Planning our Badlands/Blackhills 2016 Trip

[southerngirl76]

Hello all.....I'm in the beginning stage of planning our trip for next summer. We have a total of 2 weeks to get there and back. We are 2 adults, and two kids 13 and 4 years old (and maybe my 20 year old, not sure about her yet).

We will be leaving from north of the Houston area, heading up thru Kansas and Nebraska, spend some time in South Dakota, then over to Devils Tower, down into Colorado before heading home thru Amarillo. So basically a big loop. I need help figuring out what to do and how long to spend at each location. All input is greatly appreciated.

My plan is to spend the first couple of days driving as far as we can to get across Kansas and Nebraska. I know this is a long drive but my kids are used to long road trips and I would rather hurry and get there and take my time exploring and heading home. I am thinking one or two nights at the KOA in Interior and explore the Badlands. Next we would head to the Blackhills where I would like to stay at Custer SP which seems to be centrally located to everything we want to see.

We would like to see Rushmore, one of the caves....but which one?, Sylvan Lake, as well as the Wildlife Loop, neeldes and iron mountain road, and possibly a chuck wagon supper. Is there a certain can't miss spot I am leaving out? How many nights should we plan for this area? After time here we would take a day thru Deadwood, Spearfish Canyon and on to Devil's Tower. Is it worth a night here?

The next portion of our trip takes us into Colorado. Maybe RMNP? Then the Pikes Peak area? Any and all comments and suggestions are needed and appreciated. I've been to Colorado numerous times but never South Dakota.

[Kentucky_Joe]

IMHO I would skip Wall Drugs, the Corn Palace and the train ride, since you don't have a lot of time. We needed one day at the Badlands. One afternoon and evening at Mount Rushmore.(We visited the museum and took a ranger led tour.) One day at Crazy Horse.(they had a rodeo going on) and saw the lazor show at night. We needed one day for Lead, Hill City, and Deadwood. (Gun fight, bus tour in cemetery, museum, gold mine.) We spent one day over in Spearfish. One whole day in Custer Park. We went to Jewel Cave one morning. Devils Tower was a couple hours for us. We spent nine nights in Hill City and had plenty to keep us busy.

[dverstra]

Here is another spot to consider.
Mammoth Site in Hot Springs.
http://mammothsite.com/

[SDcampowneroper]

southerngirl76 wrote:
Thank you to all who have responded so far. This is giving me a much better idea of things. I have another question.....this one regarding the chuckwagon suppers. I've done some checking and it looks as if there are three to choose from.

1. Fort Hays
2. Circle B
3. The chuckwagon supper at Custer State Park

We only want to do one. Does anyone have any insight on these three?

There's a new one. Call Jill or Allen at 605 - 393-5555 or the Custer Chamber of Commerce about the new show.

[Uppercrust]

We did the adventure park in Keystone, awesome! Then we went to to Mount Rushmore and stayed for the night lighting ceremony.

[Kevin_B_]

If you visit Devil's Tower, skip the KOA and stay at Keyhole State Park just to the west in Pine Haven. It's a very nice park. You can see Devil's Tower from parts of the park.

Kevin B.

[southerngirl76]

Thank you to all who have responded so far. This is giving me a much better idea of things. I have another question.....this one regarding the chuckwagon suppers. I've done some checking and it looks as if there are three to choose from.

1. Fort Hays
2. Circle B
3. The chuckwagon supper at Custer State Park

We only want to do one. Does anyone have any insight on these three?

[hitchup]

We did nearly the whole month of June, leaving GA with a 14 yo GD, heading to the Oregon Coast, up into WA and over to SD.

We spent 2n in Sturgis to do Laundry and see Deadwood before we headed to Rapid City for Reservations. But we should have stayed at the KOA outside of Devil's Tower on our way to Sturgis from Little Big Horn, MT instead of backtracking. But it was worth it just for a day trip.

Day 1) We went to Days of '76 Museum in Deadwood, and walked around town. It was mostly Bars and not much to see or many places to eat. So went to historic Fort Meade. Very small museum.

Day 2) Devil's Tower and then headed straight to Rapid City RV Park

Day 3) Mt Rushmore, we walked around the loop and then headed over to Crazy Horse. I almost liked Crazy Horse better. Easier to park and while we didn't get as close, they had a good restaurant onsite.

Day 4) Went to Bear Country USA, after Ziplining in Keystone, then the Reptile Gardens. DH and GD did the Keystone Zip Line, quick, but worth the $'s.

Day 5) Wall Drug was a nice diversion heading home. We spent an hour walking around, ate Lunch, then continued to the Loop through the Badlands. From there we spent the night in Mitchell, but didn't need to see the Corn Palace.

[lbrjet]

More formations in Jewel. Get there by 8:30 am otherwise can be a long wait. We did both caves last week. We are at the Interior KOA right now at be aware that there is no cell service. Not a big deal, but it surprised us.

[southerngirl76]

Rangerman40 wrote:
Well I just finished planning my two week trip for next summer out that way and it ended up like this:

7 days at Blue Bell campground in Custer State Park. That being our home base to see the park itself, the Badlands, Wind Cave NP, Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower, ect...

5 nights at Fishing Bridge Campground to explore Yellowstone

2 nights at Colter Bay Campground in the Grand Tetons.

You're trip sounds wonderful!

I wish we could add Yellowstone to this trip but we simply don't have enough time. We are going to spend some time in Colorado on the route back to Texas. However we did discuss Yellowstone/Tetons/Glacier for a future trip.

[southerngirl76]

Thank you for all the information. It seems as though Custer SP is a good base location. Two questions remain.....

#1 how many full days in the area is enough? Would four days be enough? We would then head to Devils Tower and on to Colorado. That portion of my trip is not planned at all yet.

#2 which cave do most people prefer? I am fairly certain my kids wouldn't want to do two caves so I probably should pick one. I understand they have very different formations.

[Tjuice]

I reccommend Moon's travel guide for Mt Rushmore/Black Hills. It's laid out so you cn pick a direction to explorefor the day and works well with Custer being your central base. It also has info on the caves in the area, most importantly the difficulty level of the trails. (Crawling on knees through some tight spots, going down/up 300 stairs, etc.)
We stayed in Custer for 10 days last year. It was wonderful!
I would visit Crazy Horse near dusk and stay for the laser show.

[Uppercrust]

Wind cave is a nice cave, especially if they still offer there candle light tour. You need to reserve this in advance, but you explore the cave like it was first done, no paths and candle in a bucket.

[SDcampowneroper]

gat75 wrote:

Jim Shoe wrote:
I enjoyed Crazy Horse. For one, its private. No government support. And the profit that they make goes to scholarships for Native Americans in the area. But the best part - I was the only one that wanted to pay extra to ride to the top in a van that day. So I had my own guide telling me all about the carving. And I even got a hunk of rock from the carving to take home. I still have it. Makes a good paper weight and conversation starter.
You sure can see a long way from up there.

X-2 on Crazy Horse. We enjoyed going, (we got lucky & was there on Crazy Horse's Birthday). The original mountain carver (can't remember his name) has the same b-day as Crazy Horse. Boy, did they ever have one more fantastic lazer show & fireworks display at dark. Happened around 1st week of Sept in 2013.

The visionary and sculptor was Korshak Ziolkowski of Crazy Horse , a contemporary and fellow artist of Mt. Rushmore sculptor Gutzon Borglum.

[Rangerman40]

Well I just finished planning my two week trip for next summer out that way and it ended up like this:

7 days at Blue Bell campground in Custer State Park. That being our home base to see the park itself, the Badlands, Wind Cave NP, Mt. Rushmore, Devils Tower, ect...

5 nights at Fishing Bridge Campground to explore Yellowstone

2 nights at Colter Bay Campground in the Grand Tetons.