Black Hills

[nyles@gentzfinancial.com]

We're heading out to the Black Hills in SD.
Looking for ideas of things to do, besides the normal tourist stuff.
Driving out Thor Omni sv34. Have 9500 miles on, with only very minor issues.
Thanks

[JamieGeek]

Isn't that all there is to do in the black hills? Tourist stuff? LOL

The Mt. Rushmore KOA is quite impressive (even has a hotel/lodge there for non-camping guests).

Keystone is everything touristy (as is Wall Drug, and Mitchell).

There is a Minuteman Silo you can tour there (right next to the Badlands which is a good stop).

Wind Cave is pretty cool.

Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse are cool to see.

Deadwood...more touristy stuff.

If you're willing to go a bit more West Devil's Tower is pretty cool (the KOA outside of it shows Close Encounters nightly).

There is a train you can take that gets robbed by cowboys LOL.

[Bob Denman]

If you don't want to do the "Touristy thing": you might as well go fishing in your home State...
Have a GREAT trip!

[Beau388]

Originally Posted by nyles@gentzfinancial.com

We're heading out to the Black Hills in SD.
Looking for ideas of things to do, besides the normal tourist stuff.
Driving out Thor Omni sv34. Have 9500 miles on, with only very minor issues.
Thanks

Custer state park has a nice driving tour. Along with great scenery there are the "begging burros" and great views of the 1,500 bison that reside there. The Blue Bell campground is one of our favorites

[MJC62]

Do you have a toad? If so, drive the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway (Iron Mountain Road) with the pigtail bridges and tunnels that frame Mt Rushmore. Drive Needles Highway, Drive Spearfish Canyon. Drive the Badlands National Park Loop. Visit Custer State Park, drive the wildlife loop and bring some cut up apples or unsalted peanuts for the begging Burros. Hike up to Harney Peak highest point between the Mississippi and the Rockies. Custer State Park Visitor Center is worth a stop. See Wind Cave National Park. A drive through the National park is cool with bison, deer and prairie dog towns
Do the touristy stuff at Deadwood, Keystone and Wall. No trip to South Dakota is complete without a trip to Wall Drug! Enjoy the trip!

We have reservations in August just outside Custer this will be our third time out to the Black Hills.

[The_Breeze]

If you have a toad, 16A. Hill City has an 1880's train ride you might enjoy. They have RV parking if no toad. Great way to see the country side. Grab lunch in Keystone and catch the next train back. Sheridan Lake is a nice - no frills state park to use as a base.

Stop in the pull outs along 16A. You'll get some really nice scenery.

[atreis]

For something a little different that we enjoyed a lot, there's the Wild Horse Sanctuary:
https://www.wildmustangs.com/

There's also excellent hiking throughout the Black Hills.

[Terry and Jo]

The reason for the comments about having a toad is because both the Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road have limited size tunnels.





As for the Minuteman Museum sites, there are three of them. One is the silo with "missile" inside that is called Delta 9. Both Delta 9 and the museum are right off of I-90 east of Rapid City. The third side is Delta 1, which is the launch control center that can be toured. However, Delta 1 requires one pay a fee and set an appointment for the tour. Check out the "Maps" tab at the link below to see just where each of the sites are located.


Minuteman Museum Website


Mention was also made of Iron Mountain Road tunnels "framing" the figures on Mount Rushmore.








If you should do a trip up to Devil's Tower in NE Wyoming, you might check out taking the short drive through Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway.





If you can do Devil's Tower, I recommend doing it on a weekday instead of a weekend day. Weekends get super busy at DT. Also, if you have time take the Tower Trail around the tower. At one point, one can see what appear to be "viewing tubes" just off the trail. Those are now useless because one's view is blocked by a tree and the other has no glass inside to magnify what one sees. They were originally put there so one could see the "ladder" used back in the late 1800's when two locals built the ladders to climb the tower. I was able to get pictures of the ladder with my 300mm lens on my DSLR.


The ladder is just visible at the lower right corner of the image below.




When we were up in the area of Rapid City, a number of attractions were closed because of Covid. Perhaps they will reopen soon, but I'd suggest checking ahead of time as to whether they are even open or not.

[Bob Denman]

VERY nice pictures!
Thanks for posting them.

[atreis]

Originally Posted by Terry and Jo

As for the Minuteman Museum sites, there are three of them. One is the silo with "missile" inside that is called Delta 9. Both Delta 9 and the museum are right off of I-90 east of Rapid City. The third side is Delta 1, which is the launch control center that can be toured. However, Delta 1 requires one pay a fee and set an appointment for the tour. Check out the "Maps" tab at the link below to see just where each of the sites are located.

I highly recommend the launch control center tour. We were able to arrange a time and do the tour on the same day. It was a very interesting tour.

Delta 9 was a bit anticlimactic after the control center tour.

[Mr Sunshine]

How long are you gonna stay? All those things mentioned are of interest to some or most. After doing all those things, we did the Borglum museum and the Mammoth site. The Journey museum in Rapid City is very well done, a more current telling of the native people of the area. And then there's the Reptile Gardens. I enjoyed the gator show and Mrs S enjoyed the gardens. Neither of us are fond of snakes.

[USTraveler]

Just an FYI: Harney Peak has been renamed and is now Black Elk Peak.

[CLG]

It’s SD just keep driving until your not in SD anymore.

[JCRSailor]

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, SD is an active paleontological dig site, which boasts the largest concentration of mammoth remains in the world! Our current mammoth count is 61, with 58 Columbian and 3 woolly mammoths.

[bustin]

The silo tour at Ellsworth is still closed and the NPS silo site is limited. We advise to check ahead for any touring plans, as the pandemic has some limits still in place even though SD was/is mostly open.

[dmjenks52]

We based in Custer for a week. Central location, nice campgrounds, easy to get around the area and adjacent sites. Lots to do and see.

[Jimbo56]

Originally Posted by Bob Denman

If you don't want to do the "Touristy thing": you might as well go fishing in your home State...
Have a GREAT trip!

Rush was the tightest progressive rock band ever. Neil Peart was every bit the perfectionist. Probably the most skilled, separately coordinated hand/foot percussionist in the business. Getty Lee was one hell of a musician as well. You got good music taste Bob.

[Scubawise]

We just got here


**Deadwood

**Terry pike chair lift
Closed

** cosmos
We are open from April through October*Open 7 days a week 9:00AM-5:00PM tour every 10 mins
Rv parking

**mount Rushmore
$5 age 62
Opens 5am

**Rush Mountain Adventure Park
10am to 6pm
Voted as the #1 attraction in Keystone after Mt.Rushmore National Memorial and Presidential Trail
Get wristband cheaper
Cave tour 1 hour
Plus zip lining, plus the mountain coaster, plus they have the coolest 7d theater/ life size game

**Rushmore Tramway Adventures
9:30 to 6
Adventure park with chairlift, zip-line & treetop obstacle course, plus hiking & Mt. Rushmore views.

**Bear Country USA
Need 1.5 hours8
8am to 7
$16 age 62
From the comfort of your own vehicle observe black bears, elk, mountain lions, buffalo, reindeer and other wildlife in their natural environment.
Private vehicles would be cars, trucks, vans and RVs

**Dinosaur Park
Great for kids only

**Storybook Island
9am to 7
Great for kids only
The Mission of Storybook Island is*
“To provide a free, safe, educational environment for those young in years or young at heart to experience the power of imagination”.

**1880 Train - Hill City Depot
Must book
$32 per adult
Hill City has parking
Must book in advance

** rush mall VR FUNZONE VIRTUAL REALITY
Young adults

**presidential wax museum
8:30 to 8
National Presidential Wax Museum features over 100 realistic wax figures, including all 46 United States Presidents - all portrayed in elaborate scenes from iconic moments in United States history

**Wall Drug Store
A drug store, gift shop & eateries are some of the amenities on hand at this 76,000-sq.-ft. sight.

**WaTiki Indoor Waterpark Resort
30,000-sq.-ft. indoor water park with slides & pools plus an arcade, a restaurant & hotel rooms.

[Scubawise]

Originally Posted by The_Breeze

If you have a toad, 16A. Hill City has an 1880's train ride you might enjoy. They have RV parking if no toad. Great way to see the country side. Grab lunch in Keystone and catch the next train back. Sheridan Lake is a nice - no frills state park to use as a base.

Stop in the pull outs along 16A. You'll get some really nice scenery.

Doing all this tomorrow thx

[thisoldman]

Originally Posted by JamieGeek

Isn't that all there is to do in the black hills? Tourist stuff? LOL

The Mt. Rushmore KOA is quite impressive (even has a hotel/lodge there for non-camping guests).

Keystone is everything touristy (as is Wall Drug, and Mitchell).

There is a Minuteman Silo you can tour there (right next to the Badlands which is a good stop).

Wind Cave is pretty cool.

Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse are cool to see.

Deadwood...more touristy stuff.

If you're willing to go a bit more West Devil's Tower is pretty cool (the KOA outside of it shows Close Encounters nightly).

There is a train you can take that gets robbed by cowboys LOL.

My wife and our two then-teenage kids were in SD 27 years ago with a Class C that we borrowed from my sister-in-law. We were on our way to Yellowstone and had a couple of days to kill before the first night of our week-long reservation. We did everything listed with the exception of Keystone, Mitchell, the Minuteman silo, and the train. In addition to the other attractions, when we first got to SD we briefly visited an amusing little spot called Prairie Dog Village--primarily for the benefit of the kids who were ready to rip out one another's throats if they didn't get out of the motorhome and away from each other for a while. We also spent a memorable afternoon in Custer State Park where we saw an idiot tourist almost get trampled by a momma bison when he attempted to approach her baby. Except for Deadwood we thoroughly enjoyed everything we saw and did. The night we stayed in the Devil's Tower KOA, we were surprised and delighted when we stepped out of our camper just after dusk to discover a large herd of antelope slowly passing through the campground within feet of our RV. We all have fond memories of the time we spent in SD.