by Sharon Harrison
There is so much to do in the Mount Rushmore area. Being from Kansas, it's a little hard to put together an organized trip to South Dakota. After doing a lot of research on the state, I know some things that should definitely be added to the list, and some that aren't so exciting to me, but they are very popular for other people in my group. Here is the itinerary I put together for a future trip! If you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments below or email me.
Day 1: Drive to Deadwood, South Dakota, check in and relax after a long drive (or flight). We rented a house that is between Deadwood and Sturgis. After I booked it, I read comments that it is advisable to pick more than one location so there isn't so much driving, but we loved the house and the location, so we are just going with it. We will start by planning meals for the week and going to the grocery store. Since we are doing so much hiking, we are going to do a lot of sandwiches during the days and plan meals for the evenings.
Day 2: KEYSTONE
Our first full day there, we plan to go to Mount Rushmore and to Crazy Horse to see the mountain sculptures, go to their visitors' centers and museums. (We will allow 2.5-3 hours at each one.) We may have time to hike the Blackberry Trail at Mount Rushmore and/or go to Bear Country in Rapid City, which is a drive-through zoo with lots of little bears and other animals.
Day 3: DEADWOOD
We will start our day by going for a tour at the Broken Boot Gold Mine. Then, we will take the Lawman's Patrol Walking Tour (a wild west lawman will give us a tour of Deadwood), we'll watch a shootout on Main Street, and ride a stagecoach. We'll mosey on over to Saloon # 10 to see where Wild Bill Hickock drew the "deadman's hand". We'd like to have lunch upstairs in the saloon and take in the sights of Main Street. Optional tours: Adams Museum, Adams House and the Days of 76 Museum.
Day 4: CUSTER STATE PARK
Buffalo Jeep Safari Tour, we made our reservation for 10:00 a.m., hoping the buffalo and other animals will be more active in the morning.
SYLVAN LAKE: We will rent paddle boats, eat a picnic lunch, and hike.
Day 5: KEYSTONE
We will go to Keystone for a two hour round trip train ride from Keystone to Hill City aboard the 1880 Train. We will let our group choose between Rush Mountain Adventure Park or Rushmore Tramway Adventure for some adventure rides and activities.
Day 6: DEADWOOD
We made a 10:00 a.m. reservation to go to Andy's Trail Rides, for a one hour private ride. (They also offer a two hour ride.) Options: Devil’s Tower and/or Spearfish Canyon—19 miles of waterfalls, cliffs, clear mountain streams, cool hiking trails, and Spearfish Fish Hatchery. Go to Latchstring Restaurant for great views, and to explore 2 falls: Spearfish Falls and Roughlock Falls.
Day 7: Options are…whatever we end up doing! Ideas, if we haven’t already done them, are going back to Rapid City to Bear Country, Reptile Gardens, Cosmos Mystery House, or WaTiki Indoor Water Park.
Day 8: Check out of our house. Drive to Wall and Badlands National Park. Go to Bandlands' Loop Road, see Window Trail, Door Trail, Fossil Trail (each is a half mile trail). Drive home.
Our days are loosely planned, we plan to be very flexible. If we get done early and still have time, we might do more activities, or if the kids (or adults) get tired, we can end the day early and change the itinerary for another day. We have only made reservations on two of the activities, so we can be very flexible on the rest. No plans were really made in the evening. Some of our group may want to go to the casinos, or do other activities. Some of us will play games and cards. We are a very flexible group, so even though there is a lot on the schedule, we may not end up doing it all, or we may get adventurous and find other things to do. The most important thing is that we are spending time together making memories!
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