What's in South Dakota?

Bighorn Ram, Badlands National Park

 When I went out west in 2010, our first real stop was South Dakota. DJ and I spent about 8 days there. We were impressed. In 2016, when Laurie and I were planning our next vacation, I suggested South Dakota. It didn't take much convincing.

While we were in the planning stage, Laurie told a coworker about our trip, her coworkers response was "What's in South Dakota?" It seems like anyone I talked to would ask a similar question, usually it was "Why do you want to go to South Dakota?

    Believe it or not, South Dakota is a perfect place for a summer vacation. It was mountains, hiking trails, great camping, fun tourist traps, caves, fishing, museums, history, and amazing wildlife. The list goes on and on. Oh ya, there's Mt Rushmore and the Badlands.  Not to mention, the best ice cream I have ever had.

Logistically South Dakota is tough to get to. It is ideal for the Great American Roadtrip because 1-90 goes right through it. But it is far from major cities. In 2016, we drove up from the Denver Airport. The drive was six hours. However, since our flight was early and SD is on Mountain time, we made it to the park with light to spare and even got a burger before turning in for the night.

I did multiple posts about my trip in 2016 so this post is an overview. I'll link them at the bottom if you want more detail.

  Since I had been to South Dakota before, I knew what the Badlands looked like. I had been stuck in a "Buffalo Jam" because a herd was blocking the road. I'd been to Mt Rushmore and I visited museums in Rapid City. My biggest goal was to get photos of wildlife and enjoy the animals (not really much of a surprise there, huh?). Laurie wanted to hit up some of the tourist spots along with seeing animals. So obviously, I had to compromise. But in that compromise, I got to spend a night camping out in the prairie at Wind Cave National Park.

Mt Rushmore

In a conversation I had at work after I got home I told a friend that I went to Mt Rushmore three times while on vacation, and she asked "Why?" I thought this was an odd question. I mean, how many times has she seen A Wonderful Life? Anyway, some people are disappointed by the monument. The reason is in every calendar you have ever seen the faces take up the entire picture. The reality is, the faces only take u a fraction of the mountain. None the less, I was awed. I  have walked the trail under the faces a dozen times at this point. I have taken hundreds of photos from every angle, but I could go back and sit for hours.  THE MOST IMPORTANT ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU IS TO GO INTO THE FOOD COURT AND GET THE PRAIRIE PRALINE ICE CREAM. It is the best ice cream I have ever eaten. For some reason, this was the only national park I have been to that has it. It is amazing.

Badlands

Truth be told most people only spend a couple hours in the Badlands. You can get off of I-90 do a loop around the park and get back on the highway about thirty miles later. I spent three days in 2010 and two full days in 2016. Needless to say I love the Badlands. The scenery in the park is phenomenal. The formations are other worldly.  There aren't many hiking trails, but the ones that are there are fun.

Near the place the loop heads north back towards the highway is a road to the left that heads towards Sage Creek Campground. It is my favorite road in the country. It's about ten miles long. It ends at a free campground. The road has more wildlife than any ten mile stretch I've been on except for the possible exception of Lamar Valley in Yellowstone. There are Prairie Dogs, Burrowing Owls, Mule Deer, Pronghorn, Bison, and Bighorn Sheep on that road. You are pretty much guaranteed to see all of those animals while driving down it.

Nanny Mountain Goat
Custer State Park

Custer State Park

  If you look up any list of the top ten state parks in the country, Custer is on it. Custer has everything, open prairie, pine woods, tons of hiking, great campgrounds, and tons of wildlife.  There are restaurants in the park (buffalo is on the menu). There is even a playhouse. The main draw for most people is the wild buffalo herd. The park maintains a large herd. It can and will clog the roads. There is other wildlife and a ton of it. We saw elk, mountain goats, coyote, deer and pronghorn along with tons of small animals and birds. Custer is close enough to Rushmore that you can make it your home base for that trip.

Summary-

I barely even started on whats in the state. So here is a quick sentence or two about some of the other stuff

Wind Cave National Park- cave tours are well worth it. Huge prairie, lots of wildlife. This is where we slept in the backcountry. We woke up surrounded by a huge buffalo herd.

At Wind Cave, we had to go off trail half a dozen times
to avoid big bull bison including this one.

  Museum of Geology-  there are awesome dinosaur bones and an amazing rock collection including huge pieces of gold and platinum

Reptile Gardens- a zoo dedicated to reptiles. Pretty much any dangerous snake you have heard of is in there.

Presidential Wax Museum- pretty much what you would expect

Alpine Slide- there is an alpine slide in Keystone, it is the town under Mount Rushmore. We didn't do the slide, but we wanted to.

Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary- hundreds of wild horses that had been captured and mistreated found a home at this 60,000 acre sanctuary

Mammoth Site -a few thousand years ago Woolly Mammoths would drink at a watering hole. It was steep and many fell in and drowned. The watering hole filled with sediment. The bones fossilized. Someone found the site, now they are excavating the bones. Well worth a couple hours of your vacation.

Deadwood- in the northern Black Hills is the historic town of Deadwood. Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane are buried in the historic cemetery.

Mt Harney- the highest point between the Rockies and Spain is Mt Harney. The view is awesome and the hike isn't that bad.

Cosmos Mystery Area- this place is the epitome of a tourist trap, but it was also really fun. Things don't seem to follow the laws of physics. Water runs uphill. You feel like your sideways. Measurements aren't accurate. I'm sure its all an illusion but it was really fun. We allowed us to act like kids.


In case you can't tell I highly recommend a trip to South Dakota if you get a chance. As many people are saying, when this is all over, many U.S. companies will be hurting. A vacation in the states will help a lot of people. Unless the only vacation you enjoy is drinking a pina colada on the beach, there is too much to do in South Dakota not to have fun.

I didn't write a ten paragraph section on the wildlife but I could have, Between Custer, Badlands NP, and Wind Cave you'll see tons of it. It was almost all of the fauna of Yellowstone with far less people. The only large animals Yellowstone has over SD are wolves and bears. Wolves are pretty unlikely to be seen even in Yellowstone, but if you need to see a grizz, then you'll have to keep driving west.

Below are some links to posts I've done on South Dakota. They go into a lot of detail and there's a ton of pictures. You can see the name of the post at the end of each link, for instance the second to last link is about Wind Cave (f you only read one, read that one). If you want to see more photos go to my Facebook page and go to my Albums. You can see more photos of the incredible state.

Yeah, Prairie Dogs are adorable

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/south-dakota-posts-are-coming-overview.html

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/tourist-traps.html

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/birds-that-i-saw-in-south-dakota.html

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/custer-state-park-sd.html

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/wind-cave-national-park.html

https://southernnewenglandoutdoors.blogspot.com/2016/07/badlands-national-park.html