Making the most of a trip to South Dakota

I have asked you for advice on a couple of previous trips with fantastic results, so here goes again.

We are planning a one week trip to the Dakota region for late this summer. We plan to fly into Rapid City, South Dakota and drive from there with no exact itinerary.
We plan to see the Badlands Park, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse carvings, Deadwood, and Devils Tower during our drive about. I know that may sound ambitious for one week, but we like to ride.

What other "must see" things are in that area? We don't camp, and usually try to stay at places like Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, etc. if you know of good places to recommend.

How much time does it take to see Badlands Park? Custer Park? Rushmore?
Any suggestions and help appreciated.

We were out there a few years ago, that isn't a weeks worth of sight seeing, just the attractions alone, the filler really is looking out across the country while driving. I believe we happened up on a town called 1880's Town just a little town on the side of the road from way back then to look at and another one can't call the name right now. Let me get the pictures out and I can tell you some some more of that area. The landscape and wild life is just gorgeous. Crazy horse still isn't finished yet but good to look at. Take the time to tour the black hills too. I will be back with more info for you.

I've been through SD 2 times in the past couple months.

The 1880's town is a small roadside attraction with a small general store of momentos and gifts. They also offer a short tour of old stuff.

Nearby is a small, out of the way place where you can see live grizzly bears. They are confined in a small enclosure, there may be a total of 4 bears. price is $10 and you can stay all day if you like.

There are several paths you can take to see Badlands NP. Take them all. In most places, you can get out and walk around. Bring a metal detector to kill some time. There are still old objects to be found.

A few years ago, I was out that way and they were replacing some sign posts and signs. One sign read:

" Warning. This area was used as a bombing range in years past. Do NOT distrub unknown objects as they may explode. Contact Badlands National Park { and then the number}" and it has some neat exploding pictures on it. Bright yellow with black writing. Well, since the gov't was going to waste the sign, I saved it. We won't call anything else than recycling.

Mt Rushmore is not easy to find. There are signs everywhere for it, but no clear directions. Bring a GPS.

Judging by the ads for it, you would think that Devil's Tower would be accessible, but just like the arches of Utah, no. You can only get so close but not allowed to actually get very close. It was kind of a disappointment, really.

You can get closer to the carvings, but only close enough to see them. I watched a park cop nearly cut the throat of a woman that wanted to touch a carving. This guy went totally ballistic on her. I thought it was too much. The lady only wanted o get an idea of the texture but I reckon that just ain't allowed.

You will want to bring a coat, too. SD can be very windy and the gusts are strong and relentless at times. If walking through the parks, beware of skunks andrattlesnakes. Prairie rattlers are common. Small, but they can make for a bad day.

The cabins at Sylvan Lake in Custer State park make foor a nice location as a base and trout fishing in the lake is terrific! We went up for a wedding several years ago and really had a great time, Have fun,
-SG

Milkman said:

I have asked you for advice on a couple of previous trips with fantastic results, so here goes again.

We are planning a one week trip to the Dakota region for late this summer. We plan to fly into Rapid City, South Dakota and drive from there with no exact itinerary.
We plan to see the Badlands Park, Custer State Park, Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse carvings, Deadwood, and Devils Tower during our drive about. I know that may sound ambitious for one week, but we like to ride.

What other "must see" things are in that area? We don't camp, and usually try to stay at places like Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, etc. if you know of good places to recommend.

How much time does it take to see Badlands Park? Custer Park? Rushmore?
Any suggestions and help appreciated.

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We went to all those places last year during our travels.

We did have a camper however so maybe our timeframe won't be the same as yours.

Devils Tower is just a flat top mountain, but it is still magnificent to see. Lots of climbers and you can hike around the mountain. Only takes about 45 minutes. Very interesting to see. We were camping at the KOA next door at the time & they show Close Encounters every night at 9 PM.

Mount Rushmore, you drive up to the parking area, visit the museum and then stand behind a wall to look up at the monument. That doesn't take long at all - visit as long or as short at you want. You can do Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse in the same day.

Crazy Horse we just drove by and looked at it from the road, elected not to go inside but I heard it is more or less the same routine as Mt. Rushmore.

We were staying in a campground outside of the Badlands Nat'l Park but drove through it, some paved, some dirt roads. They have ranger talks and they have a movie inside the rangers area. Interesting but not more than the one day to see all and drive thru it.

We stayed 5 nights at Custer State Park, drycamping. It was awesome and there is Wind Cave natl park attached to it and we toured the caverns there. Lots to drive there and you see buffalo, prong horn and wild donkeys..it was pretty awesome. We hiked a few trails too. Also drive Needles Highway inside the park, that is very pretty.

We did not do Dead Horse so I do not have any info on that for you.

I hope this helped !

JO

Excellent responses !!! This is exactly the kind of input I knew you would supply.

Keep them coming

A friend who lives up there now told me they took the grandkids on a helicopter ride. They took them for a better view of Crazy Horse and Mt Rushmore. They said it was worth it (you don't realize how big CH is going to be). They changed how you visit Mt Rushmore, when we lived there you saw it and said yep there it is. Now there is a walking trail where you can view it from different angles and if you're into photography it is "framed" differently at each turn. The badlands are beautiful. The AF base did have a museum. As mentioned Custer St park had some good trout fishing, riding through it you should/could see buffalo, elk and deer. Lake Pactola and there's another (forget the name) not too far away are pretty.

Time depends a lot on what kind of tourist you are. Mt Rushmore can be viewed in a couple of minutes but if you do the trail, take photos from various angles, watch their movie, look at the museum stuff etc. it could take you 3 hours.

I will check into the chopper tour for sure.

Nobody has mentioned the night/light thing at Rushmore. Anybody got an opinion on that?

We went the first part of June last year. We did the Volksmarch at Crazyhorse, you get to hike up to the face of the carving.

If you are a Veteran go to the night lighting at Rushmore. At the end of the show they ask all current and former veterans to come down to the stage. Then they ask 5 to retire the flag for the evening. I got to be one of the five and I was on the stars side and ended up with the folded flag to present to the Ranger of ceremony. While we were taking the Flag down and folding it, you could have heard a pin drop it was so quite. People were there from all over the world, it was June 1st,2011 and was the highlight of my trip!!!!

The evening your going to go to the Lighting of Rushmore, eat dinner in Hill City then take the drive from Hill City over to Keystone on the back road along the train route and count the deer. I can't remember the exact amount but it was pushing 100. In Hill City there was a art gallery with stone carvings of Indians. That was something to see. They were going for around $15,000 if I remember.

And the Minuteman silo tour on the base, TIKI water park for the kids. We did Bear County for my Daughter but it was not very good. Go carts, Deadwood and do the museum, Mt. Moriah Cemetery. We went to the Saloon #10 in Deadwood and sat at the bar with the kids and had a sarsaparilla. You gotta have a drink where Wild Bill got killed!!

We stayed in Rapid City the whole week. I was going to stay in a different place every night but some of the places were too expensive. I got a better rate in town and then you have more choices for lunch and/or dinner.

Are you driving or flying out?

Don't forget to stop at Wall Drug after seeing the what seems like 1000's of signs going across 90, you'll be curious enough to stop in, actually pretty cool place.

I love to ride dirt roads. It forces me to slow down. SD is a GOOD place to ride. After you see all the tourist sites take a day or morning, fill up, get a cooler with sandwiches and drinks, and strike out cross country on a county/dirt road. Pick a direction. You can go for miles. And it's miles between ranches. You might see a truck an hour. You will eventually come out somewhere. Fill up, and figure out how to get back. It's the solitude, scenery, and how vast the expanse that bring me back.

Paddle said:

Are you driving or flying out?

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Flying into Rapid City and renting an SUV for the week.


I checked on the helicopter rides. They havea short one for $89 and several other options. The deluxe ride that lasts 35 minutes is $219. Anybody know if that is reasonable ?

Elkhntr said:

I love to ride dirt roads. It forces me to slow down. SD is a GOOD place to ride. After you see all the tourist sites take a day or morning, fill up, get a cooler with sandwiches and drinks, and strike out cross country on a county/dirt road. Pick a direction. You can go for miles. And it's miles between ranches. You might see a truck an hour. You will eventually come out somewhere. Fill up, and figure out how to get back. It's the solitude, scenery, and how vast the expanse that bring me back.

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You and I think alike. I do something like this anywhere I go. I just plug in my Garmin and go. I cant get lost with that thing.
We plan to drive down into Nebraska and up to North Dakota so I can add them to my states visited bucket list. I'm at 38 states visited now. SD, ND, and Neb. will put me over 40.

We got to Wall in the evening and stayed overnight there. The next morning we started our scenic tour. We stayed in a K-cabin at the Badlands KOA for two nights. We toured the badlands and made the loop down and around via Wounded Knee and to the west side of the Badlands Nat. Park and back to Interior. We didn't take the dirt road through the park because we stayed on the Harley except for trailering to differant cabins. I'm sure we missed some scenery there but the Badlands extend from the N.P. anyway. Wounded Knee is a nice ride. In itself it's depressing and interesting. Indians will be in your face to buy stuff. They don't put much or anything into the site. It could be alot for them to show or build on but they don't. Go to the visitor museum [shack] if you want to buy something.

Next we stayed in Custer S.P. in a camping cabin that was very nice and in a campground. That made a great base to see the Black Hills which is Custer and N.P. ie Iron Mountian Road, Needles Highway, Mt. Rushmore, Elk,Bison,and so on. We stayed three nights and went up to Deadwood next for two more nights at a KOA cabin. Deadwood has a little history and you can spend some time around town depending on what may interest you. It really seems to be a casino town at heart. We rode out to Devils Tower, you gotta see that [go early if your a rock climber] looped the road above the interstate to Alladdin,Wy. to Spearfish Canyon back to Deadwwod. Went to Sturgis cause we ride but it's a neat town too.

We had about 11 days and drove from Ga. That wasn't bad but the drive up and back eats the staying time. You should see a ton and have fun. There are several towns around Rushmore we saw and ate at that have attractions too. I would try to book rooms in a few central locations or just wing it. One base will have you traveling way too far to see all there is to see.

Oh yea, Crazy Horse is cool. They have artifacts, food,crafts, etc. We almost didn't go in for the sign says $10.00/person but they charged $5. so we did and it wasn't just a rock.

Here's a good trip. Go to Belle Fourche. Go out the North side of town, think tis hwy 85. Bout 10 miles out the road will make a right hand turn. There's a dirt road on the left. Take the dirt road. It goes a ways and you'll top a lil hill and see a Montana State line sign. Stop there and look off to your left (west) and down about 100 yards. You'll see a lil fenced in area. It'll have a red granite marker inside. Tis the corner of SD, MT, and WY. Then keep going on to Ekalaka. From there you can go on to Baker or head south to Broadus, Broyles, or Alzada.

Wow Ekalaka....haven't thought about that little place in along time. There is a fuel stop there where you turn the pump on yourself with a light switch inside an empty shack. (great burger at the truck stop....cleanliness issues uhm perhaps)
Very scenic drive south out to Alzada etc.

Make sure you drive through Spearfish maybe stop in at a small bar/grill called Sanfords, great greasy spoon.
Go straight through Spearfish (east) and go right (just after car wash on left) up through Spearfish Canyon (dances with Wolves closing scene filmed there) if you follow it out till the road T's you turn left and can follow to Deadwood. Canyon drive is very nice.
If you like fishing there is a great little mountain lake inside the Blackhills located just south of the town of Spearfish. Most of this drive is dirt road but well worth the easy goin.

Enjoy and be safe. Beautiful place.

Excellent information. Just the type I knew you guys would provide

Not exactly wife and kids stuff, but there is some prairie dog hunting to be had easily in Wyoming.

Dave

Corn Palace along I-90, and FYI, Mt Rushmore only takes 2-3 hours to do the whole gig. That is unless you just have to go back during the evening for the lighting of the faces.

From Belle Fourche, Take Hwy 212 east towards the Missouri River, Stay overnight at Bob's resort," Fish Camp", great road trip, an awesome view, and a good restaurant with a top drawer porterhouse steak. If you head west on Hwy 212, you will go into Montana, passing Little Big Horn. Not so much of a day trip, an overnighter, its a great ride, I rode from Yellowstone to Minneapolis, I would say Hwy 212 is in my top 5 best rides in the USA.