1 night Rapid City, 3 nights Custer

I need a little help with our itinerary. We will arrive (driving) in Rapid City around 3:00 in the afternoon. What would you recommend for the rest of the day, returning to Rapid City for the night? Day 2, what would you recommend, with a destination that night of Custer? Once in Custer, I know we will tour Custer State Park and drive Needles HW and Iron Mountain Rd., see Crazy Horse and be at Mt. Rushmore for the July 3 fireworks. The only reservations aside from rooms is the Buffalo Safari Jeep ride with chuckwagon dinner at Custer SP on July 4. We want to see Badlands Loop, Devil%26#39;s Tower, Spearfish Canyon. We will not be interested in caves or casinos. I can%26#39;t get a feel for distances or geography very easily looking at a map! Thanks again.

1 night Rapid City, 3 nights Custer

If you want to do things in Rapid City, Dinosaur Park is free and offers a view of all of Rapid City %26amp; east to the prairie.

Downtown has the presidents statues on each corner. Also Art Alley parallel to St. Joseph %26amp; Main St. between 6th %26amp; 7th Streets.

Fireworks on July 3 tends to be an all day event if you want to get parking anywhere near the monument. People may start arriving in the morning for the 10 pm fireworks.

Distances are not far in the Black Hills, but some of the roads, like Needles %26amp; Iron Mountain are slow because of switchbacks, tunnels, being narrow, curves %26amp; summer traffic.

1 night Rapid City, 3 nights Custer

Thank you. My mother and I will probably not want to do much of anything in Rapid City itself. I was wondering if we would have time to go to Badlands Loop(arriving 3:00)and back to Rapid City. We may just skip Mt. Rushmore fireworks and go somewhere else that day. Maybe Devil%26#39;s Tower? Where would Spearfish Canyon fit in?

From Rapid City its about 55 miles east to the town of Wall (at exit 110) at one end of the loop road. Cactus Flats at exit 131 is at the other end of the loop. The loop road is about 40 miles and could take anywhere from 1 1/2 hours to half a day depending on how often you stop. If you%26#39;re coming to Rapid City on I-90 you could visit the Badlands on your way in, instead of backtracking. You might also enjoy the Wounded Knee Memorial Museum in Wall.

Devils Tower might be a good idea on July 3rd. I would drive out to it first as it would be less hot in the morning. On the way back, you could drive through Spearfish Canyon. Spearfish also has Spirit of the Hills Wildlife Sanctuary and Deadwood has the Adam%26#39;s Museum and House if time allows.

For your day between Rapid City and Custer, there are a lot of possibilities. On the west side of Rapid City is the Chapel in the Hills, a reproduction of a Scandinavian church. In Rapid City is the Journey Museum and the Museum of Geology. South of town on US16 is Bear Country, a drive through wildlife park and Reptile Gardens with a world class reptile collection. Both Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse can be on your route as well as the town of Keystone though doing all of these in one day might be a bit much. If you take the road past Mt. Rushmore, be sure to watch for mountain goats along the road.

The distances are not great, but the driving can be slow.

Thanks, so very much, LilSD. You have given me some great ideas. As a matter of fact, we will be arriving Rapid City from Sioux Falls on that first day, so we can do the Badlands on the way. Great idea. Would it be practical the second day to go to Devil%26#39;s Tower, do Spearfish Canyon and arrive in Custer that evening?

Sorry it took so long for a response. I was on vacation in the Black Hills, ha ha! The drive from Rapid City to Devils Tower, back through Spearfish Canyon and down to Custer is about 250 miles so its doable. Google says 5 hours but it%26#39;ll take longer than that for sure. You%26#39;ll want to take your time in Spearfish Canyon and if you have time (we didn%26#39;t :-( ) stop for a few minutes to admire Lake Pactola.

Five hours for Rapid City to Devils Tower to Spearfish Canyon to Custer isn%26#39;t out of line--but that%26#39;s pure driving time. Add for stops.

It will make for a good day trip.

I%26#39;m getting ready to leave for Rapid City/Custer State Park, etc. I%26#39;m very interested in visited the Wounded Knee Memorial. Is is separate from the museum? I was thinking I would not have to go as far as Wall (been there before; lot%26#39;s of fun but don%26#39;t need to go back). I would like to visit the site of the massacre however. THANKS!

The site of the Wounded Knee Massacre is on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. It%26#39;s about a 1.5 hour drive south of Wall where the museum is at.

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