Black Hills
 

Need help with Black Hills itinerary. Two mature adults 60+ traveling mid September (1 full week) to the Black Hills arriving in Rapid City by air. Debating whether to stay in Hill City or Keystone for 3 nights while touring central area?? Will also drive to the Deadwood area and Devil's Tower. Where would you recommend staying in that area (or is it feasible to do this as a day trip)?
Also want to visit the Badlands and possibly Wounded Knee. Will probably stay around Wall while visiting Badlands. Any suggestions and input is greatly appreciated.

Both Hill City & Keystone are centrally located and easy access to Mt. Rushmore & Custer State Park.

Hill City might be preferable for a day trip to Deadwood & Devil's Tower. Devil's Tower is about 3 hours, I prefer the more scenic hwy 385 to Deadwood/Spearfish/Belle Fourche/Aladdin/Hulett route, not the one on Mapquest. Though from DT hwy 14 & I90 may make for a quicker return to the Hills.

Most of the downtown businesses in Keystone close in late fall, but I think many will still be open in mid September.

The Badlands can also be a day trip, or you can stay in Wall or Cedar Pass Lodge in the Badlands.

Have a great trip.

For Deadwood/Devil's tower, the best could be to sleep in Spearfish canyon : the lodge here is terrific.
The scenery is nice, it's quiet, there is a lot of small or more strenous hikes-depend on what you are able to do.
The cow boy museum in Spearfish is interesting and the drive to Deadwood not so long.
To Devil's tower, being in Spearfish make the day more comfortable...
The restaurant adjacent to the lodge worth the visit...
And you could also visit Bear Butte.
So the week can be :
-2 or 3 nights in Keystone or Hill City or Custer Park(the legion lake resort is not expensive) : Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse memorial, Custer park(wild life loop, needles highway, some hikes)
- 2 nights at the Spearfish canyon lodge(Devils tower, Deadwood and Lead, Spearfish, hikes, Bear butte..)
www.spfcanyon.com
- and 1 or 2 nights in Scenic at the circle view ranch , nice B&B to visit the Badlands.
www.circleviewranch.com
In Custer park the Pheasant room is a nice place for a diner, the restaurant at the Legion lake nice for breakfast or something more casual.
In Deadwood, the Kostner's restaurant is largely overpriced, but the museum he "built" to the glory of the buffalos is nice.
And finally, near Wounded Knee, in Rosebud, don't miss the Red Cloud Heritage center : nice indian artifacts museum.
In Wall, the wounded knee museum explains well the indian wars.
Erik

If you don't already have one at your first stop in a national park or monument get an America the Beautiful Senior Pass. Costs you $10, is good for lifetime for entrance fees for up to 4 in the car and sometimes additional fees.

Thank you for the excellent input. More questions????
How long a drive is it from Spearfish/Deadwood area to Rapid City?
Also, can you recommend another lodging (clean a must) besides Spearfish Canyon Lodge in the Spearfish/Deadwood area? Most reviews on the motels/hotels in this area are not very favorable.

It's 45-60 min from Rapid City to either Deadwood or Spearfish. Depending on whether you use the I90/14A route or Spearfish Canyon, Deadwood & Spearfish are 20-30 minutes apart.

I don't have any recent experiences with hotels in the area.

As said the drive is not very long.
For the hotel we stay in the lodge when in Spearfish with our daughters.
The year before, we were in Deadwood, at the Franklin, before its "renovation"...It was nice for who likes the historic way of life in the Black Hills.
The year atfer we stay only one night as there have been a renovation of the lobby(for a hall of slots machine...), destroying the old charming elevator and the 1903 dining room, always for slot machines...
In my opinion, a BW in Spearfish or the Holiday inn in Deadwood could be a nice choice, but far from the quality of the lodge.
There are also some B&B.
Erik

You have to be 62 to get the Senior Passport. You said 60+, so not for sure if you are 62. I haven't been to BH yet, but I plan on staying at Custer State Park and seeing the area next summer. Nobody mentioned Wind Cave or Jewel Cave. Hot Air Balloon Rides look interesting as well.

We have a reservation @ Holiday Inn/Hill City for the beginning of our trip (3 - 4 nights). Also looked at the Holiday Inn/Keystone. Has anyone stayed at either????

We plan on including Wind Cave and Jewel Cave, Mammoth Site, Custer Park, all of the scenic drives, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse (did I forget any) while in the Central area of BH. Possibly Ft. Robinston/Nebraska.

Thinking of driving from Hill City to Devil's Tower and possibly staying in Deadwood that night and touring the Deadwood area next day.

Still undecided as to where to stay for a night while Visiting Devil's Tower, Deadwood area. Most of the reviews I've read on hotels in this area are not very favorable. One option is the Hampton Inn/Deadwood.

Another option is after a day of touring Central area, drive to Spearfish Canyon Lodge (has anyone stayed here recently - reviews aren't that good - or another hotel) for the night and leave for Devil's Tower. Then stay in Deadwood one night.

From here we plan on driving to a hotel near Rapid City/Airport (around Exit 59 on I90) where we will spend 2 nights. One day we will go to the Badlands and will be flying back home the next.

I'm not sure how long it would take us to drive Hill City to Deveil's Tower. It says it's 75 miles, but I don't know how long it will take.

Any more suggestions regarding itinerary and lodging are welcomed.

P.S. We have a park pass.

Gretel - we did a similar trip two years ago and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Hill City. We really like the hotel and thought it was a good location to visit the Black Hills. The hotel is fairly new and breakfast is included.

We also drove to Deadwood and Devil's Tower. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Deadwood, which we really liked. My son was asked to be a part of the trial after the shoot out, which was really fun.

We were there a couple years ago, timed our trip to coincide with the annual buffalo roundup--think it was in Custer State Park. We thought it was quite interesting and might be worth looking into.

You could probably Google to find when the roundup is this year.

Geri

To Barbara S:
Did you drive directly from Hill City to Devil's Tower?

Thanks for the input on the Deadwood Holiday Inn too(this gives us another option). As long as it's clean - I'm OK with it.

We spent two nights in Deadwood and went to Devil's Tower on the second day. Here's a link to my trip report http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34840686

If you only have one day you could get an early start from Hill City, drive to Devil's Tower and then spend the night in Deadwood, if you don't mind leaving your suitcases in the car.

Thanks Barb. I enjoyed your trip report.