Help from the mid atlantic

I%26#39;m planning a trip mid-August and was trying to pick a place to stay. Should I book a whole week at one place or leave it up in the air? We want to do Rushmore, the Badlands, the Dinosaur place, and bear country. It would be myself and my 8 year old son. Are all of these places where I can have a ';base camp'; or would it be better to stay in different places? I%26#39;m from MD and everything in our state is pretty close. Any help would be great thanks!

Help from the mid atlantic

Based on your post, I don%26#39;t see any reason for your to make several base camps. Is the Dinosaur place the Mammoth Site? Also, how long do you have for this trip?

The three recommended base towns for touring the Black Hills are Keystone, Custer, and Hill City. Any of these would work for what you want to see. The Badlands would be your furthest trip for what you want to see. It would take you about an hour and a half to get out to the Badlands from Keystone, which really isn%26#39;t far. Like here in the northeast, the attractions in the Black Hills are pretty close together.

If you want to provide us with a little more information, we could probably assist you more if you%26#39;d like (i.e. touring suggestions, itinerary, etc). As I mentioned, it would help knowing your length of time for the trip and your interests. There are tons of activities your 8 year old would enjoy. The Reptile Gardens is very entertaining for a child this age, as are Wind %26amp; Jewel Caves, along with Custer State Park.

Help from the mid atlantic

Thanks for the info, that would be great! I%26#39;m thinking of staying for 6-7 days, figure two of those days are for travelling, so really about 4-5 days for touring.

Here%26#39;s my short list of Black Hills must sees:

Mt Rushmore

Custer State Park

Crazy Horse

Badlands National Park

Devils Tower

Wind Cave

Jewel Cave

People typically devote a day to Custer State Park, 2-3 Hours each at Rushmore %26amp; Crazy Horse, a daytrip to the Badlands, another daytrip to Devils Tower, and about 2 hours for each cave. The cave tours are ranger-led, and your child will love them.

If you give me an idea of what you and your son enjoy doing, I can make a few more suggestions for you for activities. You should have enough time to visit the must sees of the area.

We stayed at a cabin in Custer State Park and used that as a base for the area. It was nice to have a kitchen, too and a fire ring too. Legion Lake and Sylvan Lake in CSP have small sandy beaches for splashing around and paddle boat rentals. My 8 year old really enjoyed the Junior Ranger program at the National Parks, and we ended up spending alot of quality time at each one. We especially liked Wind Cave: the short (above ground) walk was very pretty and relatively easy. We saw lots of buffalo at that park, too.