South Dakota
We flew into Rapid City on a Wed night.
Thursday – Mount Rushmore National Memorial ($10 to park). Make sure you walk The Presidential Trail. I recommend doing it clockwise. Check out the tunnel views back at the memorial. We drove to Custer State Park ($10 for a day pass). We saw lots of animals on the drive. We did a little detour to Wind Cave National Park and did Rankin Ridge hike. The caves were closed to tours at the time. The Needle’s Eye Tunnel & Needles Highway are beautiful. We hiked around Sylvan Lake. We went back to the Memorial to see it lite up at night. In the summer they do a program, but we were there in October.
Friday – Spearfish Falls. Roughlock Falls. Devil’s Bathtub. Bridal Veil Falls. Belle Fourche & the geographic center of the US. In Rapid City they have statues of presidents through Obama. It was fun to walk around & see them.
Saturday – Badlands – Window & Door Trail, Saddleback Pass, and Overlooks. It was cold & snowy when we were there so we didn’t do the longer hikes. Wall Drug is a fun stop on the way back to Rapid City
