I visited western South Dakota on Memorial Day Weekend with my husband. Before this trip, I mostly associated South Dakota with Mount Rushmore. The Black Hills and Badlands turned out to offer much more, with scenic drives, caves, wildlife, national parks, and towering monuments. Here’s how we spent our 3-day road trip.
Day 0 — Arrival
We flew to Rapid City from SFO. Flights over Memorial Day Weekend were expensive, so we booked using 84,600 United miles each. Unfortunately there are no direct flights, so the first day was mostly spent getting there. After picking up our rental car at the airport, we drove about 15 minutes to our hotel in Rapid City and had a late dinner nearby.
Day 1 — Mount Rushmore + Badlands
Since South Dakota is one hour ahead of California, we had a relaxed start with brunch and a grocery stop to pick up water and snacks. We then drove about 40 minutes to South Dakota’s most famous attraction.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial features the 60-foot-tall (18-meter) granite faces of four U.S. presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. I’ve heard people complain that the sculpture looks smaller than expected, but I thought it was impressive in person.
The short 20-minute Presidential Trail takes you slightly closer to the structure and is well worth doing. Along the way, you can visit Sculptor’s Studio to see the original scale model showing the full upper bodies as envisioned. There’s also a tiny cave with a unique view of George Washington.
After the trail, we cooled off with Thomas Jefferson ice cream at Memorial Team Ice Cream. It uses the official vanilla recipe written in Jefferson’s own hand, with real vanilla beans. Pretty good.
One popular way to reach Mount Rushmore is via Iron Mountain Road, a scenic drive known for its tunnels that perfectly frame the monument. The road is very winding so we skipped the full drive, but we doubled back from Mount Rushmore to catch the first few tunnels. The closest one, Doane Robinson Tunnel, was the best.
Badlands National Park
After Mount Rushmore, we drove about 1.5 hours to Badlands National Park, known for its dramatic buttes, pinnacles, and colorful layered rock formations.
We started at Big Badlands Overlook, which ended up being my favorite viewpoint in the park. From there, we did three short trails clustered together:
- Window & Door: fully exposed to the sun but short.
- Notch Trail: offered some shade thanks to the rock walls, and it was the most fun because of the ladder climb and elevated viewpoint at the end.
We then continued through the park, stopping at White River Valley Overlook, Panorama Point, Burns Basin Overlook, Yellow Mounds Overlook, Pinnacles Overlook, and Hay Butte Overlook. Because we visited in the late afternoon, many of the formations were partially shaded. In hindsight, I think sunrise would be the best time to visit. We skipped sunset (around 8:00 PM) to head back to Rapid City for a late dinner.
Day 2 — Custer State Park + Crazy Horse + Wind Cave + Mammoth Site
Custer State Park
We started early with a one-hour drive to Custer State Park, famous for its granite formations and abundant wildlife. Our goal was to get to Cathedral Spires Trail before the crowds, a 1.8-mile round-trip hike with limited parking. The hike itself wasn’t too difficult, and the reward was a stunning viewpoint surrounded by towering granite spires that felt like standing inside a cathedral.
We originally planned to drive the Wildlife Loop afterward, but decided against it since we had already seen bison near Butte Overlook and had a Wind Cave reservation later that afternoon. Instead, we drove part of Needles Highway, had lunch in Custer, and made a last-minute addition to our itinerary.
Crazy Horse Memorial
The Crazy Horse Memorial honors the famed Oglala Lakota warrior and is the world’s largest mountain carving in progress. Construction began in 1948, and when finished it will be roughly 20 times the size of Mount Rushmore.
Even though only the face is complete, I still think it’s worth visiting. The 20-minute orientation film provides great historical context, and the museum offers exhibits on Native American history and culture. Visitors can also see the scale model of the completed monument and the original log home of sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski.
Wind Cave National Park
After a 30-minute drive, we arrived 30 minutes before our reservation as recommended, although it turned out not to be necessary. The park is famous for its labyrinth of rare, intricate “boxwork” cave formations and for being the first cave in the world designated as a national park.
The cave can only be visited through guided tours. We booked the popular 1 hour 15 minute Natural Entrance Tour in advance because reservations often sell out. The tour descends about 300 stairs into the cave and showcases a wide variety of boxwork formations. The boxwork formations were truly unique and look like mailboxes lining the cave walls. The cave is cool year-round, so I recommend bringing a warm jacket and wearing sturdy shoes.
Mammoth Site
We finished our packed day at nearby Mammoth Site, an active, indoor paleontological dig site where over 60 mammoths and other Ice Age animals remain perfectly preserved in the exact sinkhole pond where they died 140,000 years ago. I expected this to be a quick stop, but we ended up spending over an hour visiting the different stations to learn about the mammoths.
Day 3 — Devil’s Tower + Reptile Garden
Devil’s Tower National Monument
We started our last day with another early drive, this time to Devil’s Tower National Monument. Devil’s Tower was America’s first national monument and famous for being the world’s largest columnar jointing (structure with polygonal columns). While located in Wyoming, it’s easier to visit from Rapid City because of how east it is.
We did the 1.3-mile (2 km) Tower Trail early to avoid the heat. I’m glad we did because by the time we left, a long line of cars had formed at the entrance, possibly because admission was free on Memorial Day. The trail circles the monument and provides excellent views from every angle. While the visitor center side offers the most iconic view, I also enjoyed the back side where gaps in the columns create interesting “windows.”
After the trail, we stopped at the nearby Trading Post for some ice cream. I highly recommend heading to the back patio for an amazing view of the monument. I wish we had done Devil’s Tower for sunset on Day 1 instead since the direction of the sun would’ve been perfect.
Reptile Gardens
We had some extra time until our late afternoon flight, so we stopped by Reptile Gardens near Rapid City. Known as the world’s largest reptile zoo, it houses an impressive collection of reptiles from around the world. The zoo isn’t very large, but there are animal shows you can watch and giant tortoises you can pet, making it a great stop for families.
Final Thoughts
We both had so much fun on this road trip. I was pleasantly surprised by how much there is to do, and even though we visited on Memorial Weekend it didn’t feel overly crowded. Mount Rushmore lived up to its fame and was my favorite, but the other attractions weren’t far behind. We packed a lot into three days, and if I were to do the trip again, I would add another day or two to slow down and spend more time exploring the area.
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