Road Tripping through South Dakota in 3 Days

From Mount Rushmore to Badlands to Custer State Park, the state of South Dakota is filled with with dramatic landscapes, unexpected sights, and lots of bison roaming around. Driving through South Dakota in July 2020 was a must-do on our 55 Day Road Trip Across America to experience the unique badlands formations and stunning natural and man-made monuments.

Coming from Chicago, IL, we made our way to South Dakota by driving through Madison, WI and making our first road trip stop at the Jolly Green Giant statue in Blue Earth, MN. We stopped at our Airbnb in Sioux Falls for the night to rest after our 9 hour drive. We had finally arrived in South Dakota and thus our first official day of touring South Dakota began tomorrow!

Road Tripping through South Dakota in 3 Days

Day 1: Rapid City to Mount Rushmore

After our first day on the road, we drove from Sioux Falls to Rapid City where we would be staying for three nights while we go in and out of regional parks.

Stop by The World’s Only Corn Palace

On our way to Rapid City, we thought it was essential that we stop at The World’s Only Corn Palace in Mitchell after passing numerous billboards along our highway drive. As a classic road trip tourist attraction, we were able to view the Corn Palace’s unique corn murals outside the building and munched on some fresh popcorn while learning about this small town.

Mount Rushmore

Once we arrived in Rapid City, we grabbed a quick bite to eat for dinner and drove to Mount Rushmore National Memorial about an hour before sunset. As the sun set illuminated the sky behind the massive sculpture in the rocks, we took a walk along the quick 0.6 mile Presidential Trail to see different angles of the four presidents. We ended our loop right back at the Avenue of Flags to watch the Evening Light Ceremony.

I would say you only need about 1 to 2 hours to enjoy Mount Rushmore.

Day 2: Badlands & Wall

The drive from Rapid City to Badlands is about an hour but that doesn’t mean we didn’t enjoy the prairies along the way! The excitement of seeing the out-of-this-world geologic formations increased as we approached closer to the park through the Interior Entrance.

We drove northwest up the Badlands Loop Road to Exit 110 in Wall. With the America the Beautiful annual pass, we didn’t have to pay an entry vehicle fee.

Hike Cliff Shelf Nature Trail

Once we entered Badlands National Park, we immediately walked the short 0.5 loop Cliff Shelf Nature Trail to take in the breathtaking views along the boardwalk to begin our badlands journey. It only got even more exciting from here!

Hike Notch Trail

My favorite hike I did in Badlands! The thrilling 1.3 mile Notch Trail features a short stairs climb up a ladder and walk along the cliffs.

The towering rock formations were absolutely stunning to walk alongside, as well as reaching the great view at the top of the vast structures and Black Hills.

Walk on Window Trail

The Window Trail is a very short, 0.3 mile boardwalk trail to the view of more badlands and interesting color lines within the rocks. As we were pretty tired and hot by this point, we sadly skipped Door Trail and continued our way to more overlooks along the road.

Stop by Panorama Point

Arguably the best overlook in my opinion and most Instagram-worthy. There seemed to be even more badlands formations here that went on for miles and you could see the reddish pink tones even more clearly than before.

After carefully walking out along some formations cliffs (we followed a person who looked like they very much knew what they were doing), we were able to really see the expanse of the badlands all around us.

Drive along Sage Creek Rim Road

Having never really travelled west of Illinois by driving, we were fiending to see some bison. We had researched previously that our best bet to see animals was to go to the Roberts Prairie Dog Town along Sage Creek Rim Road, which is exactly what we did. Tip: this is a unpaved dirt road.

Along the drive, we saw numerous prairie dogs scurrying around their towns and my boyfriend had his foot fall in one of the prairie dog holes. There was large storm clouds coming in, so we knew we had to turn back soon as we were approaching the end of Sage Creek Road. We had finally seen a few lone bison grazing far away in the field until we turned a corner and saw several cars stopped along the road. There was a large bison herd that had sensed the storm and was migrating our way.

With the gorgeous sunset in the background, we stayed in our car and watching in awe as many bison walked past our car to find a safer location.

Stop by Wall Drug

Ending on that great note of seeing so many bison, we left by driving out from the Sage Creek Rim Trail to Wall. We grabbed the classic 5 cent coffee at the historic Wall Drug Store. After walking around a bit to avoid the rainfall, we then headed back to Rapid City after a long day.

Luckily, we had probably spent about an hour watching the bison, because by the time we got back to Rapid City, we found out that there had been a huge hail storm which cut out all the power lines. Thank you, bison! Additionally, a week later, we found out that Tony Hawk had actually been at Badlands a few days after us. Sad we missed him!

Day 3: Custer State Park

Drive along Iron Mountain Road

Our final full day in South Dakota! After driving through Keystone, we reached Custer State Park where our first destination was the drive on Iron Mountain Road toward the East Entrance. There were tunnels on this road that provided amazing views of Mount Rushmore surrounded by the trees.

Drive along Wildlife Loop Road

Once we had entered the park, we drove along the Wildlife Loop Road in hopes of seeing more animals and it definitely delivered! Here, we saw mules, miniature horses, goats, and bison.

(I promise this goat is just sleeping).

Drive along Needles Highway

From there, we drove up the Needles Highway to see the picturesque pointed rocks along the contrast of the pine and spruce forests.

Hike Sunday Gulch Trail

We followed Needles Highway all the way to Sylvan Lake where we stopped for a quick snack to get ready for our hike around Sunday Gulch Trail, a strenuous 3.9 mile hike complete with rock scrambling and along a creek. We did have slight trouble finding the entrance to the trail without a map, but found that once you walk around the edge of the lake, there is a slight rock tunnel area to go through.

Once there, you get to decide but we turned left and hiked the trail loop clockwise. By going clockwise, you end the hike with scrambling up the large rocks by the waterfall rather than down it. They have railings along the rocks in case it gets slippery! If you would rather hop down the rocks instead, turn right at the beginning and hike counterclockwise.

All in all, Custer State Park easily took up our whole day and on the way back to Rapid City we went. As we left, we tried to stop over by Crazy Horse Memorial, which is currently being built since 1948 to be the largest mountain carving and Eighth Wonder of the World in progress. However, it sadly seemed to be closed.

Day 4: Spearfish Canyon (bonus)

I know I said this was a 3 day itinerary, but on our way out of South Dakota to Yellowstone, we were able to stop at Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills.

Hike Devil’s Bathtub

In Spearfish Canyon, we got sidetracked to hike Devil’s Bathtub, about 1 mile roundtrip through the forest and across a stream to a waterfall flowing into a natural pool. I recommend wearing shoes you don’t mind getting wet to cross the stream and a swimsuit if you’re up for a water slide along the rocks.

Stop by Bridal Veil Falls

While driving through the 22 mile Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway, we stumbled upon this large waterfall called Bridal Veil Falls (where I slipped on a wet rock and cracked my phone screen).

The Scenic Byway isn’t a loop, so we had to drive back up north to get to our location toward Devil’s Tower National Monument and Yellowstone.

After stopping here and at Devil’s Tower, we realized we were starting to get tight on time and that we wouldn’t arrive to our Yellowstone hotel until after midnight. Even though we had to book our way through Montana as fast as we could, we don’t regret stopping by this beautiful drive.

Thank you for the amazing trip through our first day on our road trip, South Dakota!

Feel free to leave a comment or question below if you have been to or planning on visiting South Dakota, I would love to hear about your travels!