Vacation activity suggestions for Western South Dakota?

j-bird

Moderator
So it sounds like my folks, my brother and some of the kids are heading to Western SD in June for a vacation. Rushmore and Crazy horse are on the list, but not sure what all else there is to do in that area. We are flying in and renting a house (I assume in the Rapid City area). If some of you are familiar with that area or have visited before, what other activities should we consider???
 
Deadwood is cool. The kids can play in the center square and watch the gunfight. The trout hatchery in Spearfish is fun for kids as well. We hit Spearfish Canyon and did some short hikes. Devil's Bathtub is not worth it to me). Hit Custer Park and see the donkeys and buffalo. You can hike one of the many forest roads in the Hills and just get away from people. It is a great place, enjoy!!!
 
Been a lot of years but we also did some driving around in the Badlands National park and if I remember right there was a spot where they did helicopter rides over part of the area.

If you bebop to the west into Wyoming you can hit up Devils Tower. My brother had us do that so he could check WY off the list. He eventually has been in all 50 states.

Hiking was nice in the Black Hills. If I remember mosquitos were uncommon.

There will be rock and gem shops everywhere. Yes and the ever present Black Hills gold jewelry shops.

At least what I can remember from like 30+ yrs ago. Crazy Horse was still in progress back then.
 
Trout fishing, hiking, horsback riding, or donkey rides. other then that, rest and relaxation. It is a beautiful area, and as what was said, driving it is better then flying in.
 
Badlands worth seeing. Devils tower in WY a must. Unimpressed with Rushmore and Crazy horse. If willing to travel, Cody WY is great and the firearms museum there is a must see . More guns and history than one can take in a day. If driving, the sand hill country of Nebraska is beautiful for flat land country. Cheyenne WY is a cool cowboy town with great rodeos. Of course Sturgis, but I've only been there on a Harley during the fun time. Not sure how interesting it is wo partially clothed ladies!
 
Corn palace is a must!
Keystone is pretty cool , kinda like the sd version of the dells. Lots for the kids to do.
Custer is awesome,
Do Rushmore at night, that will bring a tear to your eye for sure. We stayed in a little town but i cant think of the name of it now! Amyway, they had an old steam train tour that was pretty cool.
Way to much to list !! Have fun
 
Buffalo viewing in Custer State Park. Mammoth Site Museum by Hot Springs (thought that one didn't take us long to see).
 
If your kids are quite young, be sure to clearly pronounce the name of the destination as "Rapid City". With my Wisconsin accent, my kids thought we were going to "Rabbit City" and were disappointed at first.
 
Hill City! Proud of myself, i had to look it up but i knew it when i saw it! Great memory, just short.

Depending on when you go they have a massive bbq and wine festival in hill city. That was fun.
 
If you like fun roads go south to Hermosa and take Hwy 36 to 16A Iron Mountain Road. Very curvy and if you hit it early you'll see wildlife and some fantastic scenery. If you like guns, stop in First Stop guns on main street, Rapid City. Not sure how it is with all the shortages, but they usually have an awesome selection. Custer State park if you want to see Bighorn sheep and buffalo. Definitely hit the badlands and some of the National grasslands are fun to get out and explore and no tourists.
 
Trout fishing


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So we are flying in to Rapid city and staying near there. You all have provided some great ideas.... I have never been "west" before so this will be all new to me. I was in Waterton, SD (MN/SD border) for about 6 hours once, other than that it's MO, TX and OK so I am excited about seeing a different part of the country.
 
For the kids, Bear country, and Reptile gardens both in Rapid City. Kinda hokey and a bit expensive but the kids love it.
Bear country was my favorite, 100's of bears loose within feet of your car, wolves also. Its pretty cool.
Now i wanna go back
 
You know you're out West when you get to the other side of the big river and they start wearing cowboy hats and tucking their jeans into their boots. Boot tucking is how you can tell if you're West of the Missouri.

That's a true fact.
 
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There is a lot to see in and around custer state park. Needles highway is a must, playhouse and iron mountain road are great too. If you like museums, you'll find many of those around. There are a few caves you can explore. Rushmore cave is one. I haven't explored the badlands yet but I've heard that's worth seeing too. Bear country is pretty cool too, you'll get a close up look at a lot of critters you don't usually see.
 
We did both jewel cave and wind cave on our 5 th anniversary. On our second trip with our daughter, jewel cave tours were booked solid but they did have a lantern tour at the original entrance. It was great, not a hollywood example of a cave but the way it was back when.
 
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