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).

Points of Interest

  • ✦
    Mount Rushmore
    18 m presidential faces carved in granite.
  • ✦
    Badlands National Park
    Lunar eroded plains, pink and yellow pinnacles.
  • ✦
    Custer State Park
    1,400 free-roaming bison, Wildlife Loop Road, Needles Highway.
  • ✦
    Crazy Horse Memorial
    World's largest sculpture-in-progress, Lakota tribute.
  • ✦
    Deadwood
    Historic Wild West town, gold rush era, HBO series.
Practical info
  • Departure Rapid City
  • Destination Deadwood
  • Distance 320 km
  • Duration 5h30
  • Category Long (250–500 km)
  • Best season All seasons
Themes
wild-west monument bison badlands Iconic photo south-dakota gold-rush

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