Travel suggestions?

Our family of four (two adults, two teenagers) will be spending three nights in Keystone in June. We%26#39;d like to see Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Custer State Park, and the Badlands. Any suggestions for how much time we should allot for each place? I%26#39;ve read about three drives in Custer State Park (Needles, Iron Mountain, Wildlife Loop) that sound great, but I don%26#39;t know how long they are, and I%26#39;m not sure the kids want to spend all day in the car. Any suggestions you have for a possible itinerary would be greatly appreciated!

Travel suggestions?

You could easily spend a morning at Mt. Rushmore and then return there at night for the lighting ceremony. The Badlands will take 1/2 to 3/4 of a day by the time you travel from Keystone, and that%26#39;s not counting any hiking you might do. Crazy Horse will also take around 3 hours or so to see the monument up close (be sure to take the bus ride as close as you can), watch the movie at the visitor%26#39;s center, and see the native American exhibits.

You could always split up the drives in Custer. Here are the lengths of drives in miles:

Needles Hwy: 14 miles

Iron Mountain Rd: 17 miles

Wildlife Loop: 18 miles

To me, the drives can take as long as you want them to. Iron Mountain Rd. would lead you to Mt Rushmore and has some great tunnels that frame the monument. I don%26#39;t think we spent any longer than an hour here. We stopped a few times to take pictures, especially in the tunnels. The Needles Hwy. has more viewing points and to me, takes longer. I%26#39;d allot at least an hour here, more if you intend to take any hikes. There are some great views here. The most entertaining of all was the wildlife loop, seeing all the wild burros, pronghorn, big horn sheep, etc. You could spend a couple of hours here, depending on the how much you like to stop, watch, and take pictures. The Wildlife Loop joins Wind Cave National Park, so you could possibly add a tour here to your intinerary.

Also include a stop at Sylvan Lake in Custer State Park. This is a lovely picnic spot, and make sure to walk the circumference of the lake. Beautiful rock formations line the lake, making for some great photo ops.

You should have plenty of timem to do everything you plan to do. Have a great time!

Travel suggestions?

Thanks for the information. So maybe it would be best on the first day to drive over to the Badlands in the morning and go to Mt. Rushmore in the late afternoon/evening to see the lighting ceremony. Then the second day, we could go to Crazy Horse in the morning and drive around Custer State Park in the afternoon. Would that be too much? Or are crowds worse in the afternoons? We%26#39;ll be there on a Wednesday and Thursday.

We saw Crazy Horse of a morning. We arrived around 9:30 and left at noon. We arrived at the Badlands between 10 and 11 and returned to the Rapid City area around 4 p.m., but we also included a visit to Wall Drug after the Badlands. I think you could definitely see Rushmore of a late afternoon and then possibly stay for the evening ceremony. You will want to allow time to walk the Presidential Trail and spend time in the Visitor%26#39;s Center. As long as you have around 1-1.5 hours of daylight left, you will have plenty of time to walk the trail.

We love to stop and have picnic lunches to save time and money.

We never found crowds in the area that bad at all. We visited in late August, but I think July is one of the busiest months. June shouldn%26#39;t be bad.

All this being said, I think your plans will work well. The drives in Custer really aren%26#39;t that bad, imo. We split them up over several days, but our trip lasted 11 days, so we had a lot of time. I think your teens will really enjoy the wildlife loop. There are plenty of opportunities for breaks. The same applies to the Needles Hwy.

Feel free to ask more questions. We%26#39;re happy to try and help.

Thanks for the advice. It sounds like we%26#39;ll be able to fit everything in that we want to see. Any suggestions for reasonable restaurants in the Keystone area? We%26#39;re staying at the K Bar S Lodge.

Hi Arlo,

From what I have seen on this site, you have made an excellent choice with the K Bar S Lodge. I didn%26#39;t like a lot of the dining choices in Keystone, honestly. Many looked kind of ';iffy.'; We really did enjoy Big Time Pizza at the Roosevelt Inn. They have great gourmet pizza--very unique flavors, including Cheeseburger! Excellent!

The Alpine Inn in Hill City is fantastic, but if you go for dinner, get there early! They open at 5 and only serve filet mignon at dinner. If you don%26#39;t enjoy beef, try it for lunch when they serve traditional German fare. The desserts are delicious!

Enjoy!

I%26#39;ve read others%26#39; notes about Alpine Inn and Roosevelt Inn, so we%26#39;ll have to give them a try. Thanks!