South Dakota

The Badlands weren’t in our original itinerary. We squeezed them in at the end of a very long day (after seeing the Devils Tower and Mount Rushmore) and unfortunately the lighting wasn’t great by the time we got there and we didn’t have a lot of energy left to get out and walk around.

Nonetheless I’m really glad we went. If you have made it to Rapid City it is only 88 more miles to get to the Badlands and the Highway 240 Loop Road through the park only takes an extra 60 minutes if you don’t stop.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre mid way through the park.
Accommodations: There are campgrounds inside the park as well as Cedar Pass Lodge (located by the visitor center). Rapid City is the closest large-ish city.
Approximate Time: 60 minutes – half a day.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre give yourself about an hour to complete it
Admission: $15 for 7 days.

If we were to go again, I’d try to make sure we had enough time to get out and do a few short walks.

It’s amazing how fast the scenery changes while you go through. Similar to Drumheller in Alberta, this area is also a large fossil bed. It is considered to be one of the richest mammal fossil beds in the world.

There are two stops (one on each end of the loop road) that I would also recommend.

The Minuteman Missile National Historic Site is on the Badlands Loop and is located south of I-90 at exit 131. It closes at 4:30pm so it unfortunately wasn’t open while we passed through. At the site is a underground launch control centre and a missile silo from the cold war. The visitor centre gives you some insight into the cold war period and gives information about what the missile sites were really like as opposed to what you see in the movies.

You can see the Missile Silo May 2 – October 31 with no reservations. You can also get a tour of the launch control centre. On Tuesdays and Thursdays they offer short tours in the morning for the first 200 visitors. On Mondays, Wednesdays, Friday and Saturdays you can get a formal tour but you need to make reservations in advance. See the Minuteman Missile website for more information.

You can also get a stamp for your passport book at the visitor centre and they offer a Junior ranger program for kids 7 and up.

The 2nd stop is located in Wall South Dakota at the West end of the Badlands Loop. It’s pretty hard to miss Wall Drug. There are billboards along the way starting miles away. Offering things like free ice water, homemade doughnuts and 5 cent coffee. By the time we saw our 50th sign, we knew we had to go see what it was. It was pretty much what we had expected. It’s a large building complex that feels like a cross between a flea market and a mom and pop store. This was our last stop of the day.

They have a lot of souvenir areas, as well as a kids play space, a large western art gallery along the walls of the cafe and half a T-Rex up on the wall that moves and roars a few times an hour. Gordie was not fond of the T-Rex. If you have a kid would might also find it scary, I would suggest taking a look at the map and being very careful going into the back building. We we at the opposite end of the building and it still made Gordie burst into tears. You can find more about Wall Drug at http://walldrug.com

If you missed Mount Rushmore, the Devils Tower,Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

We stopped in at the Mount Rushmore after leaving the Devils Tower. They are relatively close to each other (okay it’s about 2.5 hrs) and neither should require more than half a day each, so together they make a really great travel day.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre.
Accommodations: You can stay at nearby Rapid City, SD. Rapid City seems to have every kind of tourist attraction you could think of, Waterslides, Minigolf, Petting Zoo etc.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes – half a day
Worth the Trip: It is definitely something to see
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)
Admission: Admission is actually free but you need to pay for parking ($11) which is not covered by any National Park pass. This is good for all year.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect at Mount Rushmore. I asked my husband along the way whether it was going to seem majestic or kitschy. In the end, it wasn’t either. The view of Mount Rushmore you typically see is in the picture above. That had always given me the impression that it was the mountain. But as you can see in my first picture, it’s actually quite a bit smaller than I had expected. It’s still huge, but it is only carved into a small part of the mountain. So it didn’t seem tacky, but it didn’t have the overwhelming presence that I was expecting either. It is really an amazing feat of human engineering, but I can’t say that I really connected with it. This I suspect was due to, as a Canadian, it just doesn’t represent part of  my history.

We didn’t spend a long time at Mount Rushmore, we were trying to get to the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site and Badlands National Park later that day, so we missed all of the museum areas, walks and kids exploration area. We did stop for lunch and a woman there asked to take Gordie’s picture and then offered to take one of our family for us. I’m glad she did as it ended up being one of the few with all of us in it. Gordie looks a little suspicious 🙂

If we were to go again, I think I would save it for later in the day and get there just before dark. I don’t know if you could get a full appreciate for it without seeing it during the day. But in the evening they do a lighting ceremony which includes a ranger talk, and a film and concludes with the lighting of the sculpture. It starts at 9pm May 8th to August 13th and 8pm August 14 to September 8th.

Stay Tuned for our trip to Badlands National Park. If you missed the Devils Tower, Yellowstone or my tips for taking kids to National Parks/Monuments be sure to check them out too.

The Devils Tower of Wyoming is the first US National Monument. It was also our first stop after leaving Yellowstone. It is a natural geological feature – actually the core of a volcano, which became exposed after years of erosion. The Devils Tower is composed of 6 sided columns that are slowly falling apart, creating the boulder field at the base of the tower. This tower was featured in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Yes, it is a real place, no it is not hollow.

Passport Stamp: Inside the Visitor Centre at the base of the Tower (open mid-spring through fall)
Accommodations: Not at the Monument. But you can stay at nearby Hulett.
Approximate Time: 30 minutes if you’re just stopping to look, 1.5 – 2 hours if you want to walk the 2km path around the tower too. There is a longer path (8km) if you are interested as well.
Worth the Trip: Absolutely. It is a really interesting site. But I probably wouldn’t go again until my kid(s) would be old enough to remember.
Jr. Ranger Program: Available in the Visitor Centre (you will need approximately 1 hr to complete it)

Setting out on our walk around the tower.

Can you see Gordie and my husband sitting out on the boulders?

See? There they are. You can climb a short ways into the boulder field but if you want to get closer or climb the tower (yes you can actually climb the tower) you have to register at the Visitor Centre.

We saw someone climbing up the tower while we were there. The first people who were recorded to have climbed the tower built a huge ladder to get to the top. Apparently you can still see pieces of it up there, but we weren’t able to identify them.

After Gordie had climbed up onto the boulder field with his daddy he wanted to climb every boulder he came across (of which there were a lot).

The area is considered sacred to the natives of the area who tie prayer mats and and other items in the trees.

      

White tailed deer, mule deer, rabbits and porcupines live in the area along with many birds. Gordie really enjoyed looking for the chipmunks we saw along the way too. Also, watch for snakes! We ran across the one above (which it turns out is actually just a bull snake).

Stay tuned for Mount Rushmore! And if you missed my series on Yellowstone National Park, you can find it here. You may also want to take a look at my tips about taking your kids to US National Parks/ Monuments.