Heading to South Dakota for a week - Suggestions?

My fiance and I are heading to South Dakota for a week. We're going to be camping in a tent in the Keystone area.

I've got all my gear ready to go, but we're not really going to be "roughing it" on this trip.

Does anyone have any suggestions for places to visit outside of the big ones, like Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Crystal Cavern, Devils Tower, Deadwood, the Badlands etc?

Rod

I flat out love the Black Hills! Mt Rushmore is obligatory,of course, since you are right there, camping in Keystone. I would add Custer State Park, especially the Needles area and Harney Peak. You will enjoy a drive through Spearfish Canyon, with a short stroll to Roughlock Falls thrown in...

For caves, I recommend Jewel Cave (world's third longest currently) and Wind Cave (world's sixth longest). Wind Cave has a delightful small campground... Many of the smaller commercial caves are kind of touristy, but Crystal Cave is pretty decent.

I would avoid Crazy Horse (get a good view from the highway) and Deadwood - both are tourist traps, but even worse is Keystone If the NPS ever establishes a "Tourist Trap National Monument", it would be Keystone, SD.....

I highly recommend The Mammoth Site, in Hot Springs - an absolutely amazing world class paleontological site, all enclosed in a nicely weather tight building - it is a great option for bad weather. Full disclosure - TMS is the reason I know something of the Black Hills - I have worked there the last thirteen July's as the crew chief for the dig crew. One of my jobs was to load up the gang on Sunday and take them through the region. At TMS, you will see the bones we have exposed in situ, along with a very fine, small museum. I could go on and on about TMS....

Are you bringing mountain bikes? The Mickelson Trail, running over 100 miles along the backbone of the Hills, is beautiful, especially the stretch from Dumont to either Deadwood or Mystic - both are downhill.

Take your day pack and vehicle and just explore. There are many charming back roads. This last July I finally took the gang to the top of Terry Peak, just outside Deadwood,and realized I had been missing a beautiful view all these years. I have never walked French Creek in Custer SP or any portion of the Centennial Trail.

Devil's Tower is fabulous - the easiest route is a moderate 5.6 and guides are available. Badlands is great! I am retired NPS, by the way, so naturally I recommend them.

For something you will never hear of, take highway 71 south from Hot Springs to Cascade Springs and Cascade Falls - great on a hot day. To go farther afield, spend some time around Ft Robinson State Park, just south in Nebraska.

I could go on,but this is enough for now. Love that country!

love that place. I gotta' go back soon.

places you need to see: the Black Hills, the Badlands, and Custer State Park. don't ignore the Badlands, they are much prettier than the name suggests.

good luck. drop by the Prairie Edge store when you are in Rapid City. lots of beautiful authentic indian art and artefacts.

Pete2

We spent July 4th weekend in keystone, will never do so again. Didn't have a decent meal there. I recommend bear country usa, kitchy, but as close to wild life as we got. Reptile gardens was a blast, I highly recommend the reptile/crocagator show, very funny. Custer SD was nice as well as Custer state park. My stay in an old time hotel in Lead SD, about a mile from Deadwood. If we get back there we will stay in Rapid City as our base. Sturgis is worth a look as long as the rally is over.

We splurged on a helicopter tour, it was worth it for us. The wife recorded the entire flight.

We skipped going into Rushmore park, opting to take pictures from the road.

Have fun.

All those suggestions are good. The Black Hills is the best part of SD IMO. If you have time, check out Deerfield. Very nice. Sheridan Lake is quite pretty and close to Rapid City. Terry Peak and Harney Peak are neat if you want to make the hike. IIRC the latter is the highest point in the US east of the Rockies.

The Badlands are very pretty. Best go later in the season when it isn't so hot. The really neat thing about SD is that in about 2 hours you can drive from flat out desert (Badlands) through grass/steplands, across open prairie, through river break country and right up into the mountains. Many different micro-climates and types of terrain.

If you head as far as the middle of the state, the Dam is pretty cool to see.

As Hikermor said the caves are a lot of fun. Beyond that it's dependent on your view of the tourist traps. They can be neat in a hokey way.

I was born in SD and have lived here all my 44 years. For the last almost 20 years I've lived in Sioux Falls, in the far eastern part of the state. Most of the people are in the east but the prettiest scenery is in the west.

BTW, there are only a handful of decent restaurants in the western part of the state, and nearly all of them are in Rapid City. What restaurant culture we do have is mostly in the west (I'm a chef, btw).

Oh, boy, let's talk about food. I recommend my "South Dakota diet" - buffalo burgers, rhubarb pie, and root beer floats. For RP You can't beat the Purple Pie Place in Custer. For all three, a perfect trifecta, patronize the Homestead, outside Crawford, NE, on the gravel road to the Hudson-Meng Buffalo Kill (another worthwhile attraction). You can do pretty well at Mt. Rushmore, although the BB I have had there were dry and crisp, a bit too much like hockey pucks, a common failing with buffalo.

I don't know what cuisine Phaedrus dishes up, but surely since he is in South Dakota, he can advise us on the proper ways of preparing buffalo. I have found that buffalo stew is a safe bet most places, and absolutely yummy!

Please, evem Talking abut food makes me gain weight!

Went to SoDak once. I think it was closed. Not unlike France in August, I swear everyone was on vacation or something.

"Went to SoDak once. I think it was closed."

Hahahaha! I remember the first time I flew into the airport near Rapid City with my wife. we got off the plane, I stood on the tarmac and looked around - at nothing. it was barren and flat. it looked like a dump. I said to her "oh my goodness, what have you got us into this time?". but once we got rollin' we had a terrific time. it's not a place you go for food or restaurants. it's all about the Old West, the scenery and the outdoors.

cheers,
Pete2

We we there in July. One of the most memorable things we did in SD was go into the southern Badlands on the Pine Ridge reservation. We stopped at a little roadside cultural center and discussed politics with the Native Americans who worked there. I was surprised at the amount of social and political issues that we were in complete agreement on.

On the way out, we bought some 'Indian tacos' from a nice older Native American woman and her husband outside the center who sat with us at the picnic table and chatted with us while we ate. At our nod of acceptance, a huge slab of warm frybread was folded around seasoned meat, cheese, lettuce, sour cream, and onions. May have been the tastiest food of the trip!

We continued South to Wounded Knee. Not a pretty place by any means, but very somber and memorable. We talked to some of the residents while we were there, and got a sense of the sadness that still permeates the place.

We stayed that night in a little RV park in Wall called Sleepy Hollow. The place had hospital-clean showers and restrooms and amiable hosts. I will admit to walking the short distance to Wall Drug for a hand-dipped hot fudge sundae.

Was that roadside cultural center the White River Visitor Center? - pretty nifty spot!

Definitely Crazy Horse over Mt. Rushmore. One is too commercialized and the other has far better secondary exhibits. Crazy Horse is supposed to be completed in June, they just don't know which year. They removed 2x as much rock as Rushmore and they have a long way to go yet. It might take them another 20 or 30 years to finish.
PS. if you find a pair of sunglasses in a hiking area just 2 min. north of Rushmore, they are mine and I would appreciate it if you could mail them back too me, OK?
PSS. If you've seen "North by Northwest" you might be disappointed to know there is no house on the top of Rushmore. Just thought I would add that so you didn't think the movie was real.

Definitely do the caves in the area. I think there are something like 7 or 8 really good ones in the area with 2 of them being counted among the longest in the world - Jewel and Wind caves. Jewel is probably the prettiest.

Don't forget the Mammoth exhibit in Hot Springs. I missed out on Deadwood but Devils Tower was a nice drive away from the central area. Note: it is bad form to be climbing the tower, it offends the natives who consider this sacred ground. I've got badlands in Saskatchewan so the ones in SD aren't much different. There are all kinds of historical displays, museums and such. Lewis & Clark museums for example.

The Reptile Gardens are really cool. K. Costner has his Tatanka exhibit by Deadwood.

There are even kitch stuff like the Flintstones Campground that appeal to family groups.

Balloon rides by Rushmore, biking, kayak/canoeing/rafting, rock climbing, etc. You could probably try panning for gold and get a few dollars of dust. Probably more stuff to do than you can fit into one week.

Stop, 'yer getting me hungry again!

To be honest, buffalo is kind of for the tourists. Those of us that live here don't eat it all that much. We probably should, though. It's lean and healthy stuff. Obviously you can't go wrong with a buffalo burger, and that's how most people eat it. It's really superb in chili, too. I very much like to smoke the brisket, then pull it like you would with pork. Awesome pulled buff brisket sammies!

I'm sure that if you were dig deep into it, Squaw bread/Indian tacos is probably a modern thing. But they're really good and pretty popular, especially in the more rural areas. It's a little too rustic for the more 'urbane' folks.

SoDak is really 'meat and taters' country for the most part, outside of the few largest cities. Again, except for the city folks we don't eat much ocean fish. Walleye is extremely popular though since Pierre bills itself as 'The Walleye Capital of the World.' Catfish and perch are pretty popular as are panfish. We tend to eat a lot more wild game than in other places too. Deer and antelope are popular as they outnumber people. Ducks, geese, turkeys and pheasants are popular. Doves are eaten if you're a good enough shot to bag them; I'd wager a full box of 25 shells is expended on the average for every dove brought down!

There's a fair bit of corn grown here, hence the absurd Corn Palace in Mitchell. But we do like our corn. For the most part it's just eat on the cob with butter and salt. During the summer we grill it a lot.

As far as scenery, I should also mention that big horn sheep are getting common enough in the Hills that there are actually a lot of signs warning to watch for them on the road. Getting to be enough mountain lions that they're reliable sited quite a bit. No bears (that I know of) outside of bear country but I suppose it can't be ruled out that there are a few wild ones.

Man, this thread is making me homesick for West River! Gotta try to get up to the Black Hills before winter.

Hahaha, just noticed that. I was born in Rapid City but grew up in and when to school in Wall. Pretty boring town when you're a kid except in the summer. When I was young Wall Drug employed about 225 part time summer workers, most of them college students...and roughly 70% of them were female! It was always a blast. I can't even tell you if that little camp ground is still there. I never go back to my old home town, and when I do go to Rapid or the Hills I make the gas stop in Wall as brief as I can. No knock on the town, just couldn't wait to get out and don't feel any different than I did back then.

Wall Drug is the corniest place on Earth but I have to say you don't want to miss it. Lots of neat little hole-in-the-wall shops in Wall. Yeah, hokey but neat.

Climbing at Devil's Tower is thriving, although there is a "Voluntary Climbing Closure" during the month of June when the majority of ceremonies relevant to Native Americans occur. Otherwise, climbers are all over the pinnacle.

Touristy or not, buffalo meat is lean, healthy, with a delightful and distinctive flavor.One of my favorite South Dakota things are Tanka Bars, essentially a pemmican concoction of buffalo meat and dried cranberries. unlike a lot of energy bars, they are high protein. They keep extremely well. I have recently eaten some that were two and three years past their "best by" date and they were just fine. The drawback is that they are a tad pricey (between $2.50 and 4.00 a one oz bar) I figure that they are worth it and I have sprinkled them throughout my various kits. One other point is that I believe they are a local SD product -Native American Natural Foods in Kyle, SD. I am happy to do something as easy as buying their good product. No other association other than as a satisfied customer.

great..just what i needed..we plan to drive to the black hills from minneapolis next week.no camping as we have the dogs but the plan is to find a motel about a half hour from the hills to avoid being on a strip in a town and after a days worth of touring drive back for the night and head back to the hills for more exploring.

Tanka bars are spendy, and some of them have a little more sugar than I want to eat. But they are good! Brisket is my favorite cut of buffalo.

somebody here is getting paid by the Rapid City public relations department. If there is any more talk of buffalo steaks and rhubarb pies - I swear I am gonna buy some plane tickets to South Dakota this week !!!!!

Pete2

If you do buy those tickets, you should learn to speak South Dakotan so you can speak with the natives, especially the SDB's. How do you pronounce the name of the capital city, Pierre?

well Geezer-In-Chief.
Let me expose my copious ignorance on such important matters.
How DO they say "Pierre" in SD?

[I'm kinda frightened to hear the response to this :-) ].

Pete2

Hahaha. Well, either we're pronouncing it wrong or the rest of the world is.

Looking at the word, you might follow the traditional French - "Pee-air." That would be wrong. The True SD says "Pier," so use that pronunciation lest you be branded a dweeb tourist.

Yeah, like the object you'd fish off of. Pronouncing it the other way would get you branded as a city slicker or one of them Eastern libruls! Here in flyover country no one pronounces it the French way.

One thing we haven't discussed yet is the nice people you will find in SD. Here's an example. One day at The mammoth Site, I went for a ride with my boss in his recently refurbished 1969 Jeep. With the city of Hot Springs, and close to TMS, we had a problem with the clutch linkage and pulled over to the side of the road. Within five minutes, three separate strangers stopped and asked if we needed any help.

Try that in most places in SoCal, and you will create the mother of all sig alerts. Maybe one car can stop, but everyone else should just keep on going, and maybe use their cell phones. Perhaps its the fundamental difference between urban and rural situations. Arizona ranchers, in my experience, are pretty helpful, as well.

Now, if I like SD so much (and I do), why don't I pull up stakes and move there? SoCal has its attractions, and frankly, I am at an age where I am grateful to be living, never mind where..

BTW, I have never cared for the term "Fly over country." SD is more like "fly to" country. You will have a great time there.

Phaedrus, one last question....Since you live, work, and cook in South Dakota (especially in Sioux Falls!) does that make you a Sioux chef?

Inquiring minds want to know........

Good one hikermor! Your puns are cookin' today!

Alternatively, maybe Phaedrus is a Sous Chief.....

you fellows have talked the place up so much in response to RN's post that i made motel reservations for next Sunday already.
just a place to sleep with a Perkins close by so we will feel right at home,no buffalo or that sour pie for Minnesotan's!!
Google street view is really handy to see what your getting into!

Very punny!

Try your hand at panning for gold after checking out the Homestake Gold Mine.
-Blast

I doubt you'll find a lot of gold in the streams since they've been panned for 150 years! Tried it as a kid, though. It was fun but I didn't find any gold...

Phaedrus, too bad things didn't pan out...(Come to think of it,does that expression come from gold placer mining?)

The South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City has a very fine museum which will inform the visitor about the very interesting geology of the Black Hills..

Yes, actually it was. I had forgotten the name, thank you for reminding me.

You also mentioned Wounded Knee, which I haven't visited, but which I should. So should any thoughtful citizen - WK was not exactly a highlight in the interaction between cultures.

Go to South Dakota State University in Brooking, SD. Find Shepard Hall, the old chemistry building and go to the first lab on the 2nd to the right of the main staircase. Look up at the ceiling halfway down the center lab bench and let me know if the burn marks are still there.

Whatever you do, DON'T tell anyone there you're a friend of Blast.

There were so many great suggestions in this thread!

We're back, and we had a great time!

We stayed just out of Keystone, a couple miles from Custer Park. The location was really good, and the campground was really nice. If you want to camp it, but want to have some access to ammenities, Spokane Creek Camp and Cabins is a good choice. Their Cinnamon roles are awesome!

We took in the Mammoth Site, which was actually much cooler than even I thought it was going to be. The fiance loved it.

We drove through both loops of Custer State Park.. Needles and Wildlife. Sylvan lake was beautiful.

We decided to take Trail 9 up to Harney Peak and back. That turned into quite a hike, but I made sure we were pretty well prepared. I would have taken a little more water, as we were out by the time we got back to the truck, but we were fine.

I didn't go into Rushmore, but got some good pictures from several spots. We did go through Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse is much bigger than you would expect, and Rushmore seemed a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

We took the Gas-Lamp tour through Crystal Cave. It was cool, but after 752 steps navigating those tunnels, I was ready to get out. Fiance wasn't a huge fan of the bats, but she did better than a couple others on the tour.

We went though Bear Country, which was really good. They had a lot of animals I don't think we would have ever seen in Custer w/o getting way into the sticks.. (Black Bears, Artic Foxes, Elk etc..)

Keystone is a tourist trap. There's really no other way to describe it. The food was mediocre at best, and too expensive.

We drove up to Deadwood/Lead to see the falls up there, and did a little gambling in Deadwood. We almost got lost on some logging roads north of the falls, glad I had my GPS with me.

Lastly, we did make it down to the Cascade Falls area, and the Angostura Reservoir. The drive was pretty, and the Reservoir was nice, but not sure if it was worth driving all the way back into.

we also just got back and took the same advice as RN.
stayed away from keystone but took the drives thru the wild life loop and got right up to the buffalo.iron mountain and needles were awesome drives.went out to the badlands for a day,thats not to me missed.
the 600 mile drive each way, back and forth to Minneapolis is a hassle because its a long drive but there is no way to stop for the night because home would only be a couple hours more so you may as well push on and get it over with.

A few years ago I loaded up my bike (after the dig was over) and toured from Rapid City toward Bemidji,MN., where my brother lives. My route took me on secondary highways diagonally across the state through Pierre and ended in Sisseton, SD, because the weekend was approaching and there were bass that needed catching; my brother came down and picked me up. It was a delightful trip, staying off the interstate, sleeping in various state parks, and seeing the real South Dakota, which is in short supply along the main roads. I was glad to spend some quality time with my bro, but I was looking forward to biking though MN, as well.

Fly over country it ain't.

Crystal Cave & Angostura Reservoir are among my favorite spots in the state! Glad you enjoyed your time in SD. I have some vacation and a weekend to use up this year, sure would like to get out to the Hills before the snow flies.