Best Driving Route Yellowstone to Mt. Rushmore
 

Next August we will depart the Canyon Lodge at Yellowstone and head for Mt. Rushmore, with one overnight stay in Buffalo, WY (so, breaking the drive into two days). I'm figuring we will have lunch in Sheridan WY on day one. We will stay at a B & B in Keystone, SD, near Mt. Rushmore and hope to see Little Bighorn and Devils Tower on scenic Hwy 16 on day two. I really want to see the scenic Beartooth Hwy 212 and any other scenery without adding too much to our drive. Don't mind skipping Cody, WY to do this. But wonder if anyone could advise of best route. I don't know which part of the 212 is best. Should we go up through Billings, MT and then connect to Hwy 90? Or should we cut over sooner and not go as far north as Billings? I don't know the topography and don't want to get stuck on slow winding mountainous roads for too long. Note: we will have 2 nights in Keystone hoping to see Crazy Horse, Deadwood, and Custer State Park as well.

It would be more logical to drive to the Little Bighorn Battlefield on the way from Canyon Lodge to Buffalo, WY. So you would do this on Day 1. (A good visit at Little Bighorn Battlefield will take 2 - 3 hours, depending on how much walking you want to do there.) If you go to Buffalo, WY first and then try to visit the Little Bighorn Battlefield and Devils Tower on Day 2, you'll be doing a lot of backtracking as those two places are in opposite directions.