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Vacation to Mt. Rushmore, What to do?

T

TheSiege

Diamond Member
I am driving from Utah to Mt Rushmore. I am wondering what there is to do on the way and while there. I will probably have 8-10 days for the vacation so there is a lot of flexibility I'll be going in the summer. Any ideas? Suggestions?
 
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I would spend 8 of those days looking at giant heads carved into a mountain.

Cool fact- it will take around 7.2 million years for Mt. Rushmore's faces to erode away. Take that Egyptians.
 
Stop in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Badlands are beautiful but, dangerous for inexperienced hikers /campers. Next time I go, I'm renting a mule from an outfitter.
 
What time of the year? Winter is kind of a bad time to visit the black hills. A lot of things are shut down or not accessible.

Some of my favorites are driving Needles Highway and looking for moutain goats and big horn sheep. Driving through Custer state park scouting for buffalo and elk. Hiking up Harney Peak (highest point east of the rockies). Bear Butte outside of Spearfish is a very surreal experience and worth the hike. I also really like driving through Spearfish canyon in the fall.

I think Devils Tower is about 2.5 hours west into Wyoming if you head that way. Badlands are about an hour and a half east on I-90 outside of Wall.

Deadwood/Lead have all of the gambling, casinos and skiing. Southern hills are more touristy.
 
Cool. Good time to visit. Reptile Gardens is fun. That's just outside of Rapid City. There's also a cool little park called Storybook Island that's a free access place for them to run around outside of Camp Rapid in Rapid City.

There's an endless number of tourist traps in the area. I'd hit up VRBO and look for a house in Custer or Hill City for the week and rent that. I love Hill City. Cute little town. My wife is from Custer so I'm very familiar with things around there. Hill City is about 25 minutes outside of Rapid City and almost central to about every thing you would want to get to with kids. It's also home to a train station (1880 train) that does a short tour through the hills.
 
vi edit said:
Cool. Good time to visit. Reptile Gardens is fun. That's just outside of Rapid City. There's also a cool little park called Storybook Island that's a free access place for them to run around outside of Camp Rapid in Rapid City.

There's an endless number of tourist traps in the area. I'd hit up VRBO and look for a house in Custer or Hill City for the week and rent that. I love Hill City. Cute little town. My wife is from Custer so I'm very familiar with things around there. Hill City is about 25 minutes outside of Rapid City and almost central to about every thing you would want to get to with kids. It's also home to a train station (1880 train) that does a short tour through the hills.
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Thanks man, now I have the daunting task of making an itinerary for all this 🙂
 
Area is so much better in the spring/summer/fall riding motorcycles through the mountains. Rushmore is cool and all, but hardly a long vacation by itself. Depending on when you go, you could make trips to the mammoth sites, or even over to Devil's Tower as well.
 
gorcorps said:
Go to Yellowstone instead

Mt Rushmore was boring
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x eleventy billion.

We stopped by Rushmore as we were moving from Chicago to SF area several years ago. I think we were at Rushmore for about 1 hour....it should have been zero hours.

It's on the same level of a roadside Florida gator hut, when considering tourist traps.

Crazy Horse, which is still unfinished and near by, is much better, imo. The badlands were really cool, too, and worth the trip, but I think about 2 hours? east of Rushmore, so maybe not in your plans, OP.

There are some old mining towns in that area, though, so you may find it restful and slow, with a tiny ounce of culture if that is what you are looking for.
 
I don't see Rushmore as boring...but it's definitely not a lengthy stop...nor worthy of a vacation by itself. Definitely something to see if you're in the area.

When we were there in 05, my wife wanted to visit the Landstrom Black Hills Gold factory. Probably boring as hell for the kids...and not particularly exciting...but a good shopping opportunity for the wife.😛
We hit the Crazy Horse monument. IF they ever get it done, it'll be pretty cool. But, they haven't made a lot of progress on it over the years.
Myself, I think they're over-reaching with the scale of the thing.

Drive out to one of the reservations...visit my kin. Tell them Boomer sent you. 😛

If you survive it, come regale us with tales of the experience...what you remember, anyway. 😀
 
zinfamous said:
x eleventy billion.

We stopped by Rushmore as we were moving from Chicago to SF area several years ago. I think we were at Rushmore for about 1 hour....it should have been zero hours.

It's on the same level of a roadside Florida gator hut, when considering tourist traps.

Crazy Horse, which is still unfinished and near by, is much better, imo. The badlands were really cool, too, and worth the trip, but I think about 2 hours? east of Rushmore, so maybe not in your plans, OP.

There are some old mining towns in that area, though, so you may find it restful and slow, with a tiny ounce of culture if that is what you are looking for.
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Mt Rushmore, isnt the only place we will go. I want my kids to see it, but I have heard a lot of good things about the area and things to do while there. Plus vi thinks highly of it.
 
TheSiege said:
Mt Rushmore, isnt the only place we will go. I want my kids to see it, but I have heard a lot of good things about the area and things to do while there. Plus vi thinks highly of it.
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yeah, I agree-I actually quit typing because I didn't want to speculate on all the things to do in an area where I have only spent about 3 total hours on a drive through. I just heard "destination: Rushmore" and was like "No! Don't do it you will hate the wasted journey!" 😀

I do think the area is pretty cool for a vacation spot, to see all sorts of things and you always hear great things about the black hills. I can see myself spending a few days in the area--but I dare say kids would be bored by places like Deadwood, which I would find interesting for at least a day.

Certainly consider spending a half day or so getting to and back from the badlands.
 
One doesn't go to Mt. Rushmore to see the heads. One goes to Mt. Rushmore to find America. Take time to people watch at the visitors center.

Badlands are fun. The hiking trails aren't much but the park does allow off trail hiking in some areas. It is a great way to see cool fossils. Here is a page showing a few fossils we found wandering around the park.

Devil's Tower is a must. Consider taking the road out of Sundance over the Bear Lodge Mtns to Devil's Tower. There is a KOA right next to the park that has tiny cabins.
 
IronWing said:
One doesn't go to Mt. Rushmore to see the heads. One goes to Mt. Rushmore to find America. Take time to people watch at the visitors center.

Badlands are fun. The hiking trails aren't much but the park does allow off trail hiking in some areas. It is a great way to see cool fossils.

Devil's Tower is a must. Consider taking the road out of Sundance over the Bear Lodge Mtns to Devil's Tower. There is a KOA right next to the park that has tiny cabins.
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Devil's Tower was pretty cool...you just never know what you'll see crawling on the rocks...

aah.jpg


(a little closer)
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(and still closer)
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As someone that lives in the state, don't make it your highlight. Plan to do everything else and then stop by there on a day.

That's the nice side of the state, I don't live on that side 🙁
 
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