As we have a high occupancy rate particularly June through September, contact us as soon as your travel plans have firmed up.

Primarily, we try to provide a great lodging experience for people who come to enjoy the Black Hills!