South Dakota's Outdoor Circuit
The Black Hills and Badlands occupy the far southwest corner of South Dakota and together deliver one of the most photogenic and underrated outdoor weekends in the country. You get genuinely alien geological formations at Badlands National Park, a free-roaming bison herd of 1,300 animals in Custer State Park, and the famous presidential carvings — plus Crazy Horse Memorial, which is still being carved and which most visitors find more impressive than Rushmore. Three days covers the essential circuit from Wall, SD.
Trip Overview
- Duration: 3 days
- Base town: Wall, SD (Badlands gateway) — day 2/3 consider moving to Custer or Hill City
- Entry fees: Badlands NP $30/vehicle · Custer State Park $20/vehicle · Mount Rushmore free (parking $10)
- Best months: May–June and September–October
- Distance from Rapid City: 75 miles to Badlands Visitor Center (1 hr 15 min)
Day 1 — Badlands National Park
Enter Badlands via the Northeast Entrance from Wall, SD and stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center for orientation. The Badlands Loop Road (39 miles) connects all major overlooks — drive it in 90 minutes or spend a full day stopping at every pullout. Priority stops: Big Badlands Overlook (the best panoramic view of the formations), Pinnacles Overlook at sunset, and the prairie dog town at Roberts Prairie Dog Town.
Hiking: The Notch Trail (1.5 miles, moderate — includes a log ladder and exposed ledge traverse) is the most dramatic short hike in the park with views from the canyon rim. The Door Trail (0.75 miles, easy) enters the formations through a gap in the wall. The Window Trail (100 yards) looks down into a canyon slot from the rim. All three together take about 3 hours. AllTrails rating for Notch Trail: 4.6★ (2,847 reviews)
Notch Trail
Day 2 — Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Needles Highway
Drive west to the Black Hills. Stop first at Crazy Horse Memorial (US-16/385 near Custer) — the largest mountain sculpture in the world, still being carved since 1948. The viewing plaza, museum, and hourly blasting schedule make this a 2-hour stop. The scale is genuinely staggering: when complete, Crazy Horse will be 563 feet tall versus Rushmore's 60-foot faces.
Continue to Mount Rushmore National Memorial — free entrance, $10 parking. The Presidential Trail loop (0.6 miles, paved) circles the base of the carving for close-up views of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. Evening: drive Needles Highway (SD-87) through Custer State Park — narrow one-lane tunnels carved through granite spires, viewable on foot from several pullouts. Stay in Custer or Hill City.
Day 3 — Custer State Park and Sylvan Lake
The 71,000-acre Custer State Park is home to 1,300 free-roaming bison — the second largest publicly owned bison herd in the country. Drive the Wildlife Loop Road (18 miles) in the early morning when bison, pronghorn, burros (the famous begging burros), elk, and prairie dogs are most active. Then hike to Sylvan Lake: the lake itself is a short 1-mile loop, gorgeous among granite boulders and ponderosa pines. For more elevation, the Black Elk Peak Trail from Sylvan Lake trailhead (7.2 miles round trip, 1,100 ft gain) summits the highest point east of the Rockies at 7,242 feet — panoramic views of the entire Black Hills. AllTrails rating: 4.7★ (3,241 reviews)
