Staff Pick
Road Trip Black Hills – Mount Rushmore, Badlands, Deadwood
Rapid City
Deadwood
320
km
5h30
drive
All seasons
season
The Itinerary
South Dakota packs some of the American West's most iconic landscapes into a few hundred kilometres. Rapid City, the regional hub, is the perfect base.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 35 km southwest, features 18-metre faces of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln carved into the cliff. 30 minutes away, the Crazy Horse Memorial — far larger, under construction since 1948 — honours the great Lakota chief. Custer State Park, immediately south, is famous for its 1,400-strong free-roaming bison herd, viewable from Wildlife Loop Road.
East, Badlands National Park presents lunar plains eroded into pink and yellow pinnacles — one of America's most otherworldly landscapes. North, Deadwood — a Wild West living museum — preserves its 1870s gold-rush historic district (HBO filmed the eponymous series here). Sturgis, 25 km away, hosts the world's largest motorcycle rally each August (500,000 attendees).
Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 35 km southwest, features 18-metre faces of presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln carved into the cliff. 30 minutes away, the Crazy Horse Memorial — far larger, under construction since 1948 — honours the great Lakota chief. Custer State Park, immediately south, is famous for its 1,400-strong free-roaming bison herd, viewable from Wildlife Loop Road.
East, Badlands National Park presents lunar plains eroded into pink and yellow pinnacles — one of America's most otherworldly landscapes. North, Deadwood — a Wild West living museum — preserves its 1870s gold-rush historic district (HBO filmed the eponymous series here). Sturgis, 25 km away, hosts the world's largest motorcycle rally each August (500,000 attendees).
Points of Interest
-
✦
Mount Rushmore18 m presidential faces carved in granite.
-
✦
Badlands National ParkLunar eroded plains, pink and yellow pinnacles.
-
✦
Custer State Park1,400 free-roaming bison, Wildlife Loop Road, Needles Highway.
-
✦
Crazy Horse MemorialWorld's largest sculpture-in-progress, Lakota tribute.
-
✦
DeadwoodHistoric Wild West town, gold rush era, HBO series.
Take this route offline
Cell coverage thins out fast once you leave Rapid City. Export the map as a geo-referenced PDF before you go and open it in BorealMaps — your GPS position shows on the map with no signal at all.
Try PDF Export How geo-referenced PDF maps workPractical info
- Departure Rapid City
- Destination Deadwood
- Distance 320 km
- Duration 5h30
- Category Long (250–500 km)
- Best season All seasons
Plan your adventure with our interactive map
Open the map