Need ideas and feedback for South Dakota trip

Once again turning to all the knowledgeable members of TripAdvisor.

We are a family of 5 plus my grandmother so that makes 6 of us. The kids are 11,8,5. I’ve started planning a South Dakota trip and really need advice. I ordered the travel guides so hopefully they’ll be here soon. We have never been there and really have no idea of what to expect. The dates and lodging are already in place. I have worked up a LOOSE itinerary. I would like to know if my ideas are doable as far as areas of location, distances, and time. I want to make sure I’m not listing too much in a day. We want to take things at a slower pace for grandma and because we are on vacation, but still stay busy enough that we are not just watching tv in our cabin. Also I would welcome specifics in towns, parks or on scenic drives. Remember grandma will be with us so absolutely caves with stairs and no hiking. Getting out of the car and short walks for “Kodak Moments” are fine. Knowing us, we will be ready to go each morning between 9 and 10.

This will be the end of August and I hope it isn’t terribly hot.

We will be driving from the Twin Cities on Sunday. I snagged a 1bd cabin that sleeps 6 at Calamity Peak Lodge in Custer for five nights at what I believe to be a great price. I’m hoping this will be a central enough location for us. It has a kitchen so we will make our own breakfasts and a couple dinners. I would imagine that lunches will be eaten out, whether in a town or a picnic. Are there picnic tables in the parks or along scenic drives?

Monday: Breakfast in the cabin then start out on the Peter Nobeck byway. Stop at Mount Rushmore and venture into Keystone and then finish the byway.

Tuesday: Cabin breakfast. Custer State Park. Then Custer itself. We will splurge on a Chuckwagon Dinner. I was thinking of the “Flying T”.

Wednesday: Cabin breakfast. Hill City. Spearfish Canyon drive. WaTiki water park in Rapid City after 4pm for a couple of hours. Admission goes to ½ price after 4pm. I want to keep the waterpark in the middle of the trip. I’m partial to this one because its indoors thus not affected by weather. Probably have dinner in Rapid City or on the way back to Custer.

Thursday: Cabin breakfast. Devil’s Tower, Belle Fourche, return for Mount Rushmore evening lighting. Probably need lunch and dinner options for this day.

Friday: Cabin breakfast and start our return trip home. We will be going through the Badlands and I’m thinking of allotting 3 hours. Then about a 3 hour drive to Mitchell, SD. I got a 2bd suite at the Ramada Inn.

Saturday: Free hotel breakfast. Maybe the doll museum for grandma. Not too sure if we’re interested in the Corn Palace.

Other notables:

I think we’ve decided to just see Crazy Horse from the road. I understand you have to pay to get to the museum/ gift shop area and then pay again for a ride closer to the monument, and we can’t afford to become members and take the really up close tour anyway.

We also may hit some of the Americana roadside attractions like Reptile Gardens or Bedrock City.

My wife wants the kids to pan for gold. Any suggestions? I would like to keep the $ reasonable for this activity unless they “strike it rich”.

I would greatly appreciate ideas and specifics.

Thanks

Need ideas and feedback for South Dakota trip

The weather in August is similar to Minneapolis, usually warm, but unpredictable, less humid.

I have a daughter in Minneapolis, so I have made that drive many times, to Custer it will be at least 10 hours.

There are picnic tables in many of the park areas.

Stop at Roughlock Falls in Spearfish Canyon, just up the gravel road from Savoy, the view to the falls is an easy stroll and has benches.

If you are taking the Belle Fourche hwy 24 route to Devil%26#39;s Tower, Aladdin %26amp; Hulett have cafes. It is a pretty drive.

In Mitchell you can drive by the Corn Palace and see the decorations.

It sounds like a nice trip.

Need ideas and feedback for South Dakota trip

Hi,

Custer is a good location for exploring the Black Hills. Sounds like you have made some wise economical choices, and to answer your question, yes, there are plenty of places to picnic. We always do picnic lunches and really enjoyed the area around Sylvan Lake. This is a nice strolling place for some Kodak moments you mention. The trail around the lake is flat.

To avoid backtracking, I%26#39;d move your drive through Spearfish Canyon to your Devil%26#39;s Tower day. You can drive through coming or going. Depending on interests, Grandma and the kids might enjoy the 1880 Train between Hill City and Keystone. Catching the train in Keystone and going to Hill City makes a nice relaxing trip. You could see Hill City without your car and enjoy the shops and the fabulous Alpine Inn for lunch. They serve excellent German fare for lunch (filet mignon only for dinner) and fabulous desserts. You can always take a later train back to Keystone; you don%26#39;t have to go right back.

We also liked Big Time Pizza at Keystone%26#39;s Roosevelt Inn..good for lunch or dinner. If you are looking for a chain, the Golden Corral Buffet at the LaCrosse St Exit off I90 in Rapid City wasn%26#39;t bad. It%26#39;s certainly not gourmet, but it%26#39;s good so the kids can get what they want and it is pretty reasonable.

As for Crazy Horse, you can certainly drive by, but I%26#39;d recommend stopping. You don%26#39;t have to take the van to the base of the mountain. I checked the website, and it%26#39;s now $27 per carload. For a family of 6, that%26#39;s really not bad, and it%26#39;s well worth it. They really do have some nice Native American exhibits, and the history behind the monument is even more fascinating than Rushmore, IMO.

The kids (and you) will love Reptile Gardens and Bear Country. I rate Reptile Gardens higher than Bear Country, as the Wildlife Loop in Custer is more interesting than Bear Country because you are seeing the animals in a non-controlled environment. THe Reptile Gardens has some really good shows, and they give the kids a chance to volunteer to be part of them. I wouldn%26#39;t rule out Bear Country if the kids want to go. It%26#39;s a cute ';safari-like'; zoo. I haven%26#39;t been to Bedrock City, but when we drove by, it looked very scary from the outside...a little too ';roadside'; for me.

A regular poster on here, Casa Azul, recommends Wade%26#39;s in Hill City for gold panning. It sounds like fun and a bit less touristy than other places. There%26#39;s also Big Thunder Gold Mine in Keystone and Broken Boot Mine in Deadwood. Both offer panning. Big Thunder has a short tour of the mine (no steps) that everyone might enjoy.

I know you mentioned about not being interested in caves, but you might be interesting in the Jewel Cave Discovery Talk. It has minimal steps and only lasts 20 minutes. At least the kids would get to see some formations. The other option might be for you or your wife to take the kids to one of the caves to allow them the experience. Both Wind %26amp; Jewel Caves are so worthwhile.

As for weather, it can be fickle as was mentioned. We visited in late August, and we had very cool weather. Some days, temps didn%26#39;t get out of the high 50%26#39;s. It was also quite wet/rainy some of the time, but I%26#39;m not sure if this is typical for late August.

Another possible area of interest would be the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. Everyone in the family could enjoy it, and they have a Jr Paleontologist program if any of the kids like dinosaurs.

I hope this helps some. Please come back with additional questions. You are going to have a great time!

My main concern would be time allowed on Thursday for Devils Tower. Yes, do Spearfish Canyon that day as suggested but leaving from Custer plan to leave very early, perhaps breakfast along the way somewhere quick. With time at Devils Tower then the drive back - and perhaps a quick stop at Vore Buffalo Jump (one of those Kodak type places) - it will take a fair amount of time to get back to Rushmore. By end of August daylight is decreasing fast so dusk comes fairly early, especially that close to the eastern side of the Mountain time zone. The lighting ceremony switches to 8pm (form 9pm) on August 15 due ot earlier dusk. Definitely don%26#39;t return from DT via Spearfish Canyon...use the more freeway like US-85 to 385. Traffic on 385 and around Rushmore near ceremony time might be frustrating if cut too close. Monday might be a better day for this.

Vore info: http://vorebuffalojump.org/

Crazy Horse is worth stopping at. The car load rate means less than $5pp and you can see just fine from the viewing deck. Lots of interesting things in the museums. It%26#39;s interesting to compare the scale of the endevour with Rushmore.

10 hours YIKES!!!!

I think maybe we%26#39;ll leave Saturday evening and be on the road for a couple hours then stay over night wherever we get to and continue on on Sunday.

Yup, Lorhs is about right on the mark about 10hrs. GoogleMaps says 9hrs-25mn and 647 miles. If splitting then Sioux Falls would offer the most drop-in lodging options but it%26#39;s always less stress to reserve ahead. SF is about 260 miles (3.5 hrs) from The Cities leaving 387 the next day. Nice thing about this would be allowing time for Badlands and/or Wall Drug. Another advantage would be favorable time change during a short drive day instead of making a long day%26#39;s drive seem longer.

We routinely do Deadwood to St. Paul in a day.... but definitely not with kids in the car! ;)

Now we will be leaving Saturday afternoon to break up the drive. I booked a suite at the Comfort Inn in Souix Falls. Grandma was pleased with this decision.

There is a nice little zoo in Sioux Falls, and a cool bicycle trail on the south side of town. I don%26#39;t know if you%26#39;re bringing bikes, but you might be able to rent them.

We have been traveling in the Black Hills for the past 12 years. I am concerned you are trying to do too much in too short of a time. Especially since you stated you wanted a slow pace. Keep in mind that you are driving in mountains and it takes much longer to drive. For instance, to get to Spearfish Canyon from Custer you are talking close to 2 hours and another hour %26amp; a half or so to Devils Tower. You want to be able to get out and enjoy these gorgeous areas and not just see everyting from the car window.

Below are my recommendations, which you may find to include too much.

Day 1 - Iron Mountain Road (Peter Norbeck Byway), Mt. Rushmore and Keystone/Hill City. (Make sure you stop at the Peter Norbeck Lookout on Iron Mountain Road. The view is breathtaking.)

Day 2 - Custer State Park (Needles Highway, Sylvan Lake, Wild Loop Rd., etc.). I recommend driving the Wild Loop Rd. either early in the A.M. or at dusk. You will probably see more wildlife. (Although you will more than likely see wildlife throughout Custer State Park. We do, more often than not and have found we do not need to drive the Wild Loop Rd.). Sylvan Lake and Legion Lake have nice beaches for swimming and you can also rent paddle boats at both lakes. The Chuckwagon dinner at the Flying T is fun but we enjoyed the Chuckwagon dinner at Blue Bell Lodge in Custer State Park even more. They take you out in a covered wagon to a beautiful valley. Meal was good as well as the entertainment. (You will need reservations if you decide to try Blue Bell%26#39;s.)

If you really want to go to the WaTiki Park in Rapid City, I would make Rapid City your destination on Day 3. Sleep in a little and head for Rapid around 11 a.m. Your kids are a perfect age for both Bear Country and Reptile Gardens. Head for the water park after. Rapid also has a big water slide park just down the road from both Bear Country and Reptile Gardens. You will see it as you head into Rapid. After the water park you can head back to Mt. Rushmore for the lighting of the memorial. You can also eat at Mt. Rushmore.

Day 4- I agree with the other advisors regarding your trip to Devils Tower. Do Spearfish Canyon and Devils Tower on the same day and do not plan to go to Rapid City for the water park. Spearfish has a brand new water park, however, it is an outdoor park. If you have time on the way back you might pass through Deadwood. Deadwood has alot of history and a great museum (Adams Museum) but not much else for children. They do act out the shooting of Wild Bill Hickock throughout the day and have the Trial of Jack McCall in the evening. (Family oriented).

If your family is interested in Indian artifacts, I, too, would recommend you stop at Crazy Horse (Day 1 or 2). They have a fantastic museum. Plus if you hold onto your receipt, you can attend the lazer show, that is put on in the evening, free.

Someone mentioned the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs which is another attraction I would highly recommend. That will take up 3 or 4 hours. So you might want to save that for another trip.

Hope my recommendations help you. I think you will love the Black Hills as much as we do. Have a great trip.

I agree that a cave tour is worth the time. We did Jewel cave and liked it.

You might also want to stop at Cosmos on your way to Custer. Your kids are the perfect age. It%26#39;s not an all-day thing - a couple of hours and you can be on your way. My kids loved it.

Good suggestion by someone to skip Hot Springs on this trip... It%26#39;s a long drive from the Hills.

Enjoy!

Thank you mountainmama %26amp; wiscmom for you suggestions. I did post an updated itinerary as another thread and it got pushed down the list.

I will look into the Blue Bell dinner. Wonder what they do about rain? We won’t to Mammoth site on this trip, besides I checked and their Jr ranger program is finished by the time of our trip.

What is Cosmos? I will have to see what that is.

I originally wanted to do Spearfish Canyon on our Devil’s Tower day but wasn’t sure if there would be enough time, but I think I have worked around that.

Going to Crazy Horse is still somewhat up in the air. Once we’re there we may just want to include it.

We’ll either do the gold panning on the Spearfish drive or in Hill City.

sirtravelplanner, you have sold me on the 1880 train and the Discovery portion of Jewel Cave. For the train I’m going to send the family one way and I’ll drive to Hill City. This for two reasons, I think the one trip will be enough for the kids and I don’t want to be tied to a departure and then spend an additional hour. When we are done in Hill City we can just leave. I know its some backtracking but the train times and lunch wouldn’t fit right. If only the schedule were reversed. Reptile Gardens is still a good possibility, as the kids enjoyed Alligator Adventure when we were in Myrtle Beach. I too am wondering how “Roadside” Bedrock City is, I’ll let you know if we decided on that one. Maybe we’ll just send grandma in to check it out.

Thanks Sequim88 for the info on the Mount Rushmore ceremony time. I would imagine that we would need to arrive between 7 and 7:30. I think I have solved the problem so we are not rushing for it.

So here’s the updated LOOSE itinerary:

Since it’s a 10 hour drive we will leave Saturday late afternoon and get down the road. Stay overnight in Sioux Falls and finish driving in on Sunday. Now if we get to our cabin early enough and settle in, then we could try and do the Mount Rushmore evening lighting. If we can’t, then we still have four more evenings to try for it.

Monday: The town of Custer depending on responses to the above question. Peter Nobeck byway, Mount Rushmore (daytime), then finish the byway. Maybe include some of Keystone or the evening lighting if we missed it the previous night.

Tuesday: Spearfish Canyon drive, Devil’s Tower, and Belle Fourche.

Wednesday: Get going early. Spend the morning in Keystone and take 1880 train 11:15am to Hill City. Shop and have lunch at Alpine Inn. Go to the WaTiki waterpark in Rapid City about 4pm for a couple hours.

Thursday: Discovery portion of Jewel Cave. Custer State Park. Chuckwagon dinner. I think there may be extra time this day to see something we missed or want to see again.

Friday: Check out of cabin and 3 hours in Badlands then on to Mitchell, SD and stay the night.

Saturday: Return home.

We will still have the breakfasts in the cabin and I’m thinking picnic lunch every day except Wednesday when we have lunch at the Alpine Inn.

Grandma now wants to see the Passion Play. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

Grandma also said she would absolutely not do any caves. I think I can talk her into the big room at Jewel but that’s going to be it.