Summary of Day Trips from Rapid City
Rapid City — South Dakota’s second largest city — is best known as the gateway to Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills. However, a trip to the state’s western edge would be incomplete without a larger exploration of the region. From Rapid City, visitors can learn important facts about the Native American experience, roam the prairie with iconic buffalo, and even travel back to the ice age on an active archaeological dig. Here are the top day trips to take from Rapid City, South Dakota.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial: A Bucket List View
You can’t go to South Dakota and skip Mount Rushmore. It’s true that the 60-foot-tall faces of four of America’s most influential presidents carved between 1927 and 1941 on sacred Native American land appear smaller than you’d expect in person. Nevertheless, walking the state-flag-lined promenade towards the “grand view” of the sculpture satisfies a popular bucket list item all the same. The site hosts a half-mile walking trail — the Presidential Trail — at the base of the sculpture, a gift shop, a dining room, and an amphitheater where nightly presentations include a ranger talk and a short film leading up to the lighting of the sculpture.
Getting There: Mount Rushmore lies just 30 minutes by car from Rapid City near the popular tourist town of Keystone. Parking at the national memorial costs $10 per car, motorcycle, or RV ($5 for seniors) and is not covered by any National Park Service pass.
Travel Tip: The ice cream shop at the base of the mountain serves Thomas Jefferson’s own vanilla ice cream recipe. Although it costs more than the shop’s other options, it’s worth the splurge!
Crazy Horse Memorial: A Monument to All Native Americans
Mount Rushmore isn’t the only mountain sculpture in town. Just 40 minutes down the road lies Crazy Horse, whose backstory and massive size (the sculpture’s head is 87 feet high alone) make this sight worth a visit. The carving of this sculpture of the prominent Oglala Lakota chief in the sacred lands of the Black Hills was envisioned by Chief Henry Standing Bear, who approached Korczak Ziolkowski — an assistant sculptor working on Mount Rushmore — with the plan to share the Native American story. Ziolkowski began the carving in 1948 and worked on the memorial until his death in 1982, turning down millions of dollars in government funding. Today, the sculpture is a work in progress helmed by two of Ziolkowski’s daughters, who took over the project after his passing.
Visitors to Crazy Horse can take a bus ride for a closer view of the sculpture and learn all about Native American history in the site’s impressive museum. Admission fees support the ongoing carving, the museum, and the Foundation’s educational programs.
Getting There: The Crazy Horse Memorial is located just under an hour’s drive from Rapid City in the heart of the Black Hills, between the towns of Hill City and Custer. Expect per-car admission fees around $12 per person or $30 per car with three people or more. Admission is $7 per person on a motorcycle, and waived for Native Americans, active military members, and children age six and under.
Travel Tip: Don’t miss a chance to take home a piece of the mountain — visit the Rock Box near the to-scale model of the sculpture to grab a rock blasted away from the carving.
Custer State Park: Where the Buffalo Roam
No trip to South Dakota would be complete without a good look at the place where buffalo roam. The 110-square-mile Custer State Park provides plenty of opportunities to get almost uncomfortably close to the iconic bovine, plus prairie dogs and burros, as they graze on the park’s grasslands beneath dramatic granite cliffs. Many visitors choose to drive the Wildlife Loop Road, which winds through the heart of the park and takes around 45 minutes.
However, once a year in late September, guests can watch the park’s 1300-strong herd get collected by actual cowboys for testing, branding, and sorting. This annual Custer State Park buffalo roundup draws around 20,000 spectators and is an act of true Americana.
Getting There: Custer State Park lies 40 minutes south of Rapid City. The best way to see the park is by car, with a $20 per car ($10 per motorcycle) temporary license fee required upon entry.
Travel Tip: Drive north on Iron Mountain Road as you exit the park to encounter the narrow Scovel Johnson, C.C. Gideon, and Doane Robinson tunnels, which each frame Mount Rushmore perfectly.
Pine Ridge Reservation: The Native American Experience, Past & Present
The Oglala Lakota have faced challenges that many Americans can’t even fathom. Visiting Pine Ridge — one of the largest Native American reservations in the country — confirms the difficulties of Native American life in many ways. However, the reservation also offers a glimpse of hope in its thriving schools, such as Oglala Lakota College and the Red Cloud Indian School.
Established in 1971, Oglala Lakota College today enrolls around 1500 students per semester and has awarded over 3000 degrees in fields like teaching and nursing. The college features a historical center displaying photographs and artwork from the Oglala Lakota people from the early 1800s to the Wounded Knee Massacre.
The Red Cloud Indian School, founded in 1888 by Jesuits, plays an important role in preserving the Lakota language. Visitors can tour the site’s Lakota Catholic Church, rebuilt in 1998 in an impressive fusion of Indian and Catholic architectural styles, and walk up to the grave of Red Cloud, one of the tribe’s most important leaders. The school also hosts an annual art show, the Red Cloud Indian Art Show, and features a gift shop that collaborates solely with Lakota artisans.
The site of the Wounded Knee Massacre also lies within Pine Ridge. Today, it is marked by a cemetery and mass grave, offering a somber look at just one of the struggles the Oglala Lakota have faced. Visitors should be prepared to politely decline if approached by vendors selling dream catchers and crafts.
Getting There: Red Cloud Indian School is located 90 miles southeast of Rapid City. Allot a full day for a complete visit to the reservation.
Travel Tip: Tatanka Rez Tourz, run by Oglala Lakota College student Tianna Yellowhair and her father, is the only licensed tour guide business on the reservation. They offer bespoke tours, traditional performances, and lessons on medicinal plants.
Wall Drug: Knickknacks and Nostalgia
If you haven’t spent your whole life indoors, you’ve likely seen a sign for Wall Drug. The roadside attraction’s eponymous stickers adorn dive bar bathrooms and RV bumpers all over the world, not to mention the dozens of signs lining the highway between Rapid City and Wall. Started in 1931 by the Hustead family, Wall Drug gained popularity by offering free ice water to every passerby. Today, the Hustead family’s third generation presides over a 76,000-square-foot amusement complex selling everything from cowboy boots to Black Hills gold. Visitors can take a seat on a massive, mythical jackalope or pose in front of a mural of Mount Rushmore.
The cafeteria, decorated with the country’s largest collection of Western art, is an excellent place to enjoy the family’s famous hot beef sandwich, smothered in thick gravy, and homemade maple donuts.
Getting There: Wall Drug is located 49 minutes east of Rapid City on I90, and it’s among the best-signed pit stops on the planet. You can’t miss it.
Travel Tip: If you’re not driving, Wall Drug’s cafeteria serves perhaps the best ice-cold Bud Light draft you will ever experience.
Badlands National Park: Pinnacles & Prairie Dogs
Badlands National Park, where almost 380 square miles of windswept prairie drop off into jagged red pinnacles and buttes, can be approached in various ways. The park’s eroded landscape displays different moods as the sun moves across the sky, and the land’s features vary throughout the park.
Visitors can enter at the Badlands Pinnacles entrance and head to the Pinnacles outlook for one of the most colorful sunset scenes available. Alternatively, after a day spent at Pine Ridge, travelers can head back towards Rapid City via the impressive Red Shirt Table Overlook — the sudden drop from green grass to red sand there feels like the edge of the world.
Getting There: The Badlands Pinnacles entrance is 56 minutes from Rapid City in Wall, SD, not far from Wall Drug. The Red Shirt Table Overlook is 49 minutes southeast of Rapid City.
Travel Tip: Don’t want to drive back to Rapid City after sunset? Consider lodging at the park’s Cedar Pass Lodge, featuring cabins and a casual campground that offer beautiful sunrise views and a delicious diner breakfast.
Hot Springs, South Dakota: Mammoths and Mustangs
The quiet town of Hot Springs offers much more than just the thermal waters that give it its name. A discovery in 1975 uncovered the sinkhole grave of over 60 mammoths, making the site the largest concentration of mammoth fossils in the world. Today, the Mammoth Site invites visitors to tour an active paleontological dig and see fossils of two types of mammoth, alongside remains of other species such as camels, wolves, and bears. Summer excavation programs even allow kids to participate in the dig! Entry fees range from $7 to $10, with varying visiting hours by season.
After exploring Ice Age history, head to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, a private ranch that cares for over 500 wild horses released by the Bureau of Land Management. These magnificent mustangs roam freely across 6000 acres along the Cheyenne River, coexisting with Native American ceremonies and Hollywood sets. Visitors can join various tours — from 2-hour guided bus tours to exclusive photography excursions — or even sponsor a mustang with a yearly donation of $400.
Getting There: Hot Springs is located 57 minutes south of Rapid City by car.
Travel Tip: At the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary, don’t miss the ancient petroglyphs carved into a cliffside, estimated to be 8,000 to 10,000 years old.
