paiger

Looking at driving from Illinois to Yellowstone National Park, Mount Rushmore, and Black hills and back to Illinois Would like to include Crazy Horse, Little big horn And I believe Deadwood? We have about a week and half allowed. Looking for help with itinerary please, along with any hotels, activitys
lodges,restaurants recommended along the way and any fun tourist area .

emalloy

We drove from Chicago to Yellowstone several years ago, mostly across I-90. The Badlands NP in South Dakota is right off the hwy.

Try to get any of the lodging in Yellowstone that you can and try for at least 3 or 4 days there.

bachslunch

Agreed that 3-4 days is good for Yellowstone. I’d also include two days in Grand Teton. A day for Jackson, WY would be reasonable also.

fmpden

If you are thinking about next summer for Yellowstone, you are already well behind the curve for lodging in the park. Get on the phone today. With only ten days and probably four related to driving you really don't much time for anything other than a quick drive by. You need to substantially reduce you list,

paiger

I recently booked up Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in the park. Had to take whatever I could, due to availability. So we will drive straight to the hotel from Peoria, probably doing it in 2 long days to get there n save time. Staying 3 nights at Yellowstone. On the way back looking for suggestions on things to see. I see Mount Rushmore is 8 hours away from our stay. Is Deadwood on the way, Jackson hole, black hills or cray horse. We have a few days to see things on the way back to Peoria Il. Thank you

bachslunch

Jackson Hole is the valley that contains Jackson WY. The latter is about 60 miles south of the park entrance (not that far away in this part of the country) and worth a day’s visit between the various small museums and the numerous shops and restaurants. You go right by Grand Teton on the way, and as I mentioned above, this park is well worth two days in its own right.

paiger

Great ty. Is crazy horse n Deadwood around there also?

bachslunch

Crazy Horse Monument, Mt. Rushmore, Deadwood, Wind Cave National Park, and Custer State Park are all in South Dakota, within about 60 miles of each other.

Never been, though my guess is that 2-3 days would be about right for all.

capecod73

Can you give yourself a few days in South Dakota? Stay in Custer. Deadwood is about an hours drive from there, it's neat but not "amazing"...If you stay in Custer you'll have a good base for Crazy Horse, Mount Rushmore, Black Hills and Badlands. Also about 45 minutes away from Custer is Mammoth Dig Site (one of the coolest things I've seen!) and in the Badlands area there's the minuteman missile site. Overall I was very surprised by how much our family enjoyed South Dakota so if you can allocate 2-3 days to this area do it. I'd actually go to Yellowstone, spend four days there if you can, then hit the South Dakota area for a few days and head home. Tetons are 90 minutes or so from the southern exit at Yellowstone and while they are gorgeous I think you're going to spend too much time in the car for what you'll get if you try to incorporate that into your trip.

I have a trip report from when we went from Idaho-Wyoming-Montana-South Dakota that might be helpful.

Hope you have a great trip!

paiger

Appreciate everyone’s help. Looks like we will drive up to Yellowstone Stone in 2 days from Peoria il. Yes that’s about 2. 10 hour days but workable so we have many days to relax when there? Booked up Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel in the park for 3 nights. Only opening available at the time I called. Upon checkout in am should easily make it to Custer, Sc. Thinking about booking up hotel for 3 nights in area since so much to see around there. Shows only 8 hour drive from Yellowstone. Only set back is due to not much available rooms in park had to go with August 31 till September 3 rd at park which puts us there over Labor Day. Probably really busy? No rooms were available in September at all. I know will be long ride there 2 days but will allow 3 nights in Yellowstone and 3 nights in Custard Sc to relax between the driving. Any suggestions about schedule would appreciate. Ty all again.

elberko

I was in Yellowstone over Labor Day in 2017. It was not overly busy, and 2 different rangers said that was normal for Yellowstone as it's very close to the end of their season.

bachslunch

Not that I’ve ever tried this myself, but apparently cancellations can and do happen at Park lodging. I’ve seen the advice here before to keep checking back and grab something when it opens up. Reportedly it often does.

elberko

It worked for me. I didn't start looking for in -park lodging till April for my September 2017 trip. Canceling is cost free, so I grabbed rooms that worked for my schedule, and tweaked things until I had what worked for me. I can't tell you how often I checked online! Rooms open up every day somewhere--it's a matter of piecing it together.