Blackhills/badlands tour

We are driving from denver to the black hills area and need suggestions on planning our days. We will be arriving in Hot Springs late on day 1. One night in Hot Springs, next two nights in Custer State Park, and we have no definite plans for the next 4 nights but would like to spend the the last night in Deadwood. We want to see Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse,Wall, Badlands,perhaps a cave and anything else you might suggest.Thanks for the help.

Blackhills/badlands tour

Here are the must sees of the area:

Badlands

Devil%26#39;s Tower (can be incorporated into your night in Deadwood)

Jewel Cave

Wind Cave

Mt Rushmore

Crazy Horse

Custer State Park

You should also order a South Dakota travel guide (travelsd.com) for ideas as to what%26#39;s in the area.

Do you have children coming along? If you do, my list of the ';must sees'; will grow. If you do have children, please provide the ages so we can give good advice.

In Hot Springs, there is the Mammoth Site to see (great for kids). They find more and more skeletal remains of mammoths all the time. If time permits and your budge allows, the Wild Horse Sanctuary is really neat. The tours are pricey (around $50 per person), but worth it, as the tours are small and guides really do a great job sharing insight on the horses and landscape. Tours last about 2 hours.

The Badlands/Wall will be a daytrip, and your 2 nights spent in Custer will give you an opportunity to see the wonders of the park. The caves and Crazy Horse could also be seen from Custer if time permits.

Your remaining 2-3 nights could be spent in either Hill City or Keystone. Both are convenient towns to tour the Badlands and Mt Rushmore. Actually, Custer would even work if you wanted to extend your nights in the park.

Hope this helps some. Please ask if you have any more specific questions on any of the towns/attractions.

Blackhills/badlands tour

Thanks for the info. No we do not have children coming with us. Which would you recommend, Keystone or Hill City to stay and which hotel? How far is Devil%26#39;s tower from Deadwood? Thanks again.

Devil%26#39;s Tower is about 1 1/2 hours from Deadwood (73 miles). You can also see the Spearfish Scenic Byway coming or going. It really is a nice drive with some pretty waterfalls. Devil%26#39;s Tower has a nice level trail around the base and a prairie dog town in another area.

As far as towns, we stayed in Keystone at the Roosevelt Inn and really enjoyed it. I have a review on this site. Many find Keystone very touristy, as it consists mostly of souvenir shops and hotels. We really didn%26#39;t mind, as we really didn%26#39;t spend a lot of time in town. We were too busy exploring. I also noticed on this site that some people really like the K Bar S Lodge in Keystone. It, too, looks like a nice property. Not sure on the nightly rate. I think parking in Keystone can sometimes be tough, as I have heard some hotels don%26#39;t have enough spaces. The Roosevelt Inn did have enough, however, and I imagine you%26#39;d be fine at K Bar S, as it looks like they are located outside the touristy section of town.

Keystone is extremely convenient to Iron Mountain Rd (Part of Custer SP) and Mt Rushmore. If you go to the evening ceremony at Rushmore, you will be back to your hotel in a jiffy.

Hill City is a little less touristy..a bit more ';residential';--about 10 miles from Keystone. They have lots of shops as well, but they also have a great restaurant called the Alpine Inn. Really delicious food (German fare at lunch..filet only at dinner)..very reasonable....great desserts! While I only visited the town (never stayed there), the Holiday Inn Express there gets good reviews on this site.

Here are some other adult sites I didn%26#39;t mention in my first post that you might enjoy:

Chapel in the Hills (outside Rapid City..a Norwegian style church)

Gutzon Borglum Center in Keystone..gives you a history of the sculptor

Any of the privately owned caves--Rushmore Cave was nice.

For the ';kid'; in you, you might enjoy Reptile Gardens %26amp; Bear Country right outside Rapid City

Hope this helps some.

If you can incorporate the Iron Mountain Road (IMR)and the Needles Hwy in to your travels around Rushmore I think you will really enjoy it. When you leave Custer for (Keystone?) take Hwy 89 and then a right by Sylvan Lake onto 87 (Needles Hwy). Take the Wildlife Loop through Custer State Park and catch the IMR at the end of the Loop (Game Lodge). The IMR will take you into Keystone. You can see Mt. Rushmore framed at several places from the IMR and if you stay in Keystone (cute town) you can watch the lighting ceremony from the south end of town (I watched it from the Kelly Inn driveway).

thanks for the suggestion. I wasn%26#39;t quite sure what the IMR was. We will be staying at the game lodge and have decided to stay in Keystone for 3 nights at the k bar s lodge. Can you suggest a good hotel in Deadwood and perhaps a good way to tour the badlands,wall,wounded knee and the minuteman missile site? Lots of planning still to do.

If you%26#39;re looking stay downtown in Deadwood, my favorite place is the Celebrity Hotel.

The Badlands, Minuteman and Wounded Knee, will take you about a full day. You really should go the Wounded Knee Museum in Wall before you go to the site which is about 1.5 hours south of Wall. To a casual eye, the site won%26#39;t mean as much to someone who has just brushed up on the history at the museum. I%26#39;d plan to arrive at the museum in Wall when they open in the morning. Drive the Badlands Loop from Wall to the south and then to the east. Go to the Minuteman site (make sure they%26#39;re giving tours on the day and time you plan to be there) and then head south to Wounded Knee. Then go through Pine Ridge on your way back to the Black Hills. A box lunch would a good idea for this day.