Family vacation, starting in Hill City

Hello, my family (wife, 14 yr old daughter, 11 yr old son, 72 yr old mother(walks well), and me) is taking a trip out west. Flying into Denver on Monday night, July 9, staying in Westminster. Driving to Hill City, SD early Tuesday morning. Spending Tuesday night in Hill City and then Wednesday night somewhere between Hill City and Sheridan, WY. Will spend whats left of Tuesday most of Wednesday in Black Hills area, sight-seeing.

Any suggestions for things to see or do, besides the obvious scenery? Planning on attending evening ceremony at Rushmore. Have seen info about Custer Park, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, etc.... Are the Badlands worth the drive?

Also, we will be picking up my brother in Sheridan, WY, then we%26#39;re off to Cooke City, MT for a night, then 3 nights in Yellowstone in frontier cabins. Is it worth about a 2 hour detour, plus the time spent there, to visit ';The Little Bighorn Battlefield'; in MT?

Thanks for any info,

Mark

Family vacation, starting in Hill City

Started writing my answer, and then reread your post. You basically have only one full day in the area. Hmm..... My choices would be the obvious. Wind Cave or Jewel Cave, Custer State park, Needles Highway, not sure if the wildlife loop has reopened after the fire last week, Iron Mountain road with the tunnels leading to Mt. Rushmore and Mt. Rushmore.

That said, our family loves the Badlands. Stunning, desolate scenery. Incredible solitude (off the beaten path, and sometimes ON the beaten path). It%26#39;s impressive as a drive-by, but even more so when you take the time to stop at several of the 13 pull-outs or walk a half mile or so on any of the trails. It would probably take a full half-day to appreciate. I wouldn%26#39;t take that time away from the other places if that%26#39;s all the time you have. However, IF you could fit in one more day, the Badlands is a must-see.

We loved stopping at Little Bighorn Battlefield. Took the time to take the walking tours. Fantastic atmosphere. You could almost hear the warwhoops and imagine the guns and horses from the battle. Also, easy to see why the Native Americans fought so hard to call this place ';home';. We had a wonderful talk given to us by one of the rangers.

Family vacation, starting in Hill City

Your Tuesday drive to Hill City should take 6-7 hours depending on how fast you drive and traffic once you get closer to the Black Hills. Take a picnic lunch to eat long the way, lots of empty highway between Cheyenne and the Black Hills.

With only a portion of a day on Tuesday and most of the day Wednesday, I would not go to the Badlands, plenty to see in the Black Hills.

We enjoyed the Jewel Cave and Wind Cave tours, liked Jewel Cave better. We also drove around Custer State Park looking at wildlife. A visit of course to Mt Rushmore at night is awesome, plus taking the short hike around the base is nice.

We did some gold panning near Hill City at Wade%26#39;s Gold mill which my son (age 9) loved. There is a train that goes from Hill City to Keystone that might also be fun. We did not do it, lack of time!

You may want to try to see Devils Tower in WY on your way to Sheridan. I have not been to Little Bighorn Battlefield yet, but I would find it an interesting detour. BUT... you don%26#39;t have much time for the Yellowstone area, which can easily take up your 4 days there.

Have fun.

I agree with Casa. I don%26#39;t think you have enough time to go to the Badlands, unforunately. I would save this for another trip, as they are beautiful.

Custer State Park%26#39;s Needles Hwy/Iron Mountain Roads are close to Rushmore, so they are definite possibilities and are well worth a look. Our family loves caves and really enjoyed both Wind %26amp; Jewel. If you have time, you could try to incorporate one of them.

I also agree with Casa on preferring Jewel over Wind; however both are great!! If you decide on Jewel, I would try to possibly get an advance reservation for a tour since you are on a limited time frame. Jewel is a much more ';open cave'; with many fascinating formations. Wind is known for boxwork, a formation which resembles spider webs. Jewel is the 2nd longest explored cave in the world. Wind Cave is not for the claustrophobic. We had a person who had to leave our tour because he was not comfortable. That same day, a child also left one of the tours. We felt fine, but I tell this to everyone so he/she can decide. There%26#39;s no stooping/crawling involved on the tours, unless it%26#39;s spelunking tour.

I have not been to Little Bighorn, but a close friend has been there and loved it. I am partial to Devil%26#39;s Tower. We toured here and enjoyed seeing the climbers and the magnitude of this trunk-like formation. The prairie dog town is fun also.

Have a wonderful trip! You are going to two of the best areas in the USA!

We recently got home from a week in South Dakota. We spent 2 days in the Badlands--which could have been cut down to 1. Like the other posts, I don%26#39;t think there%26#39;s enough time to include this in the short time that you have.

We did both day and night at Mt. Rushmore--but if you had to choose one, do the night ceremony. It%26#39;s quite emotional when they ask any active or retired armed services personnel to come to the stage to help them retire the flag and also to receive the recognition that they deserve. You can also take day pictures if you pass by on your way to something else. If you take the path to the base , I would go to the left---it has less stairs going up--although there are some on the right side, but it seemed like we were coming down more. Also, don%26#39;t miss the movie inside--it provides a lot of insight into what Borglum went through to get this done(as far as it is).

If you are interested in seeing the wildlife, we did the Safari Jeep ride in Custer State Park through Blue Bell. It was absolutely wonderful. We had a wonderful guide--it was our two families of 3 each in the jeep with Ken. He was intent on giving us the most wildlife sitings for our money. We were probably about 3 feet away from buffalo when we found the herd going through the employee campground. It was great !!! He further explained how they brand them and then how they round them up later in the season and get the babies branded and decide how many they will be selling to whittle down the numbers that the park can accomodate. We also saw the arena where they round them up. We also saw antelope with many babies, mule deer, white tale deer, wild turkeys, begging burroes and he really wanted to find longhorn sheep, but we couldn%26#39;t find them. The scenery from the many back roads that he took us on were phenomenal. Sorry to hear that they had fires there--I hope this doesn%26#39;t spoil this attraction there and I hope that the animals fared well.

We also did the chuckwagon dinner after that, but if you don%26#39;t have time, skip that, but do the jeep ride !!!! Don%26#39;t forget that the animals are more active at certain times in the day.

Iron Mountain Road was VERY windy/curvy. I really think you need nerves of steel to drive that road. We didn%26#39;t drive it all, by the time we got there, my husband had had enough.

Enjoy your time there--it beautiful scenery !!!!

researchmama or whomever can answer.

where did you go for the chuckwagon dinner? was it entertaining?good food?What was the cost?

also, what was the cost of the jeep tour?

we are going to be camping in the Hill city area August 12-17. I would also like to get some good day itenarys ideas too!

Thanks for any information,

Tracy

Tracy (Coyote Beach):

I don%26#39;t remember what the cost was, but I found the following information on the website for Blue Bell Stables on the Custer State Park website:

www.custerresorts.com/activities.php#bluebell

Trail Rides

Call Blue Bell Stables at 605-255-4700

Hayride/Chuck Wagon Cookout

Call Blue Bell Lodge at 605-255-4531

Buffalo Safari Jeep Tours

Call State Game Lodge at 605-255-4541

Buffalo Jeep Ride %26amp; Chuck Wagon Cookout Adventure

Call State Game Lodge at 605-255-4541

We did the trail rides through them as well...I think I already mentioned that the 1 hour ride I%26#39;m sure would have been enough. After the 2 hour ride, it felt like my leg was going to break off!!!

The food at the chuckwagon was good, I wish I could remember exactly what we had, but we enjoyed it and it was plentiful. The little ';show'; and singalong was enjoyable as well. If you choose not to do the Chuckwagon, at least do the Buffalo Safari Jeep Ride..it was well worth the money to see all of the wildlife and scenery...it fit our 2 small families (total 4 adults and 2 teens).

Have fun !!!

Tracy:

Forgot to mention that we did a balloon ride as well. We didn%26#39;t go as far as the previous day%26#39;s ride...they made it all the way from Hill City to Custer State Park. We had VERY low clouds and not very good winds. It was something that we had never done before so it was quite an experience. We had tried to do it while we were in New York 2 years prior and had it cancelled 3 times because of poor weather (after being up for a 5am takeoff and then cancelled,UGH).

They did 2 balloons when we went up..one a 10 passenger and the other a 6 passenger. We landed in someone%26#39;s back yard...something to see when you%26#39;re having your morning coffee!!!!

I think it was about $200-$225/person. I think the company we went with was Black Hills Hot Air Balloons, but I%26#39;m not positive on that one. They had Mimosas and cheese/crackers when you landed.

Thanks so much for the tips! I%26#39;ll be calling to reserve the jeep tour for sure!

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