SOUTH DAKOTA
Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument & Badlands
Woooo geez, sorry that this blog post is so late! Life got pretty busy right after this trip. So my friend and I had planned to go to South Dakota pre-COVID but during the pandemic we had to postpone a few times.
I think when you think of South Dakota you don’t think of much being there but I actually found enough to do that we could’ve even spent another day or two. That said, I think 3-4 days is optimal so you’re not rushing around. If you’re based out of Rapid City like we were, there’s going to be a lot of driving.
Courtney looked into rental cars and they were going to be 900 dollars for 4 days so she elected to actually cancel her flight and drive 10 hours from Salt Lake City instead. It was wild. She was able to meet us there and pick us up from the airport without a hitch.
Another note about our trip - Courtney had discovered an app called GyPSy Guide which we were using for Rapid City, all the monuments, and Badlands National Park. It is really cool and really informative. Definitely worth the 12 bucks!
Thursday was our first real day. We packed lunches and snacks and headed off first to Mount Rushmore. What everyone will tell you is that it’s quite underwhelming. It’s still definitely true that there’s not very much to do here but I will say it’s not that expensive to stop by and there is a little boardwalk to walk down for closer up views. So I think it’s pretty good value if you manage your expectations.
From there we headed to Crazy Horse Memorial. I think it’s only fair that 30 minutes from Mount Rushmore we have a monument to a Native American warrior. It’s still under construction after something like 80 years so, much like the Sagrada Familia, it will be in different stages of done every time you visit.
It is pretty expensive to visit here, and you have to pay extra to go up close to the monument itself. From the visitor center you can’t really see much. However, the entry fee goes towards the construction of the monument. Since they refuse US government grants, they need all the money they can get.
As you can see, it was pretty foggy today, and shortly after this picture was taken we had rain dumped all over us. It was torrential and included hail. So we decided not to pay the extra to get up close. Instead we spent a little more time in the extensive museum and then ran for it.
Next, our route took us through Wall, South Dakota. A particular drug store there has become a bit of a tourist destination called, of course, Wall Drug. It is essentially a tourist trap slash pharmacy slash donut shop that takes up an entire town block. We stopped there for donuts and rootbeer floats and honestly the sweets were pretty dang good! The hokey touristy stuff wasn’t as much our speed though.
Finally it was onwards to Badlands! There’s a scenic drive that takes you through the park, starting at Wall. We did do a little hiking and walking around in the park but even still we were able to finish up with everything in a couple hours. Since we got there at nearly 4 PM it was a good thing, too!
Here the GyPSy was really useful for plotting the way through the park. We stopped at the prairie dog town and saw bison first.
It was super windy and cold at this point so we couldn’t really hang out with the prairie dogs as much as I think we wanted to. The soil composition here is actually really similar to Painted Hills too but that meant it was super muddy everywhere too.
From there we stopped a few times to view the canyon with all its formations, to see the vast prairie, and to do the Notch Trail Hike.
It dumped rain all over us in the beginning but then it sort of warmed back up again. The storm clouds kind of give the photos a dramatic air at least.
We headed back to Rapid City where we ate at a restaurant called the Wine Cellar. It was incredibly mediocre but the wait staff was so nice we felt bad writing a bad review. After our long day it was nice to at least drink some beer and not be in the car.