Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska!

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here , Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here & Day 7 here. Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

We woke up to clear blue skies!

It was so cool being able to wake up with these views!

We started our morning with coffee out on the deck.

The hotel offered free coffee but you had to pay for breakfast.

After having our coffee, we checked out of the hotel and headed out for the day.

Our first stop would be, Custer State Park.

Since we hadn’t been able to hike the Cathedral Spires Trail the day before, we decided to go back and hike it.

We also wanted to drive the Iron Mountain Road.

It’s one of the three scenic drives in Custer State Park.

Iron Mountain Road is 17 miles long and connects Custer State Park and Mt Rushmore. The road has 314 curves, 14 switchbacks, 3 pigtails, 2 splits and 3 tunnels that you will drive through that frame Mt Rushmore in the distance!

Our route took us through the town of Keystone.

We spotted two deer on our drive!

About 25 mins after leaving our hotel, we arrived to the first tunnel on Iron Mountain Road called, Scovel Johnson Tunnel. 

The tunnel was named after Scovel Johnson who played a huge role in the construction of the famous Needles highway.

The tunnel is 10’9″ wide and 11’0″ high.

If you zoom in on this picture, you can see Mt Rushmore in the distance!

Less than 5 mins past this tunnel, you will come to the Norbeck Overlook.

Once we arrived here, we parked and walked the short distance to the overlook.

This overlook had views of Mt Rushmore from a distance.

If you climb up onto the rocks, you will get really beautiful views!

I took these pictures with my Canon camera

The overlook was named after Peter Norbeck. He was the first governor of South Dakota and the founder of Custer State Park.

Iron Mountain Road was constructed in the 1930’s under the direction of Peter Norbeck.

Click here for a map of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway

After this stop, we continued our drive.

The drive is so beautiful but very curvy! The speed limit is 20-25 mph.

Tip: The road does close periodically during the winter

A few minutes after leaving the overlook, we arrived to the CC Gideon Tunnel that was named after Cecil (CC) Gideon who played a big role in the development of Iron Mountain Road.

This tunnel measures 13’0″ wide and 11’0″ high.

Carved through solid rock, it features a unique design where its ceiling opens midway through.

Iron Mountain Road is famous for the “Pigtail Bridges” that allow travelers to drop or gain altitude quickly.

The road is 18 miles long and forms the eastern edge of the Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway which is a total of 70 miles and was named one of the 10 Most Outstanding Byways in America!

Two minutes from the CC Gideon Tunnel was the Doane Robinson Tunnel.

The tunnel was named after Doane Robinson who is known as the “Father of Mount Rushmore.”

He’s the one who contacted sculptor Gutzon Borglum about carving Mt Rushmore.

The tunnel is 12’0″ wide and 11’4″ high.

See a map of the tunnels here

This tunnel perfectly frames Mt Rushmore!

Exiting the tunnel

We passed under another bridge

Shortly after exiting the Doane Robinson Tunnel, you will see Mt Rushmore.

The memorial is located 10 mins from the tunnel.

From here, we headed to the Cathedral Spires Trail.

We passed by the profile view of Washington on the way

The Cathedral Spires trail was located 45 mins from the tunnel and 35 mins from Mt Rushmore.

Heading back into Custer State Park

Driving the Needles Hwy

This was our favorite scenic drive through Custer State Park!

Arriving to the Needles Eye & Tunnel.

After exiting the tunnel, we continued our drive to the Cathedral Spires trail.

The trailhead is located 5 mins from the tunnel.

After arriving to the trailhead, we got parked and headed down the trail.

The trail is 1.6 miles round trip.

This is a very popular trail and I highly recommend it!

The views were incredible!

For most of the way, you are walking through the woods.

There were ferns growing everywhere!

The trail is mostly flat but you will come to a section where you will have to scramble over rocks!

We took so many pictures on this hike!

Tip: Wear good hiking shoes and bring water and a raincoat in case it starts raining!

There were wildflowers blooming all along the trail!

And lots of rocks and exposed roots on the trail so watch your step!

We had an absolute perfect day to hike this trail!

We stopped and took several pictures….it was hard not to!

We had a lady offer to take our picture…..we usually never turn down a couple’s picture!

The further we walked down the trail, the more dramatic the views became!

Tip: There’s a chance you will see mountain  goats on this trail

The trail is very easy to navigate and has some signage along the way.

We saw so many cool rock formations!

More pictures of us near the end of the trail

I spotted these wild flowers that looked like roses.

You will know when the trail ends because there’s a sign posted on a tree that says end of the trail.

We saw this sign talking about the Custer State Park Trail Challenge where a different series of trails are featured every year and you had to collect the rubbings of the medallions located on each trail. You will then turn in those rubbings at the Visitor Center for an official hiking pin.

Located near the sign was the medallion for this trail.

Pictures of the views near the end of the trail

After spending several minutes taking in the views, we headed back to our car.

We spotted some rock climbers at the top of one of the spires!

No thanks! They must have a death wish, right?! 😉

Views on the way back

We saw more flowers blooming!

Arriving to the rocks that you will need to scramble ….be careful, they were slick!

Almost back to our car

After exiting the trail, we noticed a sign for the Mount Rushmore Inspiration.

This was the original site of where Mt Rushmore was supposed to be but due to the quartz, feldspar and mica that was mixed in with the granite rocks here, it ended up not being a good location for sculpting.

After leaving the trail, we decided it was time for lunch so we headed to the nearby Sylvan Lake Lodge.

The lodge was located 10 mins from the trail

Driving through the park

Heading back through Needles Eye Tunnel

Arriving to the lodge

After getting parked, we headed inside.

All of the lodges inside the park offer dining options.

The lodge is so beautiful on the inside!

The hotel was built in the late 1930’s after the first hotel, that was built in the 1890’s, burned down in 1935.

We were seated by a window with amazing views!

After looking over the menu, I decided on the grilled chicken BLT with a side of fruit and the hubby ordered the club sandwich with  fries.

The food was delicious! We were surprised that the food would be so good inside a state park!

Read reviews here

After our lunch, we walked around the lodge for a few minutes.

They had a model of the first Sylvan Lake Lodge that was built in the 1890’s.

The first lodge that was built sat on the shore of Sylvan Lake.

When they rebuilt the lodge, they moved it to this location which is located on a rocky hillside overlooking Sylvan Lake.

If you climb up on the rocks behind the lodge, you will have amazing views!

We sat on the rocks for a while just taking in the views.

A bit later, we headed to our next stop of the day, Crazy Horse Memorial.

We passed this rock on Needles Hwy that looked like a giant foot!

The memorial was located 20 mins from the Sylvan Lake Lodge.

Arriving to the Crazy Horse memorial

Once we arrived, we had to pay an entrance fee of $30 at the gate and after you pay, you’re given a pamphlet about the memorial

Tip: The entrance fee is based on the number of people in your car and the time of year

After getting parked, we headed inside.

The place was much busier than we expected it would be!

My first shot of the memorial

After getting inside, we couldn’t believe how big this place was!

We thought it would be smaller than Mt Rushmore but that was not the case…it was huge!

Your admission includes access to three museums, an orientation film, viewing of the sculpture from the veranda and the wall of windows, and scheduled cultural programming.

The museums located inside the building showcased tons of art and artifacts with most of it being donated.

The artwork was beautiful!

There was a huge window that allowed you to view the Crazy Horse Memorial.

The one thing I regret is not having brought in my zoom lens camera to get better pictures of the memorial as it sat pretty far away from the main building!

For $5, you could take a shuttle bus to get closer views but it was raining so we decided against it.

Tip: They do offer special tours where you will shuttled right up to the face of the memorial  but I’ve read it costs $300 pp!

The memorial carving has been in progress since 1948 and when finished will depict the Oglala Lakota warrior Crazy Horse, riding a horse and pointing to his tribal land.

The memorial was commissioned by Henry Standing Bear, a Lakota elder, to be sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski.

When finished, it will be 641 feet long and 563 feet high. The face of Crazy Horse, completed in 1998, is 87 feet 6 inches high.

The outstretched arm will be 263 feet and the finger will be 29.5 feet long!

Unlike Mt Rushmore, this memorial accepted no government funding…it’s being financed by private donations!

After walking around the museums, we headed to the cultural center to watch one of the shows.

It was a local musician from the Lakota tribes who was demonstrating the different types of flutes they use for music.

We then walked outside to the outdoors observation deck and took a few more pictures of the memorial.

Tip: There is a gift shop and a restaurant located at the memorial

Near the observation deck, they had a smaller version of what the memorial will look like when it’s finished.

We then walked into the Sculptor home and museum that showcased items that once belonged to the sculptor and his wife.

The museum is located in the actual log cabin that the sculptor, Korczak Ziolkowski had built on this site while he was working on the memorial after having lived in a tent for several months prior to that.

The museum featured some of the antiques that belonged to Ziolkowski like a Marie Antoinette mirror, Louis the 16th chairs, and the glass topped table that Korczak made from a four legged piano.

After this museum, we headed back inside to the cultural center to watch a performance showcasing the different types of tribal dances.

It was really enjoyable!

Nearby was a large box that contained rock from the crazy horse memorial…you could take a piece home for free!

Tip: Once a year at the memorial, they hold what’s called the Volksmarch. It’s an organized hike to the top of the Crazy Horse Memorial. The hike is 6.2 miles round trip and take approx 4 hrs to complete!

Tip: Sadly, after 19 yrs, the memorial ended the laser light show that they held each night

After watching the dance performance, we headed to our next stop.

We ended up spending almost 2 hrs at the Crazy Horse Memorial…a lot longer than we thought we would!

Read reviews here

As we were leaving, dark clouds started to roll in!

They get some crazy storms out here!

We headed to the town of Custer and hoped it wouldn’t be raining!

Custer is located 10 mins from the memorial.

After arriving to Custer, we headed straight to the Purple Pie Place to try out their delicious pies that I had read all about!

They call it the Purple Pie Place for a reason….the entire building has been painted purple!

Don’t miss having your picture taken on the purple pig that sits right outside the door! 😉

The Purple Pie Place also serves food and ice cream.

The restaurant opened in 1981 and has been serving pies ever since.

They offer a range of flavors, including blackberry, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb, raspberry rhubarb jalapeno and many more!

The inside is really cute!

I decided on the popular bumbleberry while my hubby opted for the strawberry rhubarb.

The pies were delicious to me but my hubby wasn’t crazy about the chunks of rhubarb in his.

Read reviews here

After our pie, we headed to the historic downtown area of Custer so we could get out and walk around.

One of the first things you will notice about this town is, they have lots of  decoratively painted buffalo statues all through the downtown area.

Tip: If you want to see them all, the Custer Area Chamber of Commerce has a map of all the buffalo wandering through the town including their names and the names of the artists who painted them.

Tip: The owner who oversaw this project, has 6 painted buffalo in her yard. Click here for the address

We parked near an old historic cabin called the Flick Cabin that sits in Way Park.

The Flick cabin was the first building erected in the Black Hills. It was built in 1875 by Dr. Daniel Flick.

We walked inside the cabin to check it out.

We then begin our walk through the town.

We spotted the Baker’s Cafe & Bakery. I had read a lot of good things about this place but we never had the chance to try it out.

Click here for best restaurants in Custer, here for a list of all restaurants, here for best hotels & here for things to do

As we were walking, we made sure to take a picture of all the painted bison we passed along the way!

We passed by what used to be, the First National Bank. It was built in 1881 and is now occupied by the popular Horatio’s Ice Cream.

More pictures of the painted bison!

As we were walking, we spotted a mural on the side of the building that said, Greetings From Custer so, of course, we had to take our picture in front of the mural!

We then passed the Custer County Museum.

We spotted a painted buffalo that I couldn’t miss taking a picture with! 🇺🇸

After spending about an hour walking through town and taking pictures of all the painted bison, we headed to find the largest carved buffalo that we had seen a sign for on our way into Custer.

The buffalo was located about a 5 min drive from the downtown Custer area.

Once we arrived, we got out to take pictures.

The buffalo stands 37 ft tall and was built out of wood scraps by the Dahl brothers in early 2023.

Tip: Click here to read about 8 other sculptors around the state

After leaving here, we headed back to Keystone to have dinner.

We decided to go back to the Powder House Lodge and try their dinner menu.

After being seated, we took a few minutes to look over the menu.

It was much more extensive than their lunch menu!

We started out with the crabbed stuffed mushrooms and they were delicious!

For our main course, we both decided on the 8 0z filet Mignon wrapped in bacon with a side of mashed potatoes.

The food was so good and so was the service!

Read reviews here

After dinner, we headed back to our hotel.

On the way, we passed a beautiful rainbow!

The sun was starting to set too and the sky was so gorgeous!

After arriving back to our hotel, we headed to our tent.

Prior to leaving for our trip, I had purchased tickets to the rodeo & fireworks show in Belle Fourche but it was was 1.5 hrs from our hotel so we decided not to go!

After hitting the sack, I laid in bed for what seemed like hours watching the sky…it was so cool!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 9 where we head to Nebraska!

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts & click here to follow my YouTube channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska!

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here & Day 6 here. Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

We started our morning with coffee and a pastry that we had purchased from Lynn’s Dakotamart the night before.

We decided to have our breakfast sitting outside on the rooftop since we didn’t really have a place to eat inside our room.

Read reviews for our hotel here

After breakfast, we packed up and checked out of the hotel and headed to our first stop of the day, Custer State Park.

A few more shots of Deadwood before heading out.

Custer State Park is located 1 hr 15 mins from Deadwood.

Our route took us through Rapid City where we passed some of the presidential statues that they have scattered throughout town.

Heading to Custer State Park

As we got closer to the park, the granite peaks started to stand out above the trees.

Custer State Park is South Dakota’s largest state park.

The park encompasses 71,000 acres in the Black Hills and is home to abundant wildlife.

The park offers something for everyone such as rock climbing, camping, hiking, biking, swimming, fishing, and horse back riding.

The park also holds annual events such as the Annual Buffalo Roundup and Buffalo Roundup Arts Festival, the seasonal Volksmarch and the Buffalo Wallow Chili Cookoff.

We had Sylvan Lake as our first stop inside the park.

We drove through Hood Tunnel on the way.

The tunnel measures 10 ft 6″ wide by 9 ft 10 ” tall.

There are several tunnels located in Custer State Park.

About 5 mins past the tunnel is where you will find the beautiful Sylvan Lake Lodge.

The lodge was built in 1937 at a construction cost of $140,008.

There are a few different lodges located inside the park.

Five minutes past the lodge is where you will find Sylvan Lake.

Read reviews for the park here & here for Sylvan Lake

Tip: There is a $20 entrance fee to the park and it’s good for 7 days. Your America the Beautiful pass will not work at state parks. However, you can purchase an annual pass for $30.

After arriving to the lake, we then had the challenge of finding somewhere to park. This place was packed out!

And I could see why, it was breathtaking!

The lake is surrounded by huge granite boulders and beautiful pine trees!

Sylvan Lake consists of seventeen acres and was formed in 1881 when the creek at Sunday Gulch was dammed.

At the lake you will find the Sylvan Store which offers retail & casual dining. Sylvan campground can be found on the other side of the lake.

You can rent canoes, kayaks, stand up paddle boards at the lake and swimming is also permitted.

Tip: There is one visitor center located inside the park

Tip: Motorized watercraft is not permitted on the lake. Besides Sylvan Lake, there are 4 other lakes located in the park.

After finding parking, we started walking around the shore lake trail.

As we approached the lake, I spotted an eagle dive down into the lake and catch a fish!

Unfortunately, I didn’t have my good camera with me so this is the best I could get with my Iphone camera! 🙁

The views here are breathtaking but sadly, shortly after arriving, it started raining pretty hard so we headed back to our car.

Tip: Scenes from the movie, National Treasure II were filmed at the lake

Tip: Click here to read about 8 epic swimming holes in South Dakota

During the spring and summer, lots of storms can pop up in the Dakotas so always keep an eye on the weather!

We decided to continue our drive through the park.

The road we were driving was called the Needles Highway and it’s the most scenic road that runs through the park!

The Needles Highway is 14 miles long and takes you through spectacular granite mountain peaks and pine forests!

The road’s name comes from the needle like granite formations that are seen all along this scenic drive.

The roadway was carefully planned by former South Dakota Governor Peter Norbeck, who marked the entire course on foot and by horseback. Construction was completed in 1922.

Tip: If you don’t want to drive the road yourself, you can book a tour here

The speed limit is 25 mph….it’s also a very twisty and winding road so be prepared with motion sickness medicine if you are prone to getting car sick!

After a few minutes of driving, we arrived to the most popular area on Needles Hwy…the Needles eye and the Needles Eye Tunnel.

There are usually lots of vehicles backed up here because people want to get out and take pictures.

There is room for just a few vehicles to park so you can get out and take pictures before driving through the very narrow tunnel.

The Needles eye is a unique rock formation that sits right outside of the tunnel.

It got it’s name from the opening that was eroded by the wind and rain.

It was really cool!

The tunnel is a one way tunnel so you will have to make sure no one is coming through before you enter.

Thankfully, you can see through to the other end so that makes it much easier to know when you can enter the tunnel!

It’s also very narrow….It’s only 8′ 0″ wide by 9’9″ high!

Tip: Needles Highway closes to vehicles with the first snow of the season and does not reopen until April 1, or later depending on conditions. The trails remains open for hikers, walkers, bikers and skiers.

After exiting the tunnel, we pulled over at an overlook to wait for the rain to pass.

The views from this overlook were beautiful!

The temperature in the park dropped down in the low 50’s during the rainstorm!

While we were waiting for the rain to pass, it started to hail!

Thankfully, it was small hail!

This area is known for their hailstorms and can get hail the size of golf balls!

You will see lots of cars driving around with hail damage!

Tip: Make sure you get the full insurance on your rental car just in case you are caught in one of these damaging hailstorms!

After sitting at the overlook for several minutes, we decided to go eat lunch.

As we were driving through the park, we came up on the Iron Creek Tunnel.

The tunnel is a 9′ 0″ wide x 11′ 4″ tall.

After exiting the tunnel, we saw lots of hail on the sides of the road! It looked like snow!

We also spotted two huge deer …..this was the best picture I could get of them.

Click here for a list of wildlife that can be seen in the park

We decided to eat in the nearby town of Keystone at a place that I had on my list called the Powder House Lodge.

The restaurant was located 12 mins from the Iron Creek Tunnel.

After arriving to the restaurant, we headed inside.

The Powder House Lodge restaurant offers breakfast, lunch and dinner.

You can also book a room or cabin at the lodge and it’s very nice!

Once inside, we were seated right away.

After looking over the menu, I decided on the shaved prime rib dip with fries and the hubby settled on the BLT and fries.

The food was pretty good…a lot better than the Ruby House Restaurant that we had eaten at earlier in our trip!

Read reviews here

After lunch, we decided to head to Mt Rushmore.

It was located 10 mins from the restaurant.

After arriving, our first stop was taking pictures in front of the park sign.

We then continued our drive to the park.

We could see that iconic mountain as we were driving towards the entrance!

I was so excited about seeing Mt Rushmore…you hear about it all of your life but seeing it in person is surreal!

Once you arrive, you will have to pull a ticket at the gate.

There is no entrance fee here but you have to pay $10 to park.

Tip: Your America the Beautiful pass will not cover the parking fee

We were very impressed with how organized the parking was!

After pulling your ticket, you will be directed by attendants on where to park.

There are several parking garages located here!

Tip: Click here to read all about how the parking works

After you park, make sure to take your parking ticket so you can pay for parking and get your ticket validated.

You can do this at one of the many kiosks scattered throughout the park or inside the gift shop or the cafe.

After getting parked, we headed to the monument.

Getting closer!

You can’t see Mt Rushmore without taking lots of selfies lol! 😉

We passed a sculpture of Gutzon Borglum.

He designed the Mt Rushmore sculpture, called Shrine of Democracy, and oversaw the project’s execution from 1927 to 1941 with the help of his son, Lincoln.

In 1927, he began sculpting the 60-foot-high heads of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt on the face of the mountain, and in 1929 the United States government began financing the project, which would become a national memorial.

The walkway to the memorial is lined with flags on both sides…..it’s called the Avenue of Flags.

There are 56 flags that line the walkway.

The 56 flags represent the 50 states, one district, three territories, and two commonwealths of the United States of America.

The flags are arranged in alphabetical order. The names of each state, district, commonwealth or territory are listed on the plaques directly below each flag.

Of course, we had to find the flag of our great state of Tennessee!

It was right beside the South Dakota Flag!

As we approached the end of the viewing area, we took our pictures in front of that iconic and amazing sculpture!

I took more pictures and video here than I can count….it’s just one of those places where you don’t want to miss anything!

But sadly, we did….the visitor center that sits below the top viewing area! 🙁

At the visitor center,  you can see the place where Guzton Borglum worked from 1939 to 1941 and view the 1/12th scale model of Mount Rushmore.

You can also hike the Blackberry Trail while you are here.

I think it’s also called the Presidential Loop Trail.

Once we found out that there were 422 stairs on the trail, we quickly decided against it! 😉

Tip: Click here to read about 76 fascinating facts about Mt Rushmore

Thankfully, I had brought in my Cannon 50x zoom lens camera and was able to capture some really good close up pictures of the monument!

After taking way too many pictures, we headed to Carver’s Cafe to purchase some ice cream.

I had read that the cafe served the vanilla ice cream that was the recipe of Thomas Jefferson so, I couldn’t miss trying it!

Once inside the cafe, you can’t miss the ice cream because they have it well signed!

Some years back, Xanterra, the company that manages tourist operations at Mount Rushmore,  put out a call to ice cream makers.

Xanterra challenged the makers to craft a vanilla ice cream made using the recipe that was written by Founding Father Thomas Jefferson in 1780.

Jefferson had served the ice cream, which specifically called for Madagascar vanilla bean pods, to visiting diplomats and dignitaries.

Several ice cream makers submitted their samples….Xanterra ended up choosing Pride Dairy as the winner so their vanilla ice cream began being offered at Mt Rushmore!

Mt Rushmore sells about 8k gallons of the vintage vanilla ice cream during an average tourist season!

I ordered a scoop of the vanilla and a scoop of the huckleberry and it was so good!!

The hubby ordered a scoop of the huckleberry and a scoop of the chocolate.

After eating our ice cream, we decided to head back to Custer State Park since it had stopped raining.

Tip: We had our parking ticket validated at the cafe. Once you leave the park, you will need to enter your ticket into the machine at the exit gate. The ticket is good for one year!

As we were driving back to Custer State Park, we passed the profile view of George Washington!

At the Profile View you can get a one-of-a-kind view of George Washington framed by the surrounding rock outcroppings!

This viewpoint is found just a couple of miles outside the entrance to the park.

There was a parking lot located at the viewpoint so you could get a good picture.

I used my cannon camera to get some closeup shots!

After leaving here, we continued our drive to Custer State Park.

See a map of the park here

I couldn’t get over how beautiful this park was!

I’ve read that some people think it should be a national park instead of a state park!

Going through one of the tunnels

There are a few scenic drives that you can do through Custer State Park and I highly recommend that you do them all!

Besides the Needles Hwy, there is the Iron Mountain Road and the Wildlife Loop Rd.

Since we had gotten rained on at Sylvan Lake, we decided to head back there first so we could hike the trail around the lake.

The lake is located approx. 30 mins from Mt Rushmore.

Tip: There are several lakes inside Custer State Park. There’s also another lake 40 mins from Sylvan called Pactola. It looks beautiful too! You can rent boats on that lake!

After arriving and getting parked, we headed to the trail.

The trail is a 1 mile hike that goes around the lake.

We decided to climb up on some of the huge granite boulders along the shore.

The views from the rocks are incredible!

You definitely want to take the time to climb some of these rocks but be very careful as they are slick and have sheer drop offs!

We climbed up and down several of the boulders along the trail for different views of the lake.

We then continued our walk along the trail.

Parts of the trail are flat while some have rock stairs that you will have to climb.

Views from some of the rocks we climbed along the way.

This short loop trail gives you so many different perspectives of the lake!

Continuing the trail

You will most likely see rock climbers along the trail as it’s a very popular activity here.

Along the shore trail, you will also see the trail for the popular Sunday Gulch Trail.

This is a 4 mile loop trail that’s rated as hard.

I walked about 50ft down the trail just to snap a quick picture.

Tip: Click here for a 40 page detailed guide of Custer State Park

As we were walking the trail, we spotted a bald eagle sitting in a nearby tree!

I was able to get some great shots with my cannon camera!

Shortly after spotting the eagle, we saw another eagle flying around and they started fighting!

It was so cool to see!

As we continued our walk, we came to the Sylvan Lake Dam.

Sylvan Lake was created in 1881 when Theodore Reder built a dam across Sunday Gulch.

Tip: Click here for 12 things to do at Sylvan Lake

One section of the trail will lead you through a narrow passageway where you will have to climb several stairs.

It was a bit freaky walking under huge boulders that were balanced above your head between the cliffs!

After walking through this section, you are close to the end of the trail.

The views are breathtaking all along the trail!

After finishing the trail, we continued our drive through the  park.

We arrived back at the Needles Tunnel where we were able to get out and take some pictures since the rain had moved out!

The rock formations here are so cool looking!

This was definitely our favorite drive through the park!

Another shot of the Needles Eye

We walked behind some of the rock formations at this stop and discovered some cool places for pictures!

More shots of this area

After taking our pictures, we headed back to our car so we could drive through the tunnel!

Heading towards the tunnel

Driving through

Once you exit the tunnel and drive a little ways, you can look back and get another cool shot of the tunnel!

We made our way to our next stop, the Cathedral Spires trail.

This is a very popular hike and it has very limited parking!

Thankfully, we were able to find a parking spot so after getting parked, we started our hike.

The trail is 1.6 miles round trip and offers incredible views of the granite peaks!

The start of the trail was pretty flat.

I couldn’t get over the views!

Sadly, shortly after starting the trail, it started thundering so we didn’t feel comfortable continuing the trail.

Note: We do go back the next day and hike the trail so I will blog about this trail in my next post.

So, we headed back to our car and continued our drive through the park.

Tip: Another really popular trail inside the park is the Black Elk Peak Loop...it’s 7 miles round trip.

We decided to head to the Wildlife Loop Road.

Highway 16A and the Wildlife Loop Road form the core of the park. This is where you will find most of the wildlife, visitor centers, and lodging in the park.

Our route took us through the Iron Creek tunnel

We passed the Blue Bell Lodge & Resort along the way. This is one of four lodges that are inside the park.

Tip: This place offers a chuck wagon dinner…there are several different ones in this area

Arriving to the Wildlife Loop Road

The loop road is 18 miles and gives you the best opportunity to see the wildlife in Custer State Park.

Tip: Expect a minimum travel time of anywhere between 1.5 and 2 hours to complete the loop that creates a “U” from one end to the other.

Along this road you have a chance to see the “begging burros”, bison, mountain goats, prairie dogs, mountain lions, coyotes, burrowing owls and more!

The road twists and turns its way through the prairie and ponderosa pine.

It’s a beautiful drive!

As we approached a sign for the Bison Center, we noticed several cars were parked alongside the road that led to the center.

It didn’t take us long to see why so many cars and people were gathered along the roads….it was the famous begging burros!

We were so excited to see them as had hoped we would find them!I had found out about them on the Facebook page that I follow!

These burros were added to the park in the 1920s. They were used to carry visitors from Sylvan Lake Lodge to the top of what is now Black Elk Peak. The service stopped in the 1920s and they let them loose in the park.

At one time, there were as many as 100 of these feral donkeys however, the park controls the number of donkeys they allow in the park.

Today, there are only 12 adult donkeys left in the park. Sadly, the Legion Lake Fire in 2017 destroyed many of the herd burros and the park has been rebuilding since then.

During my research, I discovered that the park allows you to feed the donkeys so, we had brought some carrots with us that we had bought at Lynn’s Dakotamart in Lead!

Tip: These are the only animals in the park that you are allowed to feed

Once we got parked, we got out with our bag of carrots and headed to see the donkeys!

Let me tell you, they are not shy if they know you have food….actually, they become aggressive and try to take whatever you have to offer!

My hubby and I took turns feeding them..

It was such a neat experience!

I was disappointed that we hadn’t bought a bigger bag of carrots because it didn’t take long for them to gobble them up!

One of the donkeys had recently given birth .…the baby foal was so cute!

Tip: You need to be cautious around these animals as they can and will kick you!

The begging burrows will walk right up to your vehicle if they think you have food!

After spending a few minutes with the donkeys, we continued our drive.

Not long after leaving the donkeys, we came up on two pronghorns that were sparring!

So many twists and turns!

As we continued our drive, we spotted bison in the distance!

The park is home to approx. 1500 bison.

Tip: If you want to make sure you see the bison in the park, you can book a buffalo safari jeep tour

Shortly after seeing the bison, we exited the Wildlife Loop Rd.

It had taken us approx. 1 hr 15 mins to complete the drive.

Tip: Make sure to drive the gravel roads along the Wildlife Loop….a lot of times that’s where you will find the wildlife

We spotted the Custer State Park sign so stopped to take our picture in front of the sign.

We then headed to our next hotel called, Under Canvas Mt Rushmore.

The majority of our hotels on this trip were very reasonably priced so, I thought I would splurge on at least one of our hotel stays and this was our splurge.

Under Canvas are big tents that you can rent out in the middle of the woods. I thought it looked really cool!

The “hotel” is located in Keystone down a long gravel, bumpy road!

It took us approx 35 mins from the Custer State Park sign to get to our hotel.

Once we were parked, I headed inside the big tent to check us in.

After getting checked in, one of the employees will take you and your luggage to your tent on a golf cart.

After arriving to our tent, the employee offered to take our picture standing in front of the tent.

I had booked one of the star gazing tents.

This tent has a large, clear viewing window above the bed so you can view the night sky!

The tent came with a private bathroom and a wood burning stove but not much more.

Some of the tents don’t come with bathrooms…you have to use a public bathroom near the check in tent.

The tent also comes with two battery powered lamps, two battery packs so you can charge your phones, two battery powered fans, two  chairs, two nightstands, firewood and starter, shampoo and conditioner.

When we arrived, the tent was really cold so my hubby had to immediately start a fire!

Tip: The tents have no electricity so, if you need to blow dry your hair, you will need to do it at the community bathroom & you have to keep the pulley handle held down with one hand while you are taking a shower inside the tent!

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our tent, we headed back to the tent where we had checked in as they also had a restaurant located inside that tent.

The restaurant had a very limited menu!

Here’s their menu that I found online but they did not have all of these options when we were there! They had like 4 options for dinner!

We both ended up ordering the grilled pesto chicken sandwich that came with chips.

The sandwich was actually very good!

Tip: They have around 13 under canvas locations throughout the US with the majority of them being close to parks

After dinner, we headed back to Mt Rushmore for the lighting ceremony.

I had read that it wasn’t to be missed so we had to fit it into our itinerary!

After getting parked, we first headed to the gift shop to purchase a t-shirt.

After making our purchase, we headed to find a seat.

The lighting ceremony is held beginning the Friday before Memorial Day to September 30 each year.

From May through early August, the ceremony starts nightly at 9 p.m., and from early August through September 30, it starts nightly at 8 p.m. From October through May, there is no ceremony, but the sculpture is illuminated nightly at sunset.

The ceremony starts with a ranger speaking about the history of the memorial.

Later, he calls for all active and retired military to the stage to be recognized  and for the folding of the flag.

At approx. 9:30 pm, they lit up the faces of Mt Rushmore!

It was very cool to see!

The ceremony was very patriotic and we really enjoyed it!

After the ceremony, we headed back to our hotel.

Since we had already paid for parking earlier in the day, we just had to insert our parking ticket at the gate. So, make sure to keep up with your parking ticket if you plan on going more than once during your trip!

We once again passed the profile view of Washington

After getting back to our hotel, we sat outside on our small deck for a while before calling it a night!

We had clear skies and saw shooting stars right from our bed!

Read reviews here

After watching the stars for a while, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 8!

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts and here to follow my Youtube Channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska.

Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

I’ll start by saying, that this day was one of my favorite days. We really enjoyed everything we did on this trip, especially seeing Mt Rushmore, but I really enjoyed the stops that we had on our itinerary for this day!

We were up around 7 am and by 8 am, we were heading to our first stop of the day, Devil’s Tower.

Devil’s Tower is located in Wyoming and 1 hr 15 mins from Deadwood.

Passing into Wyoming

On the way to Devil’s Tower, we passed the Vore Buffalo Jump.

A buffalo jump is a cliff formation in which Indigenous people used to hunt and kill plains bison in mass quantities. They would herd them and then drive them off of the cliff.

Buffalo jumps have been found throughout the Dakotas.

The drive to Devil’s Tower was really peaceful….there was hardly any traffic on the roads to the tower!

After driving for about an hour, we could see the tower rising in the distance!

There was literally nothing else around but the tower!

We passed the Devil’s Tower Tipi Campsite.

Read reviews here for the campsite

Getting closer to the tower

And closer!

Once you arrive, you will go through the entrance gate where you will have to pay the $25 entrance fee.

Tip: I had purchased the America the Beautiful pass prior to leaving for our trip. It’s $80 and covers the costs of all National parks and monuments for 1 yr from date of purchase. You will have to show your driver’s license when presenting an America the Beautiful pass at the gate.

After arriving to the entrance gate, we were given a map of the area.

Continuing our drive to the tower

Tip: Word of advice, this place gets super busy and the parking is limited. I highly recommend that you get here no later than 9-9:30 am or after 3 pm or you may sit in line waiting for a parking spot for up to two hours!

After getting parked, we headed towards the tower.

There are restrooms and a visitor’s center located here.

We walked around and read some of the informational plaques before heading to the trail around the base of the tower.

The tower stands 867 feet from summit to base. The summit is 5,112 feet above sea level.

Devils Tower was the first United States national monument. It was established on September 24, 1906, by President Theodore Roosevelt. The monument’s boundary encloses an area of 1,347 acres.

Tip: Scenes from the movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, were filmed here

The name “Devil’s Tower” originated in 1875 during an expedition led by Colonel Richard Irving Dodge, when his interpreter reportedly misinterpreted a native name to mean “Bad God’s Tower”.

After reading about the tower, we began our walk on the Tower Trail.

The loop trail, that takes you around the base of the tower, is approx. 1.5 miles.

It’s a paved trail that is mostly shaded. It was very peaceful.

Click here for the best trails in Devils Tower

Along the trail, you will notice lots of cloth tied to tree limbs. These are prayer cloths that have been placed here by Native Americans.

Tip: These are not to be moved or touched by visitors.

Of course, we stopped and took lots of pictures along the way!

You will see lots of informational plaques along the trail.

Walking along the trail

One of the most popular things to do here is rock climbing.

There are around 5-6k people that climb this rock every year!

Tip: There is no rock climbing allowed the month of June. Also, during Sturgis week, the park changes the parking & closes campgrounds so read up on that.

Click here for a local’s guide on climbing the tower & Click here for camping near the park

We spotted several people climbing the tower!

More pics along the trail

As we were walking along the trail, we started noticing tons of trees that were snapped into!

We could tell that it had happened recently…it looked like a tornado had ripped through the park!

As my hubby and I were standing there talking about what we were seeing, a couple overheard us and told us that the park had just opened back up the day before because a storm had blown through the park and downed many trees!

Click here to watch a video of a guy in the park at the time of the storms and narrowly avoiding being hit by a falling tree!

We couldn’t get over how many trees had fallen! Some were snapped into like a toothpick!

So glad we didn’t show up when the park was closed! Always check the park’s website before heading out to any park!

We noticed a sign showing a list of closed climbing routes due to nesting falcons on the rock.

A short while later, we saw a sign for the “window” in the rock.

The window is one of the tower’s most distinctive features. It’s a 300 ft alcove that sits above the boulder field.

Here you can see shades of orange and green lichen that cover the rocks.

Geologists are still uncertain how Devils Tower was formed, but some believe it is a special volcanic feature that formed when magma encountered groundwater, which then became superheated and exploded to the surface, puncturing the overlying sediments.

It looked like the basalt columns that we had seen in Iceland.

The tower is composed of symmetrical columns which are the tallest and the widest in the world!

Some measuring up to 600 ft tall and 10-20 ft wide!

Continuing the trail

If you zoom in on this picture, you can several climbers on the tower!

In 1941, parachutist George Hopkins, landed atop the tower. However, after landing, his 1,000 ft descent rope fail out of reach. He spent several nights atop the tower waiting to be rescued!

More pictures in front of the tower!

Along the trail we saw a sign that told about the first people to have climbed the tower in 1893!

With binoculars, you can still see the ladder they used for one section of the climb!

That ladder is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Tip: The first woman to climb the tower was the wife of the first man to climb the tower

A few more shots along the trail

Near the end of the loop trail, you will come to a boulder field.

You are allowed to climb the rocks but will need a permit to climb the tower.

After finishing the trail, we left the park.

We made a quick stop near the entrance to take our picture with the park sign.

Tip: If you get hungry or want some ice cream or a souvenir, the Devils Tower Trading Post sits right beside the entrance sign.

Click here for restaurants near Devils Tower. The Ponderosa Cafe is the one with the most reviews and was recommended in the Facebook page that I follow

Read reviews for the tower here

After getting our pictures, we headed to our next stop of the day, the Aladdin General Store.

On the way there, we passed through the cute town of Hulett, WY that has a population of around 310!

We passed the R Deli and the roof was covered with bones!

We also passed this old church.

After driving for about 40 mins, we arrived to the Aladdin General Store.

The general store is the best preserved of Wyoming’s five remaining 19th-century mercantiles, it’s been amassing inventory since 1896.

It is the oldest continuously operating general store in Wyoming.

Right outside in front of the store is a working gas pump and a historic gas pump…so cool!

The inside of the store is full of souvenirs, coffee mugs, T-shirts, wallets, postcards, key chains, books and much more!

They had all kinds of candy, snacks, as well as grocery items.

They had a bar as well.

You name it and they probably had it!

The store retained many of the original features that gave it an antique, historical feel. That includes cabinets that are more than 130 years old, and an old wooden cabinet, whose bins have been filled with bright and colorful candy.

There’s an old-fashioned wood stove, old-fashioned registers, and even an old switchboard operating system.

It was so cool!

After checking out the downstairs, we headed upstairs to check out the different rooms that were full of even more stuff!

It was almost like a museum!

They had different rooms that had all kinds of antiques, clothes, shoes, handbags and so much more!

My hubby even found a hat while we were there! 😉

We saw these stuffed badgers with prairie dogs in their mouths.

I had read where some people had seen badgers chasing prairie dogs in the Badlands National Park...I would have loved to have seen a badger!

After checking out the upstairs, we headed back downstairs….we couldn’t leave without purchasing a t shirt!

A few more pictures of the inside

After making our purchase, we continued our drive to our next stop.

Read reviews here

Tip: One mile from the general store is the historic Aladdin Coal Tipple. It’s an old coal mine. Sadly, we missed it!!

On the way to our next stop, we once again spotted the Vore Buffalo Jump so we decided to stop and check it out.

The buffalo jump was located in Sundance, WY just 15 mins from the general store.

A sign in the parking lot told about the history of the buffalo jump.

We headed inside the tipi to purchase our tickets.

Ticket prices for adults were $12 and children ages 7-12 were $5.

The buffalo jump is open daily from 8 am-6 pm.

We arrived about the time a tour was starting so they let us join the tour.

The tours are guided and last about 45 mins.

The tour will begin in the tipi and your guide will talk about the history of the jump and how it was discovered.

As I mentioned earlier, a jump is either a man made hole, cliff or sinkhole where Native Americans would round up buffalo and chase them over the cliff into the hole where they were later killed.

The Native Americans depended heavily on the bison for survival.

This site was discovered during the construction of I-90 in the early 1970s. In 1989, the family of Woodrow and Doris Vore donated the site to the University of Wyoming, and today, the sinkhole is known as the Vore Buffalo Jump.

Archaeologists estimate that at least 4,000 bison were killed over a period of about 250 years at this place.

After listening to the guide explain what the jump was and how it was discovered, we walked outside behind the tipi where the actual jump is located.

We had to walk down a steep sidewalk to get to the building that had been built over the bison remains.

The pit is about 40 feet deep and 200 feet wide.

There were informational plaques along the way that explained what a jump was.

I know that most of us eat animals and heck, I love a good steak but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for how these animals met their demise! What a way to go lol!

Less than 10% of the Vore site has been excavated.

After a few mins of walking, we headed inside the building that contained the remains of the bison.

There is a wooden boardwalk that is built around the bones.

The Vore site was used as a kill site and butchering site from about 1500 AD to about 1800 AD. Archeological investigations in the 1970s uncovered bones and projectile points to a depth of 15 feet.

They had tipis and lots of informational signs that talked about the Native Americans and how they used every part of the bison for food, clothing, shelter, tools, jewelry and in ceremonies. The decimation of millions of bison in the 1800s was pivotal in the tragic devastation of Indian people and society.

It was really interesting to see!

The pit is estimated to contain the remains of 20,000 buffalo!

There were lots of signs hanging inside that talked about the site and the Native Americans.

After spending almost an hour here, we continued our drive to our next stop.

Read reviews here

On the way, we passed the huge water park in Spearfish.

Arriving to Spearfish

Our next stop was an ice cream store called, Leones Creamery. I had found out about it on the South Dakota Facebook page that I follow.

The creamery is located 20 mins from the Vore Buffalo Jump.

After finding street parking, we headed inside.

There was a beautiful mural painted on a wall right outside the creamery.

The historic city hall building sat across the street. It was completed in 1939.

Tip: You can do a historic walking tour of Spearfish

A picture of the creamery from the outside

After heading inside, we tried to decide on what flavor we wanted…they all sounded so good!

Leones hand crafts their own ice cream so once that flavor is gone, it’s gone!

They only offer 8 different flavors a day. They change their flavors out daily or even weekly depending on how fast that flavor sells out.

On this day they were offering vanilla bean, dark chocolate, mint oreo, orange speckled chocolate, red, white & blueberry, London Fog, pistachio and a vegan almond joy.

You can have your ice cream in a cup or one of their homemade, gluten free waffle cones.

I decided on one scoop of the vanilla bean and one scoop of the dark chocolate.

The hubby decided on the dark chocolate and a scoop of the red, white & blueberry.

It was so good!!

Read reviews here

After our ice cream, we headed to our next stop, the Termesphere Gallery.

It was located down a gravel road 10 mins from the creamery.

I had learned about this place on the Facebook page that I follow.

I highly recommend you join several Facebook pages of the places that you will visit. You can learn so much and get a lot of insight from locals.

The  gallery looked like a hobbit house!

Tip: You can actually rent this place out on Airbnb as the owner used to live here but has now moved out but his studio is still here. Read more about renting the “Turtle House” here

No other visitors were here when we arrived so we weren’t sure if it was even open.

Thankfully, it was so we headed inside.

Tip: They are open 7 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm.

Follow their Facebook page here

The artist of these master pieces is Dick Termes. Dick is an internationally acclaimed artist whose work has been recognized from San Francisco to Paris, France and from New York to Japan.

His one of a kind spherical paintings have been published in books all over the world!

Unlike any other painter, Dick does his paintings on spheres, which when completed, are known as Termespheres.

Each Termesphere is a revolving, three dimensional exploration of an entire picture that revolves around you.

It’s like you standing in the center of a building and it is revolving around you!

These were the most amazing pieces of art that I had ever seen!

Dick has patented this type of painting and is the only person in the world that paints like this!

He has been painting these type of spherical paintings since 1968 after receiving his masters degree in Art at the University of Wyoming.

These are not recreations or mass produced ….it takes him months to finish one piece.

I could have purchased one of each…they were so cool!

The lady who worked at the gallery was very friendly and knowledgeable and we spent about 30-40 mins here talking to her about the different pieces.

Tip: You can purchase a unique piece online. Don’t miss the clock tower in downtown Spearfish where one of Dick’s creations sits atop the tower. Click here to find murals that are painted in Spearfish.

Read reviews here

After leaving here, we headed to our next stop, the Spearfish Canyon.

Tip: I also had the D C Booth Historic Fish Hatchery on the list to visit  but we ran out of time. Read reviews here

Click here for best restaurants in Spearfish, Here & here for best hotels, and Here for best things to do

The start of the scenic Spearfish Canyon drive is located 10 mins from the Termesphere Gallery.

Spearfish Canyon scenic byway is a 22 mile drive that offers beautiful canyon views as well as waterfalls.

There are 3 different waterfalls located on this drive and you will want to see them all!

The drive is located in the Black Hills National Forest.

Tip: Click here to see all of the stops that you can do along this drive

The views along the drive were beautiful!

After driving for about 5 mins, we came to our first stop, Bridal Veil Falls.

Tip: Your 1st stop would be Spearfish Community Cave Trail

After getting parked, we noticed several people that had gathered on the side of the road and was looking up into the mountainside.

They had spotted mountain goats!

I didn’t take any pictures with my Cannon camera so this is the best I could take with my phone!

They are commonly seen in this area.

After taking a few pictures of the goats, we walked across the street to see the falls.

Bridal veil falls is a roadside falls so there’s no hiking involved.

The 60 ft falls can easily be seen from a observation platform that has been installed for optimal viewing and photos.

I had read that hiking to the falls was prohibited but we saw several people at the base of the falls.

There are a couple of informational plaques at the observation deck

After leaving here, we continued our drive through the canyon.

Tip: After leaving Bridal Veil falls, your next stop would be the very popular Devils Bathtub trail – we didn’t hike this but I’ve read a lot about it! It has several creek crossings & takes about 30-45 mins to hike. Read reviews here

We stopped to snap a quick picture of the historic Homestake Mining Co Hydro Electric Plant that was built in 1917.

Continuing our drive

Later, we arrived to our next stop, Spearfish Falls.

You can park at the historic Latchstring Restaurant in order to access the trail for this falls.

Ok, this trail was a bit confusing but if you are facing the restaurant, walk to your left and take the trail behind the restaurant.

Tip: There are bathrooms at the start of the trail

The trail is mostly flat and more importantly, shaded!

There are a few informational plaques along the trail.

Tip: There are mountain lions in this area

You will cross over the Spearfish Creek along the way.

There were wildflowers blooming all over!

At one point, you will come to a grove of pine trees.

After about 10 mins of walking, we heard the sound of rushing water and Spearfish Falls came into view.

This marks the end of the trail, where a spacious wooden platform gives visitors plenty of room to admire the waterfall.

There was only one other couple there when we arrived!

The waterfall cascaded over the hillside and dropped 80 ft into the creek below.

There were flowers blooming near the waterfall that made for some beautiful pictures!

The couple there offered to take our picture.

The water was so clear you could see fish swimming around!

After taking way too many pictures of the falls, we headed back to our car.

Once we were back, we walked to the Roughlock Falls trailhead.

The trailhead is located near the Spearfish Canyon Lodge.

You can also drive and park at the trailhead.

This trail is 2 miles round trip but, I’ll let you in on a secret, if you continue the dirt road past the trailhead parking lot, you can park right at the waterfall!

Sadly, we didn’t know this until we had already hiked a mile to the falls!

However, with that being said, it was a very pretty hike to the falls!

There were several informational plaques along the trail.

The views along the trail were so beautiful!

I was actually glad that we had hiked it but if you are short on time or have mobility issues, you can just drive to it.

Everything was so green!

I took so many pictures on this trail because I couldn’t get over how green and lush it was!

And by the way, none of these pictures are edited! It was really this green!

We had our first wildlife encounter on this trail….a shrew!

It was so tiny!

They look similar to a mole or a mouse but smaller.

After walking for about 20 mins, we arrived to the falls.

There are several overlooks here so make sure to see them all.

The first one is a small, cascading waterfall that runs through the creek.

It was pretty but definitely lacked the wow factor in our opinion.

Read reviews here

We walked up the short but steep trail to the top of the falls.

You had much better views from here but again, I wasn’t overly impressed with the falls.

It’s definitely worth a stop and the hike itself is worth it!

Tip: At the beginning of the trail is a spur trail that leads to a spillway where you can watch trout as they try to find food

After checking out the falls, we headed back to our car.

After arriving back, we decided to eat at the Latchspring Restaurant as we were starving!

The inside of the restaurant was so beautiful!

The restaurant has been serving food for over 100 years!

We were seated outside with views of the canyon!

After looking over the menu, we decided to start out with the lobster stuffed mushrooms.

They were delicious!

For our main course, I decided on the trout almondine and the hubby ordered the grilled walleye.

Our meals came with a small salad

The food and the service was amazing!

Read reviews here & see their breakfast menu here, their lunch menu here & their dinner menu here

After dinner we headed back to Deadwood.

On the way, we passed this huge statue of Abraham Lincoln so we stopped for a quick picture.

Near the statue, was a sign that read President’s Park. However, it was permanently closed in 2010.

I googled it while writing this blog post and it looked so cool! It was a park that featured 43 president’s heads that were arranged chronologically along a path winding up into a rocky knoll of tall pines.

After this quick stop, we continued our drive…our route took us through the small town of Lead.

Incorporated in 1876 after the discovery of gold, Lead was home to the largest, deepest and most productive gold mine in the Western Hemisphere until the Homestake Mine closed in 2002.

Now the mine has been transformed into the Sanford Underground Research Facility.

The small town was so cute!

We passed lots of old buildings

We decided to make a quick stop at Lynn’s Dakotamart in Lead to pick up some bottled water and a few more snacks.

After making our purchase, we continued our drive back to our hotel in Deadwood.

Once we were back in Deadwood, we passed the Pumphouse Coffee & Deli.

I had this place on my itinerary but we never made it there.

I also had a place called the Chubby Chipmunk on my list but we never got there either!

They make homemade chocolates! Read reviews here

Heading to our hotel

After getting parked at our hotel, my hubby spotted this coffin and just had to have his picture taken inside the coffin! 😉

Across from our hotel, we saw where people were lined up for the Trial of Jack McCall.

Tip: Something else I had wanted to do was a Stagecoach ride but we never saw them!

Heading inside of our hotel

We decided to walk around and check it out before heading to our room.

One of the employees started talking to us and asked us if we had seen the lock of Elvis Presley’s hair that they had on display.

He told us where it was so we went and checked it out.

The lock of hair was won by a lady who had entered a contest where she had to write a letter saying how Elvis could best serve our country by accepting the draft notice.

The prize was a lock of Elvis’s hair and an unpublished picture of him.

How cool!

We checked out a few more displays that we had missed when we looked at them the first time.

We then headed to our room.

We noticed a door near our room that led outside to a rooftop area.

There were tables and chairs and a fire going.

So, we decided to sit outside for a while and people watch before hitting the sack.

The sun was starting to set as were sitting outside.

After sitting outside for a while, we headed to our room and called it a night!

It had been another long but enjoyable day!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 7!

Click here to follow my YouTube Channel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Wyoming & Nebraska!

Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

After having coffee at our hotel in Bowman, ND, we began the 2.5 drive to Deadwood, SD where we would be spending the next two nights.

On our drive we saw lots of pronghorns!

North Dakota allows these animals to be hunted since there are so many of them in the state. However, the pronghorn population has recently declined so, not as many are allowed to be killed like in years past.

Make sure you have plenty of gas on this drive as you will drive for miles without seeing anything !

When we were driving to ND from SD, we had passed the Welcome sign to North Dakota but didn’t stop since it was almost dark.

So, on our way back to South Dakota, we decided to stop and take our pictures in front of the North and South Dakota welcome signs.

It’s obviously something a lot of people do because both states had paved, circular pullovers at both welcome signs!

After about two hours of driving, we arrived to the town of Belle Fourche, SD.

I was unaware that our route would be taking us through Belle Fourche but I had this place on our itinerary because it holds the distinction of being “The Center of the Nation.” 

So, when we spotted the stop on our drive, we immediately pulled over to check it out!

Also located here is the log cabin that belonged to “Buckskin” Johnny Spaulding.

Some of the walls still had the original stencils.

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming.

Our travel dates were June 26  July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here, Day 3 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

Since we weren’t interested in the free continental breakfast at our hotel, we decided to head to one of the breakfast places that we had found online called the Farmhouse Cafe.

Click here for the best places to eat breakfast in Medora

We arrived around 8 am and there was already several people who were waiting outside to get a table.

After waiting about 20-30 mins, we were finally seated.

After looking over the menu, I decided on the farmhouse breakfast and the hubby ordered the breakfast sandwich.

The food was very good as well as the service!

Read reviews here

After breakfast, we headed back to our hotel to pack up and check out.

Tip: For more affordable lodging, look at staying in Dickinson, ND. It’s located 35 mins from Medora

Once we were checked out, we headed to our first stop of the day.

We would be doing the north unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park today.

Tip: The North Unit operates on Central time, while the South Unit operates on Mountain time.

On our drive, we passed lots of oil rigs.….they are all over the Dakotas!

In 2022, North Dakota produced on average more than 1 million barrels of oil per day, making it the number three oil producer in the U.S. behind only Texas and New Mexico.

Tip: It was only 53 degrees when we arrived to the park so always check the weather before heading out

The view as we were nearing the park

We arrived to the north unit entrance around 10:45 am and decided to make a quick stop at the visitor center that was located inside a small trailer.

They didn’t have much of anything so, we headed inside the park.

Tip: The entrance fee that you paid at the South unit will be good for the North Unit as well. Your entrance fee is good for 7 days.

After getting our map of the park at the entrance station, we started our drive.

The scenic byway that runs through the park is 14 miles long.

The first half of the road traces the bottom of the badlands.

We thought the views in this unit were much nicer than the south unit.

About 15 mins after starting our drive into the park, we came to our first stop of the day, the Cannonball Concretions.

Tip: You can also access the 11.4 mile Buckhorn trail at this pullout

This is a must stop!

These big, round rocks definitely don’t seem to fit into the surrounding landscape!

These “cannonballs” were formed within the sediment layers of the badlands. Now, erosion is slowly exposing these buried treasures.

Some of the cannonballs have completely eroded out of the butte while others are just being exposed.

We spent about an hour here exploring the crazy rock formations and walking some of the nearby trails.

The views at this stop were very cool!

It’s definitely the most popular stop in this unit!

Click here for trails in the park

There were lots of cacti blooming along the trails.

We’re not sure if this was an actual trail or just made by people walking through this area because several areas were overgrown.

Keep your eyes open as there are many different types of snakes in the park, including rattlesnakes.

I would however, recommend that you walk these trails as you will discover lots of cool rock formations!

As well as a few other oddities lol!

There are 100-300 bison in this area and we saw signs of that as we were walking around.

I think we took the majority of our pictures at this stop!

A few more pictures of this area

Tip: Near this stop is the Little Mo Nature Trail

After leaving here, we continued our drive.

There are only a few stops in this unit.

After about 10 mins of driving, we came to our next stop where we spotted our first bison!

It was right across the road from the parking lot so we were able to get some good pictures of it!

Bison are very unpredictable and can run really fast so keep your distance!

Full-grown bulls weigh up to 2,000 pounds and stand six feet or more at the shoulder. They can run up to 35 miles per hour and spin around faster than a horse!

After taking our pictures of the bison, we walked over to the trailhead that we wanted to hike called Caprock Coulee Nature Trail.

Tip: Also located at this stop is the popular Caprock Coulee Loop trail that is 4.5 miles

The nature trail is 1.6 miles round trip.

We did have an encounter with bison on this trail!

Shortly after starting the trail, you will come to a split…take the trail to the left.

If you take the trail to the right, it will take you to either the Prairie Dog Town, which is 2 miles round trip or to the Buckhorn Trail Junction.

At the start of the trail, you will be walking through open grasslands.

You will then come to a few rock formations.

There were a ton of cacti and other blooming flowers on the trail!

The views were nice at the start of the trail.

But the further you walked, it turned into a wooded area with not much to see.

At this point, we decided to turn around and head back to our car.

After getting back to our car, we continued our drive through the park.

We hadn’t been driving long before we had bison cross the road in front of us!

They were huge!

Bison have been known to charge and damage vehicles so keep your distance!

After being in the park for about 2.5 hrs, we pulled over at what would be our next stop and had lunch.

Guess what we ate? Our pancakes from  breakfast! Lol!

We didn’t eat them at breakfast so decided to take them with us since we felt they would be ok in the car.

There is no food in the park so make sure you bring your own food and water and have plenty of gas too!

After eating our pancakes, we got out of the car to check out the views.

This area is the River Bend Overlook.

This scenic overlook offers breathtaking views of the Badlands from a historic shelter built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

We spotted some cool rock formations!

From this overlook, you had views of the Little Missouri River.

We saw more blooming flowers!

We made our way to the historic shelter for better views.

The views here are definitely worth the stop!

Before reaching the shelter, you will first come to a small wooden deck that has a couple of information plaques that describe the area and the views.

A lady offered to take our picture, so of course, we didn’t turn her down!

We then headed down to the shelter.

The views here are incredible!

We spent about 30 mins here taking pictures and enjoying the views.

After leaving this stop, we headed to our next stop.

We had a gorgeous day!

Our next stop was the Bentonitic Clay overlook.

At this stop, you will see blue-black popcorn like soil that caps the plateau 50 ft below the overlook which is called bentonitic clay.

The clay flows when it’s wet and can be traced for miles up and down the river.

There was another couple at this stop who offered to take our picture for us. 🙂

After this stop, we continued our drive to the next stop which would be the final stop and the end of the road at the Oxbow Overlook.

The road ends at a large parking area and turnaround. From here, you turn around and follow the same road out of the park.

A short 0.2 mile paved loop trail leads over a small hill to views of the Little Missouri River over 400 feet below.

Tip: Also located here is the Achenbach Trail

The views here are beautiful!

After leaving here, we headed back towards the entrance.

We saw tons of bison from a distance!

Other animals that can be seen in the park is mule deer, prairie dogs, pronghorns, coyotes, and golden eagles.

We spent about 4 hrs in the park.

Leaving the park

Tip: Approx. 1 hr 15 mins from the North Unit is the Enchanted Hwy where you will find all kinds of huge, quirky metal signs….we really wanted to do this but ran out of time.

On the way back to Medora, we pulled over when we spotted a white cross on top of a small hill with a sign nearby telling why it was there.

We arrived back to Medora around 4:30 pm so we decided to drive through the town for a while.

We saw the Perception building as we were driving.

In this area is where you will find Medora’s newest attraction called Point to Point Park where they have miniature golf, zip lining, a lazy river pool and more.

We passed the historic Von Hoffman House. The house was built in 1884. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

After driving around for a few minutes, we headed to dinner at the Pitchfork Steak Fondue dinner.

I had purchased tickets for the dinner prior to us leaving for our trip.

I had read mixed reviews about it but lots of people recommended doing it at least once so, I decided to go ahead it book it.

The dinner is held next to the building where the Medora Musical is held.

Lots of people will do the steak dinner and then walk over and see the musical. However, it didn’t work out for us do it that way.

When you purchase your tickets, you will have to choose what time you want to eat….the time slots begin at 5:15 are are in 15 minute increments with the last time slot being 6:15 pm.

We purchased tickets for the 5:30 dinner and showed up around 5:15.

There were already several people in line waiting for the dinner to start.

This is a buffet style meal where they cook 12 oz new york strip steaks on a pitchfork!

You can watch the cooks load the steaks onto pitchforks, then dunk them in barrels of oil!

Once they tell everyone how it works, you will line up and they will scan your ticket…after they scan your ticket, you will go through the buffet line.

They had baked beans, baked potatoes, garlic toast, coleslaw, vegetables, fresh fruit salad, brownies, cinnamon-sugar donuts, lemonade, and coffee.

After making your plate, you headed over to the steaks and  they would place a steak on your plate.

You would then find a seat at one of the many tables.

The steak was really good but the rest of the food was just average but we were glad we did it…it was a neat experience.

Read reviews here

After we ate, we walked around the grounds.

The views were beautiful!

We spotted the historic Chateau de Mores house.

Views of the Medora Musical amphitheater

After spending about 1.5 hrs here, we headed back to town to do a horse carriage ride.

You find the carriage rides parked near the Perception building or near the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

There are only two people in Medora that give carriage rides.

The rides last about 30 mins and you get to learn about the history of the town.

We were the only ones on the ride!

After the ride, we headed back to Bowman where we would be spending our 4th night as we made our way back to South Dakota.

Once we arrived to Bowman, we drove through the town.

It was a cute, historic area.

We passed the historic Bowman theater. This small town theater was originally opened in 1946 with seating for over 300.

We then headed to our hotel….we stayed back at the Bowman Lodge & Convention Center.

We arrived to the hotel around 8:30 pm. After getting checked in, we headed to our room.

Once again, we had a room with two queen beds.

Our bathroom in this room was bigger than the first room we had stayed in.

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our room, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 5!

Click here to follow my YouTube channel

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our time in the Dakotas, Nebraska and Wyoming!

Our travel dates were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here & Click here to see links to all of my blog posts

We started our morning with coffee at our hotel in Bowman, ND.

The hotel offered a free continental breakfast but personally, I am not a fan of continental breakfasts at hotels. It kind of grosses me out!

The town of Bowman is small. It has a population of less than 2,000 people so there aren’t many food options here.

If you need snacks, water, etc, you can purchase those at the grocery store in Bowman called Bronson’s Marketplace

Click here & here for places to eat breakfast in Bowman & here for things to do …surprisingly, there are a few interesting things to see/do here…like the oldest theater in ND and lots of cool murals

After having our coffee, we packed up and checked out around 8:30 am.

Our first stop of the day would be the South Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The drive from Bowman to the park takes approx. 1 hr 10 mins.

Shortly after leaving our hotel, I spotted the Bowman sign.…I had seen pictures of this sign when I was researching our trip and was hoping we would find it!

It’s a quirky little roadside attraction but I love stuff like this lol!

It was a cowboy riding a missile that was propped up by an old fire truck!

Near the fire truck was a sign that had the town’s name on it!

There were all kinds of oddities here….from a bridge to planes!

After taking our pictures, we continued our drive.

For the next hour, our views were nothing but the flat prairie lands!

Tip: Make sure you have plenty of gas, water and snacks when you are driving in these states as there is nothing around for miles and download offline Google maps so your Google Maps app will continue to work even when you have no service!

About 1.5 hrs after leaving our hotel, we finally arrived to our first stop, the Painted Canyon area of the park.

Here you will find the Painted Canyon Visitors Center along with the National Park sign and a couple of trails that you can hike.

One of the trails located here is called the Painted Canyon Nature Trail and the other is called Painted Canyon Trail.

This area was very crowded!

Bison are often spotted in this area but sadly, we didn’t see any.

After taking our picture with the park sign, we headed inside the visitor center.

We decided to purchase a t-shirt at the visitor center in case we couldn’t find one somewhere else….got to have our t-shirts! 😉

After making our purchase, we walked outside behind the visitor center to check out the views.

We spotted the trailhead for the Painted Canyon Nature trail ...I had it on our itinerary but we decided not to hike it.

After spending about 30 mins here, we continued our drive.

It was really weird because the visitor’s center was the only thing off of this exit…to get to the main entrance of the park, you had to get back on the interstate and drive another 10 mins further!

From the Painted Canyon Visitor Center, just put in Maltese Cross Cabin or South Unit Visitor Center into your GPS and it will get you to the main entrance station off of exit 27.

As we neared the exit to the park, we spotted some horses….we weren’t sure if they were the wild horses that live in the park or not.

Tip: For horse back riding in this area, click here

After we exited off of the highway, our drive took us through the small town of Medora where we would be spending our third night.

Click here for things to see/do in Medora

As you enter the park, you will have another opportunity to take your picture in front of the national park sign.

At this entrance, you will pay the $30 entrance fee. It’s good for 7 days.

Tip: If you will be visiting more than 2 national parks and/or national monuments, you may want to purchase the America the Beautiful pass to save money. It’s $80 and is good for one year from date of purchase.

Always get your map at the entrance station so you can see where things are located in the park.

Shortly after entering the park, we stopped at an overlook that had views of the small town of Medora.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park  was established in 1947 as a national memorial park to honor President Roosevelt.

Tip: The South Unit‘s scenic drive is a 48 mile scenic drive beginning and ending in Medora, ND. Driving alone takes 2 hours. Allow additional time for whatever activities you do or stops you make along the way. However, there is currently construction going on and part of the loop drive is closed so it will be an in/out drive instead of a loop until construction is complete.

After this stop, we came to an area where there were lots of prairie dogs.

There are five species of prairie dogs in North America, but only the black-tailed prairie dog inhabits Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Named for their bark-like calls and black-tipped tail, black-tailed prairie dogs are small, short-tailed animals with eyes and small ears set far back on their heads.

Our next stop was the Skyline Vista Overlook.

The short walk is 0.2 miles round trip on a paved, flat trail.

The views here are similar to those you will see in the Badlands National Park.

From this overlook, you could see the Little Missouri River in the distance.

The views here were beautiful!

We had perfect weather too…..blue skies and cool temperatures!

After this stop, we continued our drive through the park.

The views along the loop drive are really cool!

The park wasn’t crowded at all! We were told by someone that it was the least visited park in the US but according to this list that I found online, that’s not the case.

According to the park’s statistics, there are about 600,000 people a year that visit the park.

However, that’s a far cry from the Great Smoky Mountain National park that gets over 13 million visitors a year!

We pulled over when we saw these crazy rock formations!

These are hard sandstone shields that are caused from rain erosion that sometimes form pillars with caprocks.

After this stop, we headed to our next stop, Wind Canyon Trail.

This trail is a short 0.7 miles round trip.

This trail will give you the best views of the Little Missouri River.

Tip: Keep your eyes open for the wild horses, bison and other animals that roam the park!

There were sheer drop offs in some locations on this hike so be careful!

The views from the overlook are really pretty!

You will get to see some cool rock formations here as well!

Tip: There are more than 185 different species of birds in the park …including eagles! So keep an eye out!

I spotted this bird but couldn’t figure out what it was.

Some shots of the Little Missouri River.

We saw a lot of cacti and flowers blooming in the park.

There’s a a set of stairs that’s carved out of the sand that you will have to climb in order to get the best views of the river.

A few more shots of this area

After this stop, we continued our drive….the park was so green!

We saw more rock formations as we were driving.

From the Scenic Loop Road, we turned onto Jones Creek Trail road and spotted the Upper Jones Creek Trailhead.

This trail is 13.4 miles round trip….no thanks!

Strangely, I couldn’t find anything online about this trail….only this one with a similar name but it’s 7 miles round trip.

From what I’ve found online, there is an upper and a lower Jones Creek Trail.

For a complete list of hikes in the park, click here & to see a map of the park, including the 6 mile section that is closed, click here

Driving Jones Creek Trail road

After this short stop, we headed back to the Scenic Loop Rd and made another stop at the Boicourt Overlook.

From this overlook, the Little Missouri Badlands seem to go on forever!

Also located at this stop, is the Boicourt Overlook Scenic Loop Trail.

This trail offers two viewpoints.

One of the trails is approx. 0.2 miles round trip.

Pictures of the views

The other trail is 0.3 miles round trip and is a paved trail.

I think you can continue the trail past the paved section but we turned around at the end of the pavement.

The views here are nice but not Wow worthy in my honest opinion.

Honestly, there were a few times that I wondered to myself why this was even a national park.

Shortly after leaving this stop and continuing along the scenic loop road, we spotted the wild horses!

Thankfully, I had brought my Cannon 50x zoom lens camera with me because they were way too far from the road to get a good picture with our cellphones!

This is a picture I took with my cellphone.

And these are pictures I took with my Cannon camera.

I’ve had this camera for years….I only take it on trips when I know there’s a possibility of seeing wildlife.

It was really cool seeing the horses….thankfully, the park system allowed them to stay!

They had recently discussed removing the roughly 200 wild horses from the park but due to lots of people advocating for their stay, they decided to keep them in the park but could reduce their numbers down to 35-60 just because they aren’t native to the park!

After taking way too many pictures of the horses, we continued our drive.

We made a quick stop when we say an informational plaque that was describing landscape.

As we continued our drive, we had a pronghorn cross the road right in front of us!

Pronghorns are the fastest land animal in North America, and are often seen in the park!

Right after seeing the pronghorn, we arrived to the section of the loop road that was closed.

This road has been closed since May 2019 due to sinkholes…it is expected to be finished by fall 2024.

At this point, we turned around and headed back the way we had come.

After we got turned around, we spotted a gravel road so decided to drive it.

I had read that you should try to drive the gravel roads throughout the park because they offer scenic views and are usually only 1 mile long.

The views on this drive were beautiful!

We saw lots of cacti blooming!

Later on our drive, we came to Buck Hill.

This was after we had finished driving the gravel road.

Buck Hill trail is 0.4 miles round trip and is the highest point in the South unit of the park.

This is a short but steep walk to the top!

The views were really nice but it was so windy at the top!! We almost got blown away!! 😉

After spending a few minutes here, we continued our drive.

We spotted another group of wild horses!

We even saw one eating near a bison!!

Some of the views in the park were really beautiful while some were just ok!

We saw a lone bison standing on top of a hill!

The south unit is home to approx. 300 bison!

We came up on another gravel road and decided to drive it as well since it was only one mile long.

The views on this drive were really pretty.

We saw some really unique rock formations on this drive.

We spotted another bison while driving this road!

Once we arrived back to the entrance, we decided to stop at the visitor center so we could see the Maltese Cross Cabin.

Tip: Just to give you an idea, we spent 4 hrs in the park

After getting parked, we headed inside the visitor center.

At the visitor center, you can watch a 17-minute park film that will help you get acquainted with the park and its history. The museum and Theodore Roosevelt’s Maltese Cross Cabin are open during visitor center operating hours.

The museum inside the visitor center was really interesting!

It told all about the life of Teddy Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt was the youngest president at the time…he was only 42 yrs old. He only became president when President William McKinley was assassinated.

In 1884, his first wife Alice Lee Roosevelt and his mother Martha died on the same day and only two days after the birth of his daughter, Alice. Roosevelt spent much of the next two years on his properties in the Dakota Badlands.

He lived an interesting life for sure!

I had no idea he had survived an assassination attempt!

After walking through the museum, we headed outside to see the cabin.

The cabin is located directly behind the visitor center.

It was originally located about 7 miles south of Medora in the wooded bottomlands of the Little Missouri river.

During Roosevelt’s presidency, the cabin was acquired for the 1904 World’s Fair, hosted in St. Louis, MO.

The cabin traveled from Missouri to Portland, OR for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition. It would spend time in Fargo, ND before settling on the grounds of the state capital in Bismarck, ND.

The Daughters of the American Revolution eventually took over the care of the cabin, and acquired many of the items you can see today. In 1959, twelve years after the park was established, the Maltese Cross Cabin came to Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

The cabin was constructed in 1883 and was a temporary home for the president.

It had wooden floors and contained a living room, kitchen and a bedroom.

Several items that are displayed in the cabin belonged to Teddy Roosevelt.

This white hutch was used by Roosevelt as a bookcase and a writing desk.

The traveling trunk inscribed with Roosevelt’s initials sits in the bedroom.

A few more pictures of the inside

After leaving the cabin, we headed to the nearby remains of an old slaughterhouse and meat packing plant that was built in 1883.

It was built by the wealthy Marquis family who also had a home in NYC.

You can also tour the 26 room home of the Marquis family in Medora…it’s called the Chateau de Mores.

The ruins of the Marquis’ meat-packing plant, situated on the west edge of Medora, are called Chimney Park.

The plant closed in November 1886, a failure due to fierce competition from major Chicago-based packers, the effects of bad weather and drought, and the Marquis’s inexperience in business.

When the Marquis left Medora in 1886, the plant was abandoned. The building burned in 1907.

All that remains intact is the tall, brick chimney.

There are few other remains scattered throughout the grounds of the park.

Tip: They were holding their annual car show while we were here but we missed it. They hold it in this park.

After leaving the park, we headed to our hotel to check in.

We stayed at the Americinn by Wyndham Medora.

I used the Booking app to book most all of my hotels and this was the only option I saw in Medora!

Click here for hotels in Medora

The hotel was nice but it was one of the most expensive hotels we stayed in during our 11 day trip!

It was definitely overpriced!

The hotel had a lodge feel to it with all of the animal heads hanging around.

They had a pool and offered a free continental breakfast.

Our room had two queen beds and a small bathroom.

Read reviews here

After getting settled into our room, we headed out to dinner.

Click here to see a list of restaurants

Walking through the town of Medora

It was a cute, western themed town!

We decided on a restaurant that I had on my list called Boots Bar & Grill.

We were starving as all we had eaten all day were some snacks that we had in the car!

The place was really crowded but we got seated as soon as we arrived.

After getting seated, we looked over the menu.

We both decided on the 12 oz grilled ribeye that came with a side of sauteed bleu cheese spinach and a loaded baked potato.

The food was delicious!!

Read reviews here

After dinner, we walked through the town.

Once my hubby spotted this map with push pins, he just had to place a pin on the map! 😉

There are a lot of historical buildings scattered throughout the small town.

On a mission to find a Medora tshirt!

We loved all of the cute, colorful buildings!

On our walk, we came up on a statue of Teddy Roosevelt so my hubby just had to have his picture taken with him! 😉

Ok, ok,..I know he’s reading this…I suggested he stand by Teddy so I could take his picture! But look at him….he was thrilled about it!! lol!!

Near the statue was the historic Old Town Hall Theater that was built in 1924.

As president, Teddy Roosevelt returned to Medora in 1903. A public reception was held in the old Medora Town Hall.

Pictures of more buildings we saw in town.

After exploring the town, we headed to the Medora Musical.

I had purchased tickets for this in advance after reading about it during my research.

The musical started at 7:30 but the doors opened at 6:45… we wanted to get there a few minutes early so we could take some pictures and find our seats.

On our drive there, we spotted a rainbow!

Arriving to the musical

This place is up a steep hill in Medora with some beautiful views!

Tip: There are stairs, an escalator and an elevator located here

We took the escalator down to get to our seats

Have your tickets ready because they will scan them before you go down the escalator.

I purchased tickets for 3 Lower/R/ seats 19 & 20 and here’s the view we had of the stage from our seats.

I don’t think any seat is bad but just in case you want to be closer to the restrooms or snack bar, you will want to sit closer to the top.

Here’s a view of the seating

It was really cool the night we went so we ended up purchasing a blanket at the musical for $25!

We noticed several people had brought their own…must have been locals lol!

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I had read some mixed reviews about it but we were so happy that we decided to go….it was so good!

It was very patriotic and it brought me to tears when they started singing Amazing Grace!

During that song, look what happened! We got to witness one of the most amazing rainbows with old glory flying right in front of it!

If you look closely, it was actually a double rainbow!

I HIGHLY recommend you see this musical!!

Read reviews here

The amphitheater was carved into the hillside in 1958. “Teddy Roosevelt Rides Again” was the title of the show when it opened in 1965. It eventually evolved into the Medora Musical.

Over one hundred costumes are designed and constructed for the show each year.

One of the actors, Day-Vawn Miller, is from Nashville! This was his 3rd summer doing the musical.

Have your camera ready near the end of the show so you don’t miss taking pictures of the fireworks!

Another shot of the amphitheater

Tip: They are in the middle of building the Theodore Roosevelt National Library in the same location as the musical. It will open in 2026.

After leaving here, we headed back to our hotel and called it a night!

We had a full 13-14 hour day!!

Thanks for reading!

Stay tuned for Day 4!

Read Day 1 here, Day 2 here and click here to see links to all of my blog posts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hey Guys!

This post continues our 11 day trip through the Dakotas, Nebraska and  Wyoming!

Read Day 1 here & see links to all of my blog posts here

Our dates of travel were June 26 – July 6, 2024.

As I mentioned in my first post, our first night was spent at the Cedar Pass Lodge inside the Badlands National Park.

This is the only lodging for the Badlands.

We started our morning with coffee on our small front porch.

The cabins provided a coffee pot and coffee so that’s always a plus!

Coffee is always better with views like this! 😉

A picture of the lodge

A picture of some of the cabins….I loved all of the trees surrounding the cabins!

At around 8 am, we headed to the lodge for breakfast.

They offered a very limited menu but it was enough to meet our needs. You’re not picky when you’re hungry. 😉

We sat at a table that gave us amazing views of the park!

My hubby ordered the biscuits and gravy with a side of bacon and I ordered the breakfast sandwich that came with fried potatoes.

The food was pretty good.

After breakfast, we headed back to our cabin to pack up and head out.

There were lots of magpies flying around….my hubby loves these birds lol!

After getting packed up, we checked out of the lodge and headed to our next stop.

As we were driving through the Badlands, we came to an overlook that gave us cool views of the Cedar Pass Lodge.

Driving through the park

We spotted another overlook that we hadn’t been to yet as we had not driven the entire loop. So, we made another quick stop.

This overlook was called the Big Badlands Overlook.

Tip: Click here for a list of the overlooks in the park

This overlook provides the opportunity to view the eastern portion of the Badlands wall, and erosional feature that expands from near the town of Kadoka to the town of Wall.

The “wall” is an intricately carved cliff that divides the upper from the lower prairie.

It is more than 60 miles long and is the geological feature in which the park boundaries were drawn. The loop road follows the “wall”.

The views here are incredible so make sure not to miss it!

We had a sweet couple offer to take our picture….we never turn down a “couples” picture since we don’t get that many! 😉

Tip: Make sure you wear good hiking shoes and stay away from the edges as they are very fragile and slick!

Our national parks are beautiful but can be very dangerous if you’re not careful. In 2022, a 21 yr old collapsed and died on a trail in the Badlands after he ran out of water.

Click here to read about the 10 deadliest national parks

Shortly after leaving this overlook, we exited out of the Northeast Entrance Station.

There are 3 entrances to the Badlands National Park.

Hey Guys!

We just returned home from a whirlwind trip to the Dakotas, Nebraska & Wyoming!

We drove 2k miles in 11 days!

I had always heard that the only thing to see in South Dakota was Mt Rushmore but obviously that is being said by people who don’t do their research!

As you all know, I am a big time researcher!

I spend countless hours putting together itineraries for our trips and it always pays off!

We get to see and do so much because of the time I invest!

We usually have very little down time but that’s the way we like it!

So, let’s get started.

Our trip dates were June 26th – July 6th, 2024.

Since we were flying out at 5 am on June 26th, we decided to stay in the newly opened Hilton hotel inside the Nashville airport.

The hotel has only been opened for four months so everything still smelled and looked new!

See reviews here

After being dropped off at the airport by our daughter, we headed inside the hotel to check in.

Our room was very nice!

After getting settled into our room, we headed to the rooftop where they had a pool, restaurant and outdoor seating where you could sit and watch the planes land!

It was so nice!

We sat up here for a while and watched the sunset!

Later we called it a night since we had to be up so early!

The next morning, we were up bright and early at 2:30 am!

I am a stickler about being at our gate way before our flight departs.

After getting ready and packed up, we headed downstairs to the lobby and checked out and then walked the short distance across the sky bridge to the inside of the airport.

It was so convenient staying at the hotel as it usually takes us a good hour from our house to drive to offsite parking and be shuttled to the airport!

Flying over the Badlands National Park

We had a short layover in Dallas and then later landed in Rapid City, SD where we picked up our Jeep Grand Cherokee that we had rented directly through Avis.

Tip: Another good option is Alamo...they had really good reviews. Whatever you do, rent early for the cheapest option because it’s expensive to rent here due to it being a regional airport!

Tip: My advice, you will want to look into getting full coverage insurance for your rental car because this area has a lot of hail storms! The extra insurance costs us around $350 but it gave us peace of mind!

At around 10 am, we were headed to our first stop of the day, Wall Drug Store.

Wall Drug is located approximately 1 hr from the airport.

You will see lots of signs advertising the drug store on your drive!

Wall Drug opened in 1931 by Ted and Dorothy Hustead.

The drug store struggled to stay in business for many years especially through the Great Depression until the Husteads came up with the idea of giving away free ice water to weary travelers.

Soon travelers would make a point to stop at Wall Drug to enjoy a refreshing break and they haven’t stopped coming to Wall Drug since.

The town of Wall is really cute! It’s like an old western town!

Wall has become a hub for tourism and is often referred to as the “Window to the West” or the “Gateway to the Badlands.”

Established as a railroad town for the Chicago/Northwestern Railroad system in 1907, Wall was barely more than a pit stop. By the 1930s, Wall housed a whopping 300 citizens, a hospital, hardware store, “community hut” and two banks.

Today, the population has nearly tripled in size to 876 residents.

They had a cool little post office

The drug store is more like an old shopping mall with lots of different shops and a restaurant.

This place is really crowded! They get up to 20k visitors a day during the summer months!

Tip: Click here for 10 interesting things about Wall Drug Store

We headed to the restaurant to have lunch as we had heard that the hot beef sandwiches were really good!

I ordered that while the hubby opted for a buffalo burger and of course, the free ice water that they still serve today!

The restaurant was really cool with lots of western memorabilia.

My hot beef sandwich was really good but I didn’t care for the buffalo burger…it was too dry!

We had also read all about the famous donuts that the drugstore served so we obviously had to try those too!

The donuts are made fresh daily. There are viewing windows where you can watch the employees making them but we missed that! 🙁

They have been using the same family recipe for generations!

After my lunch, I went back to the counter and purchased two of the donuts and a cup of the 5 cent coffee to go with my yummy dessert!

My hubby opted for a slice of homemade cherry pie instead….it was really good but would have been better had it been warmed up.

The donut was just ok to me….it would have been much better warmed up and it was more of a dense cake like consistency. Not bad but not what I was expecting.

The 5 cent coffee was good though! 🙂

The drug store has a map of the things you can see here and the one thing I had on the list to see was the huge statue of the jackalope!

They had a bunch of them hanging on the wall but we wanted a picture with the big one!

However, once we found it, we were so disappointed because they had it closed off because they were repainting it!!

We were so wanting a picture sitting on top of it!

And then we missed this too.….we can’t believe we missed the huge 40 ft wooden jackalope!

It even had stairs on the inside where you could walk up to the top of it!

I think we missed a lot of stuff here because we were in such a hurry to get to our next stop, the Badlands!

We did spot a buffalo though! 😉

The drug store also has a small store where you can buy some food items, health and beauty items and more but it was really expensive so we asked the employees where the nearest grocery store was so we could buy some water and snacks.

They told us the only grocery store, called Wall Food Center, was just a few minutes walk from the drug store.

We decided to go ahead and drive there so we could be on our way after picking up our groceries.

The store was small but had everything we needed but it was not cheap!

After making our purchases, we headed 10 mins down the road to the Badlands National Park.

Tip: Like many places we visited, you will have no cell service so, I highly recommend that you download offline google maps of all of the places you will be visiting….it was a lifesaver for us! Also, have plenty of gas and water….gas stations can be few and far between!

You will enter the park through the Pinnacles Entrance station and there is a $30 entrance fee for vehicles and it’s good for 7 days.

See a map of the park here

Our first stop was taking a picture in front of the national park sign!

The park was established as a national monument in 1939 and designated a national park in 1978.

We were given a map of the park at the entrance station and a warning that the prairie dogs inside the park had tested positive for the bubonic plague!!

Click here for 15 amazing things to do inside the park

Tip: You can download the Guide Along app for the Badlands and it will guide you through the park and tell you when to pull over….we have used it for many trips and it’s a great app!

After you enter the park, there will be a road to your right I believe, that’s called Sage Creek Rim Road.

This dirt road is only about 6.5 miles long but can take several hours to traverse, simply because there are so many scenic overlooks along the way.

The road conditions do vary, especially after a rain storm, so it is best to check the status when making plans.

There are 3 overlooks offering views of the Badlands Wilderness Area on this drive: Hay Butte Overlook, Wilderness Overlook, and Sage Creek Basin Overlook.

Roberts Prairie Dog Town is another stop along Sage Creek Rim Road where you can see those plaque infested prairie dogs!

The road is rough in some spots but this road gives you the best chance of seeing bison, prairie dogs, pronghorn, bighorn sheep and more.

We ended up seeing bison, prairie dogs, burrowing owls and pronghorn on this drive!

Tip: At the end of the road is a primitive campground. There is no water here, but they have picnic tables and shelter from the sun. Sites are free and are reserved on a first come first serve basis.

After driving all the way to Roberts Prairie Dog town, we turned around and headed back the way we came. However, you can continue along this road for another 18-19 miles and it will connect you to hwy 44 in Scenic.

You can also take 44 from Rapid City to the Badlands but it’s a gravel road. However, there is an old “ghost town” that you can see along the way and an old dinosaur statue. The ghost town is the town I just mentioned called, Scenic.

In 2010, 58 people lived in Scenic. The town was purchased in 2011 and is now abandoned.

Read more here about the route on 44

Tip: Most people will just drive the 39 mile loop road through the park and this is what I would recommend if you are short on time as I wasn’t overly impressed with Sage Creek Rd.

Our next stop was the Pinnacles Overlook.

This overlook is 0.2 miles from the parking lot. You will walk down a flight of steps to get to the overlook.

There are many viewpoints from this overlook so take your time to take in the views!

The views are beautiful but be very careful as the rocks here are very slick!! Make sure you are wearing good shoes!

Tip: There are rattlesnakes in this park so be on the lookout as we heard one rattling under a boardwalk!!

I purchased this hat before our trip and it was a lifesaver!!

After leaving this overlook, we continued our drive through the park.

It was incredible!

We pulled over along the road to take some pictures because the views were so beautiful!!

This was definitely one of our favorite stops!

My husband trying to be cool! 😉

We couldn’t get over how green it was in the bottom of the canyon because it was so hot and dry in the park!

Our rental car in the park.

Just look at these views!

Don’t waste your time with Sage Creek Rd when you could be seeing these views instead!

After this stop along the road, we continued our drive and arrived to my favorite area of the park called the Yellow Mounds!!

Click here for a list of all the overlooks in the park

We couldn’t believe all of the colors in the rocks! Yellows, purples, reds, etc!! It was incredible!

And there were wildflowers blooming all over the park which added to the park’s beauty!

I took so many pics in this area!!

Actually, on our first day, I took almost 11oo pics!! Yikes!

My hubby and I climbed a nearby hill and it made for some cool pics!!

Make sure not to miss this area or you will regret it!

After leaving here, we continued our drive through the park.

We stopped at another pullover where you could see the yellow mounds in the distance.

We stopped at the next overlook but I can’t remember the name of it.

Driving through the park

The next stop was the White River Valley Overlook.

This overlook provided an expansive view of the Badlands close to a set of tall formations, known as the Castle.

Continuing our drive through the park

Such incredible views!

After driving 22 miles of the loop, we came to our next stop which was the Cedar Pass Lodge where we would be spending our first of many nights in South Dakota.

We arrived approx. 30 mins past the check in time of 4.

We stayed in one of the cabins at the lodge and it was so nice!

We really enjoyed our stay here!

After getting settled into our room, we headed back out to drive more of the loop road.

The lodge was within walking distance of the Ben Reifel Visitor Center.

Driving to our next stop, the Notch Trail.

Tip: There are three trailheads located here: Notch, Window and Door ….Click here for hiking trails in the park

The window and door trails are less than a mile round trip and the notch trail is 1.5 miles round trip.

The notch trail is the most popular trail in the park.

The hike starts out on a wooden boardwalk.

Tip: Make sure to have on really sturdy shoes for this hike and watch out for rattlesnakes!

The boardwalk ends and you will be walking in the sand

After a short walk, you will come to a wooden ladder that you have to climb!

Tip: If you don’t want to climb the ladder, click here to read about an alternate route

Since this is such a popular hike, you will most likely have to wait for others to either climb down the ladder or climb up the ladder.

There was a family that was coming down the ladder when we arrived so we had to wait a few minutes before we could climb up.

Once they were down, we headed up!

Ok, it was a bit terrifying because I didn’t have the best shoes on!

After reaching the top of the ladder, we continued the trail.

However, it was short lived because this trail has very steep drop offs and it’s very slick!

For our own safety, we felt it was best to turn around and head back down the ladder!

Going down was much harder and scarier than going up!

My legs were sore for two days after climbing up and down the ladder!

The views were awesome so if you want to continue the trail, be very careful and have on good hiking shoes!

On the way back to the parking lot, we spotted some cliff swallow nests!

In summer, the insect-eating cliff swallows return from their wintering grounds in South America and make their mud nests in sheltered areas on the formations.

We spotted a small arch in the rocks on the way back.

After getting back to our car, we headed back to the lodge to have dinner.

This is the only place in the park to eat and the only lodging in the park.

The restaurant has a limited menu so if you want something else to eat, you can either bring in your own food or go back to Wall and eat.

Wall is 35 mins from the lodge.

We both decided to order the popular Indian tacos because I had read you just had to try them when visiting South Dakota!

The restaurant had amazing views of the Badlands!

The tacos were good but not as good as we thought they would be but when you’re hungry, a lot of things taste better than they are!

It was basically a taco salad on top of a piece of bread that had been fried.

After we ate, we headed into the gift shop that was attached to the restaurant to find a tshirt.

We then headed back to our cabin to relax for a while.

A bit later, we decided to go watch the sunset at one of the overlooks.

Click here for the best places to watch the sunset and sunrise

Driving through the park headed to an overlook

We stopped at the Bigfoot Pass Overlook as this looked like the best place to watch the sunset.

This marks Chief Spotted Elk’s (also known as Bigfoot) journey leading a group of Lakota through the Badlands. This journey would end with the Wounded Knee Massacre.

There was a boardwalk here that led to a bench so we headed to the end of the boardwalk to sit and watch the sunset.

Note: This is the boardwalk that had the rattlesnake under it!

The views here were spectacular!

At one point, we were the only ones here!

There was cacti blooming all over the park!

I snapped a picture of the sun lighting up the clouds!

The sunset was incredible!

I was so glad that we had decided to drive the 20 mins from the lodge to this lookout in hopes to catch the sunset!

My hubby watching the sunset.

And us enjoying the sunset together.

I think I took 100 pics of just the sunset!

Later, we headed back to the car.

Driving back to the lodge

We had hoped for clear skies since the park is a dark sky park but sadly, it was too cloudy to see anything! 🙁

Tip: We had this overlook on our list too but didn’t make it

Tip: Badlands National Park offers stargazing events called Night Sky Viewings every night in the spring, summer, and fall. At these viewings, park rangers and volunteers use powerful laser pointers to show and describe different constellations, planets, and other objects in the night sky.

After arriving back to our cabin, we called it a night!

Thanks for reading!

For those who don’t like to read Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a very short version of my itinerary 

Stay tuned for Day 2! – Update: Read Day 2 here, Day 3 here, Day 4 here, Day 5 here, Day 6 here, Day 7 here, Day 8 here , Day 9 here, Day 10 here & Day 11 here

South Dakota – Badlands, Keystone, Hill City & Sturgis – Day 2 – June 2024

North Dakota – Theodore Roosevelt National Park & Medora – Day 3 – June 2024

North Dakota – Theodore Roosevelt National Park & Medora – Day 4 – June 2024

South Dakota – Deadwood – Day 5 – June 2024

South Dakota – Devils Tower & Spearfish Canyon – Day 6 – July 2024

South Dakota – Custer State Park & Mt Rushmore – Day 7 – July 2024

South Dakota – Custer State Park, Crazy Horse & Custer – Day 8 – July 2024

Nebraska – Carhenge, Scotts Bluff & Chimney Rock – Day 9 – July 2024

South Dakota – Hot Springs, Wind Cave Ntl Park, Keystone & Rapid City – Day 10 – July 2024

South Dakota – Rapid City – Day 11 – July 2024

Click here to see links to all of my blog posts & Click here to follow my YouTube Channel

Please Note: I have recently been notified that if someone subscribes to my blog, the email confirmation will be sent to your spam box with a warning that reads, “this message seems dangerous, It contains a suspicious link that was used to steal people’s personal information”. I have no idea why this is happening and have reached out to WordPress regarding this. In order to click on the link, you will need to mark the email as not spam and it will then move the email to your inbox. At that point, you will be able to click the confirmation email link!