aggiegirl

I'm going to South Dakota in June to visit Mt. Rushmore, the Badlands, etc. I will arrive on a Thursday at 11:00 am and fly home on Monday morning. I plan to stay in Hill City.

I seek comments on my draft itineray please. Does this seem reasonable?

Thursday: Flight arrives at 11 am. Be on the road by noon. Stop for lunch somewhere en route to Hill City. Drop off luggage and go to Mt. Rushmore. If time afterwards, do the alpline slide that is nearby.

Friday: Mt. Rushmore for early morning photos. Proceed to Custer State Park to do Wildlife Loop, Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Rd. Evening lighting ceremony at Mt. Rushmore.

Saturday: Devil's Tower, WY. Is this a place that pictures don't do justice? Is it worth it to make the drive or should I spend more time in the Black Hills?

Sunday: Badlands. Should I spend my final night in Rapid City or return to Hill City?

Monday: fly home

Thanks in advance!

tomfuller

If you were driving to Yellowstone I would say to stop at Devil's Tower on the way. It is a monolithic pillar of granite sticking up out of thousands of square miles of desert.
If you want to see an interesting town in the Black Hills, check out Lead.
Hill City seems to be about 45 minutes from Rapid City. I don't know about the airport. Unless the flight home is very early, you should be able to have an early breakfast in Hill City before heading to the airport.

owlwoman

We were just in this area last June, split our time between Deadwood, Wall and Keystone, loved this area.

I enjoyed hiking around Devil's Tower, imo, it's worth a drive up there and then you can stop in Deadwood on the way there or back. It's an interesting little town. Your Thursday/Friday itinerary is just fine. Depending on what time your flight is would decide whether or not to stay in RC the last night. We stayed in a really cool log cabin in Wall after visiting the Badlands. You get everywhere fast there, no traffic and you can drive 75-80 mph.

Enjoy your trip, we really enjoyed this part of the country.

WhereAreWe

If you're ok with moving around then I would go to the evening lighting ceremony on the first night, drive somewhere closer to Devils Tower on the 2nd night and and then find a hotel in either Wall or Rapid City for Saturday/Sunday night.

Since you're already in the area on Thursday, I say just go to the lighting ceremony that night instead of waiting until Friday. That way you can go to Custer on Friday and get a head start on the drive to Devils Tower instead of waiting until Saturday morning.

To me it makes more sense to get out of Hill City and stay closer to whereever you are going for the day, rather than driving back and forth. Wall is only about an hour from Rapid City, all interstate so shouldn't have any traffic issues to worry about for making your flight. And it would make it easier to get to/from Badlands if you stayed in Wall rather than Rapid City or Hill City on Saturday night.

aggiegirl

Thanks everyone. I have concluded that I will spend my final night in Rapid City or Wall, as owlwoman suggested.

I can't wait to explore this area!