Black Hills + Custer State Park

After leaving Rapid City on our road trip, we headed for the Black Hills.

We decided to start our day at Mount Rushmore in hopes of avoiding big crowds and because we thought it would be the busiest of the places we visited. We got there a little after 9:00 AM, and there were already tons of people. We didn’t have to fight for a photo op spot, but it was hard to maintain 6ft between us and everyone else. After taking photos and making an unnecessarily large amount of Hamilton jokes (you’re nothing without Washington behind you), we discovered a trail that leads you closer to the monument.

The Presidential Trail, as it is appropriately named, is a 0.6 mile walk that leads from one side of the Grand View Terrace to the other. This is a fairly easy walk, although there are over 400 stairs throughout. The park also has a Sculptor’s Studio where you can learn about how the monument was carved and what repairs have been made over the years.

Cost: There is a $10 parking fee for most vehicles.

Next, check out the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial. Here you will learn the history of Crazy Horse, a Native American warrior of the Oglala Lakota tribe, and how this memorial came to be. Work began in 1947 and continues today. Progress is slow because they rely solely on donations and do not accept funding from the government. Once completed, it will be the largest memorial in the world.

Make sure to schedule a bus ride to the base of the mountain. They’re on first come, first serve basis and are not included in the entry fee. We would definitely recommend paying the extra few dollars to see the memorial up close and personal. Our tour guide was very informative and entertaining on the short journey to the base. Here you can really see what work is currently being done. You can also learn more about the extreme conditions that cause work slowdowns.

You will find a few food/snack options in the park, and may have the chance to see cultural performances at certain times of day.

Cost: Admission varies, but you can expect to pay between $12-15 per person. Bus rides are $4 per person.

Upon the advice of another travel blogger, we decided to spend our afternoon at Custer State Park. Only a short drive from Crazy Horse, this park is certainly an adventure. If you’re coming from the Black Hills like we were, you’ll likely enter Custer through either the Northwest or West entrances. (We came in through the West.)

Once inside the park, take a drive along Needles Hwy toward Sylvan Lake. Needles highway is a slightly stressful drive if you’re not used to mountainous terrain and large drop offs. (We were a bit nervous the whole way.) On your way to the lake, you will also find two 8×10 ft tunnels. RVs and other large vehicles are not permitted past a certain point as they will not fit through the tunnels.

Sylvan Lake is a great place to relax and enjoy the views. You can picnic by the lake or rent kayaks to get out in the water. We opted to hike the 1 mile loop around the lake. This is a fairly moderate hike with great views of the lake.

If you’re up for more hiking, check out the nearby Cathedral Spires trail. This is a 1 1/2 mile moderate in and out hike that leads to great views of the spires. For a harder hike, you can branch off from this trail to the Little Devil’s Tower trail. The hike is only 3 1/2 miles but is very strenuous. (It should also be noted we were both wearing sandals. Check out our packing blog to learn more about our Merrells. They rock.) Parts of the trail involved legit boulder scrambling, the only trail markers after a certain point were arrows painted on the side of the rocks pointing to gaps in the mountain and, at one point, we had to balance with one foot on each side of the wall surrounding the path in order to climb to the next part of the trail. Overall, we were exhausted and incredibly proud of ourselves when we made it to the top. The view was magnificent and it seemed as if you could see forever. It was definitely a good reward for our efforts. By then it was evening hours and we had to scramble back down to the car before dark.

Just when we thought the adventure couldn’t get more adventurous, we followed our GPS out through the South entrance of the park, which actually runs through Wind Cave National Park. What we were not prepared for was an insane amount of bison just chilling (and occasionally messing around) in the middle of the road. It is a fun story to tell now but, at the time, we were very concerned for the safety of our rental car, and possibly ourselves, if one of those larger bison had decided to ram us. To make matters more nerve-wracking, we were the only car around for this traffic jam. It took us a good fifteen plus minutes to free ourselves from the herd. Then, just when we thought we were free, we encountered a smaller herd before we finally made it out of the park. They do offer bison tours at Custer but we instead took an accidental and slightly frightening self-guided tour of the bison. Anyway, beware the bison. Especially at dusk.

Cost: $20 per car for most vehicles

Where we stayed: Stay USA Hotel & Suites, Hot Springs, SD

Hot Springs is a convenient place to stay if you’re following a similar itinerary as us. We were planning to go to Wind Cave the next morning and didn’t want to backtrack to the Black Hills. Honestly, Stay USA was our least favorite stay of the entire trip. There was nothing wrong with it per say, the rooms were nice enough and we slept well. Our main qualm is that the manager was a bit abrasive. He complained (to us) about how cheap we got our room for (we booked on Hotels.com). Apparently 3rd party sites are ripping him off, so he told us. Little did he know we actually got that night’s stay for free because we had Hotels.com reward points. We also checked in a little later in the day, which he complained about. And he accused us of taking all of the ice from the ice machine for our cooler (of which we took none because we had ice packs). We think he was trying to be funny at times, but overall it was off-putting. He did find us the only place in town that was still open for dinner and gave us good advice on Wind Cave, so that slightly made up for it.

Where to Eat/Drink: Purple Pie Place (Custer, SD)

If you’re a fan of pie, you have to check out Purple Pie Place. It is a little pricey, but the food is delicious. We both had the chicken pot pie and tried the peanut butter and blueberry dessert pies. When we showed pictures of our trip to our friend’s nieces, the pie was the hit. Who cares that we had hiked to the literal top of a mountain… pie. In all fairness, it was good pie.

Just an FYI, restaurants in Hot Springs close early. When we arrived in town, there was one place open and it was a tad bit sketchy. Hot Springs is an interesting place and not necessarily in a good way.

Other: If you are so inclined, Hot Springs also has a mammoth dig site you can check out. We didn’t go because we had already seen one before in Waco. But if you’ve never been to one, they are really cool.