Does anyone know of a good area to stay that is roughly midway driving distance between Yellowstone and Mt Rushmore? Or, if you stay closer to one of these areas, is it a reasonable driving distance (2 hours or so) to the other site?
Midway Between Mt Rushmore %26amp; Yellowstone NP
Midway is hard to find due to the Bighorn Mts. Stopping in Sheridan or Buffalo is sort of soon from Rushmore and Greybull is sort of boring. Cody is way past half way so close to YNP.
Depending on your interests, ages, time available and if there are kids with....
I usually recommend Thermopolis because it has a lot to do. The main draw are the hot spings and soaking. The climate is arid so almost always sunny except for a chance of late afternoon thunderstoms in summer. A great place to spand a couple days lounging by pool. There are two good hotels inside the state park (Plaza is our favorite but Holiday Inn across street is good too) plus teo commercial waterpark with various hot pools and slides for kids.
Another hidden gem is the Wyoming Dinosaur Center....one of the best displays anywhere and a working research facility. The tour to the dig site is very worthwhile. Home of the world%26#39;s only full fossil remains of the first bird..Archaeopteryx. The link between dinosaurs and birds. Also just south of town is the spectacular Wind River Canyon area.
Thermopolis is a great place for a couple nights witha relaxing day of dino touring and soaking in between. Take I-90 to Buffalo then US 16 over Ten Sleep Pass to Worland then south at bit to Thermopolis. You would back track a bit to head to Cody. Thermopolis is about 4 hours from YNP. Keystone, SD to Thermopolis is about 5-1/2 hours...so pretty close to equal distance.
If not wanting to backtrack Worland, WY is a very pleasant town. But if leaving Black Hills early a suggestion would be to stop for lunch just before Thermopolis at Butch%26#39;s Place in Kirby. Huge hamburgers in a real western small town bar next to the railroad tracks.
Midway Between Mt Rushmore %26amp; Yellowstone NP
Thanks for the suggestions.
When are you doing this trip? Where are you entering Yellowstone? We did this trip in June 2008. We left Mt. Rushmore area, then went to Deadwood and Devil%26#39;s Tower and stopped in Billings because we were entering YNP through Gardiner. We then made our way through YNP to Cody, Casper and Cheyenne.
If you spend a good part of your last day in the Black Hills (perhaps Spearfish Canyon and Devils Tower), consider Buffalo or Sheridan.
You could try the Bear Lodge Resort near Burgess Junction in the middle of the Big Horn Mountains.
Or you could drive to Cody. This sets you up to be able to drive into Yellowstone in the morning...or drive the Chief Joseph Highway and Beartooth Highway.
If you decide to go to Thermopolis, I%26#39;d highly recommend the Best Western Plaza hotel. It%26#39;s an historic building located in Hot Springs State Park. There is also a Holiday Inn nearby but that was kind of run down the last time I was there. I%26#39;d only go through Thermopolis if you plan on spending time at the hot springs--otherwise it is out of the way.
CeCe and Accommodator:
Thanks for your suggestions as well. The time of year I am considering is August.
If I understand your suggestions correctly, are you saying that we should fly into an airpost close to Mt Rushmore, spend just a day or two there and then drive west toward Yellowstone stopping at several other towns/places along the way and then ultimately fly out of an airport close to the National Park?
If so, is all this do-able within 1 week of time?
I had hoped that we could just pick one place to stay the entire week, as a sort of base, and then make day trips from there. We were considering a time share exchange for a place located in Lead, SD. I guess this is not feasible?
You could fly into Rapid City and out of Jackson Hole or Billings. No staying in one place is not an option if you want to see all in one week. Just let us know if you have more questions.
It%26#39;s a 7-8 hour drive from Mt. Rushmore to Yellowstone.
A tour of both the Black Hills and Yellowstone can be done in a week, but it%26#39;s a little short. For someone who is driving by the Black Hills on their way to Yellowstone--by all means stop at Mount Rushmore or Badlands National Park. But in your case where you%26#39;re flying in from a ways away, it may be worth your time to either extend your trip a few days or pick one area or the other.
As CeCe mentioned, flying into Rapid City and out of Jackson, is a good way to make a one-way trip through the area. But one-way rental cars are typically not cheap. If you%26#39;re going to fly into one airport and make a loop, Billings, MT is about in the middle of the two destinations. You could also think about Denver as flights are usually cheaper to Denver but it can make for a lot of driving.
In 2007 we flew out of SLC but in 2008 we flew in and out of Denver. We got tickets for about 200 round trip and a SUV for 8 days for $200 so we decided to do the driving. If you only have a week then you might be in a crunch to see all of YNP. We saw the Mammoth and Old Faithful areas as well as the Grand Tetons and Jackson Hole in 2007. In 2008 we did the Black Hills for 2 days then saw the Lamar and Hayden valleys, Artist Point, and Lake Yellowstone areas then went to Cody for the rodeo and museums before heading to Casper and Cheyenne and Denver.
With only one week,I would focus on Yellowstone or the Black Hills area, not both. I think you will wind up more stressed trying to cram everything in. As others have said, it%26#39;s tough to see Yellowstone in a week, and that%26#39;s not including the Grand Tetons.
Just to give you an idea, we spent 9 days in Yellowstone on one trip and 11 days in the Black Hills on another vacation. We were never bored at all and certainly didn%26#39;t run out of things to do on either trip! To me, you really need at least 2 weeks to see all 3 areas (Tetons, Yellowstone, and Black Hills). I also think if you focus on one area, you will ultimately save money by not having to get a one-way car rental. It%26#39;s just unfortunate that the companies charge so much when you return it to a different location.
Whatever you decide, have a great time.
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