MT. Rushmore, Deadwood, Badlands, and Yellowstone

Hi All,

Wife and I are starting to plan a trip for September.

We are thinking of flying into Rapid City, SD on a Friday night and stay the night there or can drive an hour to get to a better starting or home base desitnation.

We would have Saturday to Saturday to see sights and travel. End of the trip should be in Yellowstone, so need advice on where to homebase in the area of the park, but still be able to get to an airport to fly out of.

Seen a couple of itineraries, but nothing included a fly out of Montana (or whatever airport would be closest)

Thinking 2 or 3 days(?) for Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood (maybe stay night in Deadwood, but heard lightshow at Mt. Rushmore is pretty cool??), and Badlands.

Drive to Yellowstone at somepoint, not going crazy, maybe let it cover two half days instead of one long day.

Would like to see the big sights in yellowstone (however long that might take) and then fly out of a recommended close airport.

Any takers to my challenge??

MT. Rushmore, Deadwood, Badlands, and Yellowstone

Sure.. a good, but fairly easy challenge, lol!

Day 1 fly into Rapid City. Depending on time you get in either stay there or drive to Keystone.

Day 2 See Mt Rushmore in the morning, then drive around Custer State Park. Maybe do a tour of Wind Cave or Jewel Cave. End up back at Mt Rushmore for the evening ceremony.

Day 3 Drive to the Badlands, see whats there and return to Keystone (or Custer or Hill City). Maybe see Crazy Horse Monument.

Day 4 Drive to Deadwood. SEe the place, maybe stay there for a fun ';night on the town';

Day 5 Drive to WY. Stop and see Devils Tower. Make it to Sheridan for the night.

Day 6 Drive to Cody WY. Visit the museums.

Day 7 YS

Day 8 YS

Day 9 YS

Day 10 YS and/or Tetons

Day 11 Tetons

Day 12 Leave out of Jackson WY or drive on to SLC

MT. Rushmore, Deadwood, Badlands, and Yellowstone

Casa has a great plan. We did this trip in early June. I like Keystone for the Black Hills area. See if you can get reservations in the park, if not then go for West Yellowstone and Jackson Hole for the Grand Tetons. Enjoy your trip.

I like that post too. Must see Rushmore, Devils Tower and definately kick back for a night in Deadwood. Keystone and Hill City are very nice towns as well. Lots to do and see and if you have kids, you%26#39;ll find a gazillion things to do out there...

There%26#39;s nothing wrong with the schedule Casa gave you but I don%26#39;t see those 12 days arriving at friday and then saturday to saterday.

Tet

Somehow I missed they really only had Fri, Sat thru Sat! Here%26#39;s a modified....

Day 1 FRI: fly into Rapid City. Depending on time you get in either stay there or drive to Keystone.

Day 2 SAT: See Mt Rushmore in the morning, then drive around Custer State Park. Maybe do a tour of Wind Cave or Jewel Cave. End up back at Mt Rushmore for the evening ceremony.

Day 3 SUN: Drive to the Badlands, see whats there and return to Keystone (or Custer or Hill City). Maybe see Crazy Horse Monument.

Day 4 MON: Drive to Deadwood. See the place, maybe stay there for a fun ';night on the town'; or drive on to Devils Tower, staying in Sheridan for the night.

Day 5 TUE: Head to Cody WY, see museums if you get there in time.

Day 6 WED: Visit the museums in Cody in the morning if you did not see them the day before, then drive to YS. Stay inside the park or in West YS.

Day 7 THU: YS

Day 8 FRI: YS

Day 9 SAT: Tetons

Day 10 SUN: Leave out of Jackson WY

Saturday to Saturday.

Maybe follow the previous route but drive from Badlands directly to Deadwood

Sat: Same

Sun: Badlands, drive to Deadwood.

Mon: I would give Devils Tower a miss on this short visit and drive to Cody directly, that gives you more time for the highligt on this trip, awesome Yellowstone NP

Tue: Yellowstone

Wed: Yellowstone

Thu: Yellowstone, drive to Grand Teton NP

Fri: GTNP

Sat: Flight home from Jackson

Maybe flying from Billings is another option.

Tet

hi scott...i am trailing you in september...only i have a few more days! thanks for the question as the awesome answers have saved me a lot of research time!

my question to anyone who wants to answer, is if i fly into rapid city and arrive in time to see the evening lighting of rushmore, should i leave the following morning to head to a new destination? again, i am thinking of flying back out of jackson or another city...other than that, my trip is the same as scott%26#39;s!

thanks!

madison

Flying into RC and seeing the eveningceremony same day, I would stay in Keystone, closest to Mnt. Rushmore and I would not drive back to RC. You also could try Hill City for a stay. Visiting Badlands NP and on your way to Yellowstone after, RC is better located so maybe Keystone/Hill City. See the sights around southern Black Hills from there, see Badlands NP and stay RC or drive to another town like Deadwood or even farther in the direction of Devils Tower. And we didnot hear from Scott anymore. Are you still with us Scott?

Tet

colorsilk