Hidden Treasures in One Underrated State
South Dakota ended up being one of the biggest surprises of our entire road trip. We got a lot of confused looks when we told people we were spending nearly two weeks in the Dakotas, but by the end of the trip we completely understood why people fall in love with this state. Between the national parks, incredible hiking, wildlife, scenic drives, and wonderfully weird roadside attractions, there was way more to see than we expected.
The Black Hills and Spearfish Canyon especially stood out to us. The scenery there honestly felt underrated compared to some of the more talked-about western destinations. We packed a lot into this trip and are excited to share some of our favorite stops across South Dakota.
This trip was taken July 2023.
Our South Dakota Itinerary:
- Day 1: Sioux Falls
- Day 2: Roadside Attractions and Badlands Day 1
- Day 3: Badlands National Park and Rapid City
- Day 4: Custer Wildlife Loop and Wind Cave National Park
- Day 5: Needles Highway, Hiking and Mt Rushmore
- Day 6: Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood
Day 1: Sioux Falls (lodging: Hilton Garden Inn)
We entered South Dakota from Omaha and spent our first evening in Sioux Falls, which immediately impressed us. The city felt clean, walkable, and much larger and livelier than we expected. We stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn right along the river, which made it easy to explore downtown on foot later that evening.
Our first stop was Falls Park, where you can get surprisingly close to the waterfalls and walk along the rock formations for different views of the falls. It was a great first stop in the state.
For dinner we grabbed pizza at Papa Woody’s, then somehow followed that up with cotton candy next door because… road trip rules.
That evening we walked through downtown, browsed a few shops, and just enjoyed the atmosphere along the river.
Day 2: Roadside Attractions and Badlands Day 1
The next day we officially started our drive across South Dakota, which quickly turned into a string of wonderfully random roadside stops.
One of the first was Porter Sculpture Park, a massive collection of over 50 sculptures made from salvaged metal spread across ten acres. Some of them are enormous, strange, and oddly fascinating in the best way.
We also stopped at the famous Corn Palace, which somehow manages to be exactly as advertised — a giant palace decorated in corn that gets redesigned every single year. South Dakota fully embraces roadside Americana, and honestly, that became part of the fun of this trip.
Along the drive we visited an archaeological site preserving a prehistoric Native American village over 1,000 years old, saw a tiny church, a giant dinosaur skeleton, and eventually made our way to the 1880 Town.
The 1880 Town was one of the better roadside stops. The recreated western town includes more than 30 authentic buildings including a jail, saloon, post office, and schoolhouse, all relocated there piece by piece. There was also a surprisingly large collection of memorabilia from Dances With Wolves, which filmed throughout parts of South Dakota.
Before entering the Badlands we stopped at the Badlands Ranch Store to see prairie dogs. For $1 you can buy peanuts to feed them, which seemed harmless at the time… until GyPSy Guide later informed us that feeding prairie dogs is discouraged and they can carry plague. So that was a fun piece of delayed information.
Eventually we made it into Badlands National Park — during a stretch of 103-degree heat. Because of that, we saved most of our hiking for the evening and early morning hours.
One of our favorite first hikes was the Door Trail. It starts on a boardwalk before opening through a break in the Badlands wall — “the door” — into a wide open landscape of rugged formations and dusty terrain. Once beyond the boardwalk, the trail becomes much less defined, which made it feel more adventurous while still being easy to follow thanks to the marker posts.
We also walked the short Window Trail around sunset, which gave us great views across the formations as the light started changing for the evening.
That night we stayed inside the park at Cedar Pass Lodge, which we were really glad we did. Being able to experience the Badlands early and late in the day without extra driving was worth it.
Day 3: Badlands National Park and Rapid City (lodging: Hotel Alex Johnson)
We started early the next morning to hike the Notch Trail before the heat and crowds arrived. The trail itself is only about 1.5 miles roundtrip, but the highlight is definitely the wooden ladder climb near the beginning. It looks a little sketchy at first, but ended up being very manageable and fun.
The Badlands are such a unique place because there are viewpoints everywhere, but you can also just wander out among the formations and explore.
Afterward we continued driving the scenic loop through the park, stopping at several overlooks along the way. We also used GyPSy Guide (which I think is now called GuideAlong), and it was honestly one of the better audio tours we used on a road trip.
One stop we probably would skip next time was the Prairie Dog area deep off the gravel road. Maybe we just had bad timing, but we barely saw any there — definitely fewer than at the ranch store on the way in.
For lunch we stopped in Wall to visit the famous Wall Drug. It’s touristy in exactly the way you’d expect, but also kind of impossible not to enjoy. We grabbed food, wandered through the shops, and leaned fully into the road trip atmosphere.
That evening we reached Rapid City, stopping first at Bear Country USA, where you drove through wildlife areas filled with bears, bison, elk, and other animals.
Rapid City itself ended up being another really pleasant surprise. Downtown was easy to walk around, and we enjoyed seeing the presidential statues scattered throughout the city streets.
We stayed at the historic Hotel Alex Johnson, which is supposedly haunted and has hosted everyone from presidents to celebrities over the years (including some highlights: Alfred Hitchcock, Buzz Aldrin, Kevin Costner, Elton John and more!). Whether haunted or not, it was a cool historic hotel and fit perfectly with the Black Hills atmosphere.
The evening ended with pizza, ice cream, and hanging out in the downtown square.
Day 4: Custer Wildlife Loop and Wind Cave National Park
The morning started with the Wildlife Loop in Custer State Park, which ended up being one of the best drives of the trip. The road winds through rolling prairie and hills filled with wildlife, and before long we were surrounded by bison grazing right alongside the road.
Custer is home to one of the largest publicly owned bison herds in the world, with around 1,400 animals roaming the park.
We also stopped at the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, which was a shorter stop but really interesting.
Later in the day we made a somewhat last-minute decision to tour Wind Cave National Park. We weren’t originally sure if we wanted to spend the time on a cave tour, but were really glad we did. The tour lasted about 1.25 hours and gave a fascinating look into one of the longest cave systems in the world.
For the next three nights we stayed at the Mount Rushmore KOA, which may honestly be one of the nicest KOAs we ever seen. The kids still talk about it years later.
Every evening they were swimming, playing basketball, bouncing on the jump pad, or racing down the waterslide. The location also worked really well as a central base for exploring the Black Hills. We stayed in the hotel portion of the KOA overlooking one of the pools, and between the pancake breakfasts and taco bar dinners, it ended up being a great family setup.
Day 5: Needles Highway, Hiking and Mt Rushmore
We headed out early to drive Needles Highway, one of the most scenic roads in South Dakota. The narrow tunnels, granite spires, and winding roads made this drive feel almost like a smaller-scale version of some western mountain parks.
One of our favorite hikes of the trip was the Cathedral Spires Trail. The 1.8-mile trail winds through pine forest and granite formations before opening to incredible views of the towering spires.
Later we spent the afternoon at Sylvan Lake, which was absolutely packed but easy to understand why. The lake is gorgeous and feels more like somewhere in the Rockies than what most people picture when they think of South Dakota.
Parking was a challenge, but once we found a spot we spent hours there swimming, picnicking, relaxing on the rocks, and watching people cliff jump into the water. We walked the trail around the lake too, although honestly the swimming and hanging out were the highlights for us.
That afternoon we visited Crazy Horse Memorial, which ended up being far more impressive than expected. The scale alone is hard to fully appreciate until you’re standing there. The visitor center film did a really good job explaining the story and significance behind the monument, and the museum itself was excellent. The kids especially enjoyed this stop.
We also visited Mount Rushmore, where we walked the Presidential Trail up closer to the carvings. One thing we appreciated was that the site included presentations from local Indigenous performers and discussions acknowledging the sacred history of the land long before the monument existed. It added important context to the experience.
Later we drove more of Needles Highway, tried an alpine slide (definitely overpriced, still fun), and visited the Presidential Wax Museum, which was entertaining even if parts of the historical interpretation felt a little overly sanitized.
That evening we rented an ATV through the KOA and rode trails out to an old gold mine. We hardly saw anyone else the entire time, and having the area almost completely to ourselves made it one of our favorite evenings of the trip.
Day 6: Spearfish Canyon and Deadwood (lodging: Holiday Inn)
Our final major stop in South Dakota was Spearfish Canyon, which quickly became one of our favorite areas in the entire state.
The scenic drive winds through towering canyon walls, waterfalls, and dense forest, and it felt completely different from the Badlands or prairie landscapes earlier in the trip.
We took short hikes to Roughlock Falls and Spearfish Falls, both easy walks with really beautiful scenery.
From there we hiked to Devil’s Bathtub, which turned out to be one of the more fun hikes of the trip. The trail itself is only about 1.5 miles roundtrip, but it involves constant creek crossings as you work your way upstream.
At the end is a crystal-clear natural pool carved into the rock over thousands of years, complete with a natural waterslide. The water was freezing — probably around 55 degrees — which kept most people from fully committing to the slide while we were there.
Afterward we had a picnic, grabbed some much-needed ice cream, and stopped at the D.C. Booth Fish Hatchery, one of the oldest fish hatcheries in the country dating back to 1896.
On the drive toward Deadwood we also stopped in Lead to see the Homestake Mine, which was once the deepest and largest gold mine in North America. It has hundreds of miles of mines, some stretching as deep at 8000 feet underground and produced over 40 Million oz of gold in its lifetime.
That evening we stayed in Deadwood, the historic Wild West gambling town tucked into the hills. We had heard mixed things beforehand, but honestly enjoyed it. It definitely has a unique atmosphere, but that’s part of what made it memorable.
Wrapping Up South Dakota
South Dakota ended up being one of the most unexpectedly diverse and memorable states we’ve visited. In less than two weeks we went from waterfalls and forests to prairies, caves, granite peaks, wildlife loops, western towns, and one of the strangest collection of roadside attractions anywhere in the country.
The Black Hills especially surprised us. Between Custer State Park, Needles Highway, Spearfish Canyon, and Badlands National Park, there was far more outdoor beauty here than we ever expected.
This trip completely changed the way we think about South Dakota, and it easily became one of our favorite road trip states.
Next up, we continued north into North Dakota — which turned out to have a few surprises of its own too. You can read more about that adventure over on our North Dakota page.
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