South Dakota Road Trip Itinerary: An Epic South Dakota 7 Day Itinerary to National Parks and More

It’s time to plan your South Dakota Road Trip!  With 6 National Park units in the area, diverse State Parks and legendary towns, there are plenty of adventures to be had. But can you visit them all when you only have one week to travel?

This one week South Dakota itinerary will take you on a road trip to the various National Parks and other special places in South Dakota!

We share South Dakota 7 day itinerary below. We visited the Presidents at Mount Rushmore, the Coyotes at Wind Cave and the aliens at Devil’s Tower – and you can too!

South Dakota 7 Day Itinerary at a Glimpse

Arriving in Rapid City, South Dakota: Our Base Camp

Rapid City, South Dakota greeted us with gusts of wind so strong that I almost got blown to the Land of Oz!

The warm welcome we received from the front desk of the budget-friendly Comfort Suites was a nice contrast to the harassing wind. This hotel was rated as the top area accommodation on TripAdvisor, and it was a great recommendation. We had reached the base of operation for our vacation – Rapid City, South Dakota!

For starters, we like to take trips that are anchored in visiting the 400+ National Park Service (NPS) units. If you enjoy visiting National Park sites, then you will easily be able to add more than 6 new stamps to your National Park passport.

Leading up to the trip, we binge-watched all three seasons of the hit HBO series Deadwood (starring the wonderful Timothy Olyphant) in anticipation of the trip. It’s rugged, but it won’t disappoint – and it will get you even more excited to experience South Dakota!

Day 1: Visit Mount Rushmore National Memorial, Crazy Horse Memorial and Jewel Cave National Monument

We stayed at the Comfort Inn & Suites Rapid City, one of the top rated accommodations in the area.  When you visit South Dakota, you will want to have a vehicle for your trip, so if you fly into the Rapid City regional airport, you will want to rent a vehicle.

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.  Our hotel, the Comfort Inn & Suites, Rapid City had a great hot breakfast that we enjoyed each day of our stay.
• Visit Mount Rushmore National Memorial (3 hours), Crazy Horse Memorial (3 hours), and Jewel Cave National Monument (2 hours).  We recommend packing a cooler so that you can have sandwiches and drinks in between sites.  Also, if you desire to take a tour of Jewel Cave, you might want to reverse the order of sites from what we have listed so that you can make sure that you can make your tour time.
• On the return trip, explore Custer, SD and dine in Keystone, SD at the Powder House Lodge Restaurant which we highly recommend.

Visit Mount Rushmore National Memorial

No trip to the Black Hills would be complete without a visit to Mt Rushmore. Our experience was worth travelling the distance from our home in Ohio all on its own.

From Rapid City, we were only about a 40-minute (27 mile) drive to Mt Rushmore. Tack on another 10+ minutes for paying the entrance fee of $10 per vehicle (discount available for seniors) and parking in the multi-tiered parking garage, and the rest of the time was ours to appreciate this man-made wonder.

My favorite part was walking through the pathway leading up to the overlook which contains the flags of each of the states. It was a reverent experience for me.

Get Your National Park Passport Stamped at the Mount Rushmore Bookstore

When you go, be sure to take your time to visit the bookstore and get your National Park Passport stamped. The stamp is available at the checkout counter.

There are several cool keepsakes and souvenirs that you can get in the bookstore as well. We ended up buying presidential rulers for the kids in our lives (featuring the faces of all of the US Presidents). It was fun to see if we could remember the presidents in order (we probably spent a half an hour in the bookstore exercising our memories).

Also, take time to view the video about the creation of Mt. Rushmore that the National Park Service shows for free. It’s a fascinating story!

We found the visitor experience to be very comfortable. Restrooms were available, the entire site was accessible, and the parking was only a short walk to the iconic overlook.

Visit the Crazy Horse Memorial in South Dakota

After visiting Mt. Rushmore, the next stop you will make is a visit to the Crazy Horse Memorial which is located about 30 minutes, 16 miles from Mt. Rushmore.

We were amazed by how much we enjoyed this site. The Crazy Horse Memorial is a privately funded project to commemorate the unity and pride of the various Native American tribes in this country. While the undertaking of forming the side of a mountain into the largest sculpture of its type is a bit ambitious, the beautiful facilities, artwork and artifacts that are on display (and for sale) made this a precious part of our trip.

The highlight of this experience for me was listening to the beautiful flute music and demonstration of various types of hand-made flutes. I also enjoyed picking out jewelry to give as gifts from a few different Native artists.

The representatives of diverse tribes that manned each booth were happy to share information about their tribe and their art. The artists indicated that the family behind the Crazy Horse Memorial invites them to sell their products for free each year in exchange for sharing knowledge and information about their tribes with the site’s visitors.

When you visit, take the time to explore to your hearts content at this gem of a stop.

Visit Jewel Cave National Monument

The last site for the day is Jewel Cave National Monument. This site is about 45 minutes (36 miles) from the Crazy Horse Memorial. The Cave offers tours, a Visitor Center, and a Scenic Drive on the surface of the cave.

One thing to keep in mind is that Jewel Cave offers guided tours. If you’d like to explore the cave, then I would suggest that you reserve your cave tour in advance and plan your day around your tour time. I make this suggestion because with the amount of time that we spent at Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial, by the time that we arrived at Jewel Cave, the last tour for the day had already departed.

Poor planning on our part meant that we did not get to enter the cave, but after all of the exploring that we had done earlier in the day, we were content to go to the Visitor Center to get our National Park Passport stamp and explore the scenic drive above ground.

Dine at the Powder House in Keystone, SD

After all of these awesome experiences, the return trip to Rapid City wouldn’t be complete without stopping by the Powder House in Keystone (my favorite restaurant of the entire trip). I ordered the game sampler and tried quail and elk for the first time ever! The food was delicious (think house-made sauces and unique chutneys accompanying each dish – yum!).

Even thinking about it after all of this time is making my mouth water!

Pro Tip: Plan to do the Mount Rushmore Light Ceremony

If we could do it again, we would go back for the evening programs at Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse Memorial. We heard that these were awesome experiences, but did not make it back to enjoy them. You don’t even have to return on the same day. If you are in the area for multiple days, you can keep your parking / entrance receipts for free re-entry for a period of 1 year at Mt. Rushmore and for 3 days at Crazy Horse Memorial.

If you are wanting to get a readmit pass at Crazy Horse, you will want to visit the Welcome desk within the Visitor Center to get your pass.

Day 2: Devil’s Tower National Monument, Sturgis and Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.
• Visit Devils Tower National Monument (about a 2 hour drive from Rapid City).  Even though Devil’s Tower is physically located in Wyoming, when you visit South Dakota, it is a must see site! Stay at Devils Tower for about 2 hours and walk the short trails and rock scrambles (or climb the tower if you dare).  On the return trip, drive through the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (2 hours with stops), and drive through Sturgis, SD to see the “City of Riders”.  If you have time, stop by the original location of the Full Throttle Saloon.
• Return to Rapid City and dine at one of the local restaurants in the downtown.  We recommend checking out the Firehouse Brewing Company for one of their tasty burgers.  They also have a gift shop with great gifts for purchase if you are into craft brews.

Visit Devil’s Tower in Wyoming

This was the day for “other-worldly” adventure! We got up early to head to Wyoming. What an awesome opportunity to see another state only 2 hours (110 miles) away!

Most of the trip out was made on I90 which has a speed limit of 80mph, and oh how quickly the miles melt away at that speed! Each minute of longing is replaced with excitement as you get closer and closer to Devils Tower National Monument!

We pulled off to get some great views from a distance upon our approach, and it only got more awesome as we got closer to the natural land formation that juts out of the earth in a super-natural manner. The cost to enter varies based on your vehicle type and/or whether you enter on foot. You can expect to pay $25 for a car, and that fee is good for 7-days of entry.

Note: You can also use the America the Beautiful Interagency Pass. Once in the park, there were a number of pull-offs that you can stop at as you approach the monument to observe the prairie dogs and beautiful scenery.

Anxious to get to Devil’s Tower, we reserved our excitement for the pull-offs for the return trip. When we got up to the visitor’s center (we were lucky to not have to park in the overflow parking further down the hill) we made our stop by the bookstore to get our National Park Passport stamped.

There was no video at this site, but you can pose with this cool alien at the visitor’s center.

I’m not a rock climber, but it was awesome to watch those adventurous souls scale the side of Devils Tower which seemed to stand at a 90 degree angle to the earth. Even though my climbing skills are limited, I did enjoy venturing into the rock scrambles and boulders at the base of the formation.

The walk was not very far from the parking lot and visitor center, and the passage was paved. There was, however, a decent incline to walk up to get to the boulders, and I didn’t see an easier way to get to that point. I mention this as a caution to those that might not be able to walk up steep inclines.

On the way out, we made sure to pull offs to see the Prairie Dogs that we skipped on the way in! I love those little guys.

Drive the Beautiful Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

After a couple hours visiting Devils Tower, we made our way back to South Dakota. On the way back, we took a drive through Spearfish Canyon. When we planned our original trip itinerary, this site was not even on our radar, but the locals that we talked to said that this was their favorite drive to take.

Pro Tip: As a general rule, we find that talking to people in the area and heeding their advice is one of the best ways to take advantage of the very best that an area has to offer.

Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway took approximately an hour to drive through with sporadic stops at waterfalls. We also stopped to observe some fly-fishing.

There are several pull offs along the way. I would definitely consider this to be a must-do drive if you’re in the area.

Visit Sturgis, South Dakota

Finally, make your way to Sturgis, the home of the well-known annual biker rally and the original site of the famed Full Throttle Saloon. My husband, Jason, made it a priority to visit the site of the original saloon that was seen on TV and is famed as the world’s largest biker bar.

After a fire that demolished the saloon in 2015, there stood a trailer with t-shirts, keepsakes and cold drinks for purchase. The lady that was working at the place was personable, and shared a lot of history and pictures of the saloon with us. She also had some artwork for sale that contained some of the original melted material from the bar.

After a day of exploring, we made our way back to Rapid City. We recommend that you take some time to go to the downtown area to get dinner and walk around downtown Rapid City.

Day 3: Drive the Needles Highway and Visit Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.
• Visit Custer State Park and drive the Needles Highway (cautiously).  There are some dramatically beautiful sights that can be seen, but only by driving narrow roads with steep drop offs.  Spend some time walking by the beautiful Sylvan Lake along the route.
• Return to Rapid City and dine at one of the local restaurants perhaps the Colonial House Restaurant for a bite and great over-sized dessert.

Note: Some of the roads that were taken to get to Needles Highway were narrow and winding. All roads along this route, however, were paved.

Pro Tip: Build in Downtime in Your Itinerary when Packing in a Lot of Stops

One tip that we would recommend to any vacationer (especially to those on a whirlwind trip) is to plan on having some down time. After all, running yourself ragged is counter-productive when considering the goals of vacation. That is why we always try to plan some down time in our trip schedules.

This trip was no different. We knew that we were going to need some down time, and planned it around the famous Indy 500 race. Jason grew up following Indy Car, and since our trip took place during Memorial Day week, our “day 3” coincided with the Indianapolis 500, an event that he was not willing to miss. What this meant for us is that we had the morning to sleep in, and the day to lounge around the hotel and rest. Whatever it is that helps you to rest and feel refreshed, we always recommend intentionally carving out part of your itinerary to just chill.

Needles Highway Scenic Drive in Custer State Park

After spending most of the day resting and watching Takuma Sato clench his first Indy 500 victory, we decided to take a drive along the Needles highway scenic drive, part of Custer State Park. This was a drive that was recommended to us by quite a few friends that had visited, and one that we found a lot of information about online. We planned to explore at a leisurely pace, expecting to see some beautiful views before retiring for the evening… but oh, the stress! I must admit that the views were lovely, but I also have to say I was (luckily) the passenger on this drive. Why, you may ask? I can give you two reasons:

1. I actually got to take in the beautiful views because I wasn’t focused on the road with 110% effort; and,
2. I didn’t have to worry about driving on the side of a cliff and ending any future exploration for me and Jason eternally (ha!).

All joking aside, even though the Needles highway scenic drive was one of the most highly-recommended stops for our trip from our friends, it is not for everyone – and perhaps was not for us. The winding narrow roadways that meander along cliff sides and steep drop-offs made this stressful for both my driver (thanks husband) and me.

Pro Tip: Consider your appetite for driving on high and narrow roads
Consider your appetite for driving on high and narrow roads. The views on Needles Highway are amazing, but the route is narrow and harrowing. Luckily, Jason was the brave driver this time around, and I got to enjoy the views while he “white knuckled” the steering wheel the entire time. I could feel his stress, and with all of the other beautiful sites that we saw on this trip, this is one that we would have likely skipped if we had known just how stressful the drive was going to be.

That being said, Custer State Park maintained the roads very nicely. We actually met a couple at dinner that evening that told us about how they rode their motorcycle on Needles Highway scenic drive and LOVED IT! When I heard that, I nearly had a panic attack, but they said that it was the highlight of their trip. To each their own! Just be aware and alert.

Also, I want to mention that this is not the only thing to do at Custer State Park. We had a blast on the Wildlife Drive (which I’ll talk about later), and there is a lot of camping and other activities to do at the park that we really enjoyed and highly recommend.  We also enjoyed the reprieve at Sylvan Lake where we stopped along the Needles Highway route.

Day 4: Wind Cave National Park and Angostura Recreation Area and Custer State Park’s Wildlife Loop

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.
• Visit Wind Cave National Park (2-3 hours, longer if you tour the cave).  Drive through Hot Springs, SD.  There are options around Hot Springs.  We chose to visit the Angostura Recreation Area to go fishing for Walleye (3-4 hours).  We also wanted to visit the Mammoth Cave dig site which we heard was a good place, but did not have time.  Drive through the Custer State Park Wildlife Loop to see a variety of animals including a huge herd of buffalo (2 hours).  We recommend that when you visit South Dakota, take time to not only visit the national parks but also a couple of the numerous state parks.
• Return to Rapid City and dine at one of the local restaurants.  We also recommend the Millstone Family Restaurant.

Note that some GPS directions for this trip will take you through dirt roads through the hills. We chose to stick to the main roadways and recommend that you do the same.

Visit Wind Cave National Park

Wind Cave National Park was awesome! I was disappointed that we didn’t go into the cave as they had some beginner friendly guided cave tours, but (once again) lack of proper planning would have left us waiting for over 3 hours to catch the tour that we wanted as the earlier tours were sold out.

My recommendation would be to arrive early and book your tour in advance. We did catch the video (which is a suggestion that I always have for visiting the Parks), and learned that there was more to Wind Cave than the cave system and intricate box work. Wind Cave National Park is the park that is as much about the surface of the cave as it is about the cave itself. That being said, we got to see some really cool wildlife including buffalo, coyotes on the hunt, prairie dogs, and a variety of deer on the surface. I highly recommend taking time to experience the wildlife.

Visit Angostura State Recreation Area

If you get a chance to visit Angostura State Recreation Area, make sure to take your fishing poles and tackle. Angostura was a beautiful park that was centered around a lake with various pull offs, cabins, restaurants, etc. There was even a on-the-water shop which is where we purchased some night crawlers for our fishing expedition. It didn’t take too long before we started to get some bites, and what we pulled out of the water was new for us – Walleye! These are some cool fish complete with a full set of teeth. And after we caught one, more and more started to hit the line. What a great way to spend an afternoon!

Drive the Wildlife Loop at Custer State Park

The last part of the day was spent at Custer State Park driving the Wildlife Loop. This was a dramatically different experience for us than Needle’s Highway (thank goodness!). We explored the park not long before sunset. The drive was easy with minimal changes in elevation, and the animals that we saw were many and varied. It was at Custer State Park that we saw the largest herd of buffalo (crossing in front of our car) that we saw on our entire trip. We also saw some neat birds, deer and donkey. I highly recommend this beautiful addition to the trip (and make sure to take your binoculars). This was the part of the trip where I felt the most comfortable and “at home”.

Pro Tip:
If you plan to enter Custer State Park (or any other SD State Park) more than once during your trip, consider getting a pass. The temporary park permit pass at Custer will grant you access to any parks for a period of 7 days. We didn’t know this, and ended up paying for admission to Angostura and then paying for admission to Custer when we could have just saved money with the pass.

Day 5: Exploring Deadwood and Mount Moriah Cemetery

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.
• Visit Deadwood, SD (4 hours).  Start at the new Visitor Center and visit Mount Moriah Cemetery to see the resting places of some of the famous residents of Deadwood like Wild Bill Hickock, Calamity Jane and Potato Creek Johnny.  The town is full of casinos and touristy shops and restaurants, and there are also neat “live action” plays that take place a various sites throughout the town.
• Return to Rapid City.

Visit Deadwood in South Dakota

If you enjoy the history of the “Wild West”, then Deadwood is one of those mythological places that was once home to some of the West’s most famous characters. Quick draw Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Potato Creek Johnny, Sheriff Seth Bullock, Al Swarengen – all were residents of this legendary mining town. The town is likely very different today than it was back then (it definitely caters to tourists and is complete with one of the most beautiful visitor centers that I have been in), but it did still feel like we were in a special place. There are a lot of casinos and restaurants. We stopped by the Celebrity Hotel which had some neat movie memorabilia that you could check out and enjoy even if you don’t gamble.

We geeked out over getting to visit significant sites in Deadwood like Saloon 10 (where Wild Bill was fatally shot), the Bullock Hotel, and the Mount Moriah cemetery where some of the well know names mentioned above were laid to rest.

Getting a chance to walk around at Mount Moriah gave us the opportunity to do one of our favorite things that we do on that vacation – to meet some new friends. We met a couple named Dave and Jeanne who shared with us their new-found RV lifestyle and told us about the joy that they were experiencing road tripping and seeing this beautiful country. That lifestyle has such an appeal to us, and we appreciated hearing their plans and experiments with being location independent.

Shout out to Dave and Jeanne who share their adventures over at Tales on the Trails. You can also connect with them on their Facebook page.

Pro Tip: Talk to People on the Road

Talk to people that you meet on the road! Get recommendations from locals (and actually follow them). Your experience will be enriched as a result.

Day 6: Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Wall, South Dakota

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Rapid City.  Check out of hotel.
• Visit Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.  Explore the Visitor Center, and take the audio tour (2.5 hours total).  Check into the Frontier Cabins (where we stayed and recommend).  Visit the shops at the renowned Wall Drug (1.5 hours), and grab a bite to eat at the Badlands Saloon and Grille.
• Stay at the Frontier Cabins in Wall, SD.

Check in at the Frontier Cabins in Wall South Dakota

After nearly a week of excitement on our South Dakota road trip, we were tired. Nonetheless, we still had some exciting, not-to-miss items on our agenda. We said our good byes to Rapid City, and headed a little over an hour west to Wall, SD. Wall became our new “home base” for the last couple of days of our trip.

We stayed at the lovely Frontier Cabins (again, a top rated accommodation on TripAdvisor), and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The cabin had a nice porch with rocking chairs that enabled us to relax with nothing around us but the beautiful prairie. The cabins were comfortable and clean – a significant improvement over the spider-ridden cabins that I remember from the days of my middle school camp outings. This would be our base of operation for the last couple of days of our trip.

Visit the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

Not far from Wall, SD, we visited the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site. We spent over an hour exploring the Visitor Center which provided some neat history on the Cold War and the training and preparation that the Minutemen and women went through to be ready in the event of an attack. The idea being that if necessary, they would be ready to act within a minute’s notice.

We enjoyed the Visitor Center and continued our learning on the self-guided tour of a missile site. In order to do the self-guided tour, you will need to have a cell phone. Basically, you call a phone number at the site, and listen to prerecorded snippets that explain different things that you see on site. It was a new experience for us to have a tour delivered in this way, but it was neat to get to explore at our own pace.

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site also offers the opportunity to go into a Missile Silo. This, however, requires some advance preparation. We recommend contacting the Visitor Center in advance if you want to make sure that you get to take advantage of this experience. We, unfortunately, missed out on this experience.

Visit Wall Drugstore in Wall, South Dakota

The evening was spent exploring the Wall Drugstore. I had heard some describe Wall Drug as a tourist trap (after all, there were a lot of foreign-made goods and not many locally-made products). However, if you take the store for what it is, a solitary stop along a long stretch of road that basically doesn’t have other easily accessible towns nearby, it is neat to see how the place made a name for itself by offering the convenience of free water to travelers that did not (at the time) have the convenience of automobiles and air conditioning. We enjoyed seeing the various statues and knick-knacks, and would definitely visit again if we found ourselves in the area.

Day 7: Badlands National Park

Quick Overview with Route Map

• Start your day with breakfast in Wall.  The Frontier Cabins offer a light breakfast that is sufficient to get you on your way.
• Visit Badlands National Park (4-6 hours).  Enter at the Northeast entrance of the park.  Before you even reach the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, pull off at the Big Badlands overlook (breathtaking!) and get in a little hiking on the Castle trail.  Pick up some tips from the Park Rangers at the Visitor Center and drive and hike your way through the beautiful park taking in the views and diverse wildlife!  You will want to bring your binoculars and camera for sure!  Badlands National Park is reason enough to plan your visit to South Dakota today!
• Stay another night in Wall, SD or start your trip back to your home.

Visit Badlands National Park

Two words – purely amazing!

We started our trip at the Badlands National Park with a picture. I’ll let you in on another nerdy secret. In addition to getting my passport stamped at each park unit, I am also a fan of getting my picture at the park sign at each of the National Scenic Parks. It is a little comical even to me that I got into this practice because in actuality it’s just a big sign that happens to be installed at one of the most magical places in the country. I mean, if I really think about it, at the end of the day, I will have many pictures and at least one cancellation stamp to commemorate my experience. But for some reason, I feel a sense of personal satisfaction out of the park sign photos. Although we had to wait on a couple of car loads of visitors in front of us, I cherished my time with the sign.

In order to really experience the Badlands, I recommend trying some of the walks and hikes. One of the first areas that you encounter when you enter the park from the Northeast (before even arriving at the Visitor Center) is the Big Badlands Overlook. This was a brief walk along a boardwalk with amazing views! Visitors young and old, and even those with pets were able to stroll along the boardwalk and take in the awe-inspiring landscape only a few steps from their vehicle. Take a walk on the boardwalk and see the panoramic views of the land! We did this walk and then went out to walk the Castle Trail before even arriving at the Visitor Center.

Stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center at Badlands National Park

We went to the Ben Reifel Visitor Center to get our stamps, and to learn about the formation of the land and how it is a record of the animals and fossils that are found there. It was interesting to me to learn about the rapid erosion of the land as well. Note that the park actually has two Visitor Centers (Ben Reifel which is quickly accessed via the Northeast entrance of the Park, and the White River Visitor Center that is located on the Pine Ridge Reservation – we only visited Ben Reifel). If we get a chance to go back, we will definitely check out the White River Visitor Center. As of the time of our visit, however, some of the southern areas of the park were not as well developed, and some of the roads were not paved. This did keep us from venturing too far off of the Badlands Loop Road.

Drive the Badlands Loop Road

In the 4 hours that we spent at the park, we drove the Badlands Loop Road and stopped at several of the pull-offs to take short hikes and see the dramatic views from the overlooks that the park maintains. Driving the Badlands Loop Road is the most popular activity at the park.

One of my favorite stops was the Pinnacles Overlook. This was the best place to feel like we were walking “on the top” of the Badlands. This was also the best place to observe the big horn sheep. It took me a few minutes to locate them in the distance because they seemed to blend into the background, but once I did spot them, I realized that they were all over the place.

At the park, you will also see some amazing wildlife up close. There are freely grazing buffalo, prairie dogs, and even big horn sheep to name a few. The wildlife served as a reminder that we were in a very different place than our Ohio home. Knowing that the Badlands was our last excursion of the trip, it was very fulfilling to end on a high note at the intersection of the beauty of nature and the diversity of creation.

I believe that the National Park Service also did a great job of teaching me that the Badlands was an ever-changing and quickly eroding environment. This, too, put the trip in perspective for me and made me grateful for the opportunity that I had to be able to visit and see this wonderful place – after all, it won’t be there forever and will never again exist as it did that day.

Using This Easy Planning Guide for Your South Dakota Road Trip

We visited many of the top attractions in the Black Hills area during our 7-days of adventure, and could have easily extended our stay by spending more time at each place and adding some other destinations that we discovered along the way.

This page is set up for you to get our best recommendations for your South Dakota road trip.  We show you the map of our routes, and tell you about the experiences that we had.  You can pick and choose complete days to work into your own itinerary.

Resources for Planning Your South Dakota Road Trip

When are you planning to visit South Dakota?  These resources will help you along your way.  Let’s start planning!

Packing for your Black Hills South Dakota Road Trip

• Make sure that you don’t forget your National Park Gear including your Passport Book (get stamped!) and National Park/Interagency Pass (some of the National Park Units have fees)
• Clothing for taking nice hikes and enjoying the outdoors.  We recommend being prepared to wear layers as the temperatures can fluctuation from low to high within the same day and you’ll want to make sure that you are comfortable without having a significant wardrobe change.
• We are big fans of nalgene water bottles.  Jason picked up several of these on Amazon for our trip, and we now take them everywhere that we go.
• Hiking boots are a must for stability on the varied terrain.
• You will want some good binoculars to observe the wildlife in the parks.
• Fishing gear (if you choose to check out the area walleye fishing).  We were successful with nightcrawlers, but we did bring our own poles, tackle and lawn chairs.

Cool things to look out for

Rapid City Rocks are a neat find.  We didn’t know about this neat interactive local community prior to visiting, but happened upon a rock outside of the Firehouse Brewing Company.  We brought our rock back home to spread the joy of the find to Ohio.

Conclusion

It’s fun to look back over the trip. We did the following:

• Got stamp cramp at 6 national park units
• Explored 2 of South Dakota’s State Parks
• Caught our first Walleye ever
  Witnessed a coyote hunt
• Visited with some of the most prolific figures from the Wild West
• Tried elk and quail
• Got up close and personal with buffalo, prairie dogs, and big horn sheep
• Learned through experience
• Sharpened the saw (aka got some inspired refresh time)
• Spent hours of quality time together!

Reflecting on the trip overall, even though there was a lot of action, I felt as though I had many opportunities to connect to where I was. I gained an appreciation for the land and its people, had a chance to get up close and personal with animals that I’ve never seen before, had an alien encounter :-), sampled new foods, explored several legendary historic towns, met new friends, and stepped outside of my comfort zone. What more could I ask for?

So, give South Dakota a whirl. It is a beautiful and environmentally diverse state with more to see and do than can be reasonably packed into a week. National park units are plentiful, state parks are there for your enjoyment, and there’s tons of fun to be had! There is no better time than now to start planning your next adventure!

For a high-level South Dakota road trip itinerary complete with maps to all of the sites mentioned here, check out our South Dakota trips resources page. Thanks for reading!

Still have a question? Have a tip to share for others visiting the Black Hills? Leave a comment below!

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