3-Day Itinerary - Black Hills

Hello,

I%26#39;m flying into Rapid City with a buddy of mine for Labor Day weekend. Arrive Thursday night and leave on Monday morning so we only have three days.

We want to go to Deadwood but don%26#39;t want to leave it for the last day as it will be a bit far from the airport. So the plan is to go to Deadwood on Day 1.

My question is. Will there be enough time to do all the other stuff - Badlands, Mt. Rushmore, Custer Park, Crazy Horse Memorial, caves, etc...?

Your advice is greatly appreciated.

Mario

3-Day Itinerary - Black Hills

On the first day you could take Hwy 16 out of Rapid City, hitting 16A - Iron Mountain Road and through the Custer State Park wildlife loop into Custer (Jewel Cave), hwy 385 past Crazy Horse, through Hill City and into Deadwood. If you leave early in the morning it would only take 4 - 6 hours depending on how many stops and how long you stay. I don%26#39;t know how long you%26#39;re planning to stay in Deadwood, but if time runs short you can take 14A out of Deadwood and head back to Rapid City on 90.

Day two you can head out to the Badlands. That will take 3 - 4 hours, again depending on how many stops and how long at each. I recommend going early as you see much more wildlife. When you return to Rapid City you could take Hwy 44 into Rapid City catching Hwy 16 and head for Rushmore making a stop at Keystone (touristy, but quaint).

Day 3 If you want to go to Devil%26#39;s Tower, you can catch the freeway west to Hwy 85 making a left at Belle Fourche (Hwy 34) through Alladin (supposedly the oldest still operating store in the country) and Hulett to Devils Tower. You can exit right out of Devils Tower and get back on the freeway at Sundance to head back to Rapid City. This is about a 4 - 6 hour trip, again depending on stops.

Hope this helps some. Enjoy your weekend.

3-Day Itinerary - Black Hills

A lot depends on how much of a particular site/sight you want to see. Crazy Horse alone could easily eat up a half day if you really examined the museum part closely. Touring caves can also take time...both waiting for a tour to start as well as the tour itself. While the badlands are scenic in an unusual sort of way they are probably not worth devoting an extra half day to get to and back. Especially with so many other things clustered together or easily seen on a circular route that minimizes backtracking.

Depending on the time of day on Thursday that you arrive (and can realizticaly leave the airport) taking I-90 op to Spearfish and driving the canyon (if still light out) would accomplish some sights. Then depending on what activities in Deadwood you could spend most of a day there...but aside from a few historical things the big draw there is the casinos. It would be doable with an early start to see Rushmore and then loop down through Custer park to cut over to Custer and just north to Crazy Horse. But most of the Custer wildlife is in the south areas of the park which would mean taking 87 south all the way to 385 then back over to Prangle before heading north. This would make for a pretty long day....or less time at any stops. Too bad you can%26#39;t split the stays...one/two night north and one in Custer because Alt-16 and 79 is a pretty quick way to the airport.

Thanks for the feedback. I think we%26#39;ll do the Badlands on Day 1 and try to hit Mt. Rushmore at night, stay at Keystone.

Day 2 - Do Custer National Park, one of the caves and crazy horse memorial.

Day 3 - Go to Deadwood early in the morning and come back at night to Rapid City.

My suggestion:

Friday

- Stay in Rapid City.

- Take in Wall and Badlands (maybe taken in a tour)

Saturday

- Leave Rapid City (overnight in Hill City - Comfort Inn or Holiday Inn recommended)

- Take Highway 16 %26amp; 385 to Jewel Cave (1 1/2 hours)

- Jewel Cave (2 hours) (make reservation)

- Lunch in Custer (1 1/2 hour)

- Take Highway 89 to 87 (Needles Highway)(1 hour)

- Take Highway 16A (Iron Mountain Road) (1 hour) - we saw more wildlife on this road than we did in on Wildlife Loop in Custer Park

- Mount Rushmore (2 hours)

- Back to Hill City (Super at Alphine Inn)

- (maybe back to Mt. Rushmore for lighting ceremony)

Sunday

- Leave Hill City - (overnight in Rapid City)

- Crazy Horse (a bit of backtracking necessary)

- Take Highway 16 %26amp; 385 to Lead ( 1 1/2 hours)

- Take Highway 14A (Spearfish Canyon)(1 hour-no stops)

- Deadwood (maybe a tour, Saloon #10 shootout, lunch at Stockade)

- I-90 to Rapid City.

Enjoy!

Just came back from the weekend in the Badlands. It was great!

Day 1 - Went to Wall, then the Badlands and ended up at Mount Rushmore. Did the day and night tour.

We also did a helicopter tour around the Badlands that was fascinating.

Regarding Keystone...

Day 2 - Drove to Custer Park from Keystone - excellent drive. Did the scenic loop around Custer and the hiking trail to the fire tower. Met a bison along the trail.

Continued the trip to the Wind Cave. As an aside, all the bisons that we saw were just before the scenic loop started and just after it finished.

The Wind Cave tour was good as the guide was helpful.

After Wind Cave, had lunch at Hot Spring and continued to the Wild Horse Sanctuary. Kind of late at 4:30pm to do a two hour horse tour in 91º weather. Instead of the tour, we made it to Crazy Horse to end the day. That was impressive. I wish we had more time so we could get up to the top.

Stayed in Hill City. Much better than Keystone

Day 3 - Woke up early and drove to Devil%26#39;s Tower. Not that far of a drive if you get up early. We were back at Spearfish by noon. Did the scenic drive at Spearfish and ended up in Deadwood for the night/afternoon.

We stayed at Deadwood Dick%26#39;s. Not bad at all.

I totally recommend to go and visit the Badlands/Blackhills for a weekend or so.

Cheers and thanks for everyone that helped out.

Glad you had a great time, and got to see all there was to see, sounds like you accomplished a lot in your short time period.

You did accomplish a lot in a short period of time! I%26#39;m glad your enjoyed your visit. I found the history of Crazy Horse to be even more fascinating that Mt. Rushmore. Many people do a just a drive-by, but you really do need to experience it once. Thanks for reporting back!