South Dakota

06/01/2019

Mount Rushmore

Weekend Itinerary in Western South Dakota

South Dakota is underrated . It was beautiful and full of things to do! Here is a quick and easy way to see Beautiful South Dakota in a weekend.

Saturday

We left super early and drove about 6 hours, but it was a nice road trip. There were miles and miles of beautiful lush green fields.

We started our trip driving to Custer State Park. There is a road called the Wildlife Loop where there is wildlife such as bison, mule deer, burros, and prairie dogs. It was so fun and entertaining. The bison are not afraid and get up close and personal, some even come straight to your window! Let's just say I underestimated how big their heads were.

Then, we headed over to Sylvan Lake which was by-far my favorite part of the road trip. There are Kayaks available for rent on site. After we walked around the lake, we tried to hike the Black Elk Peak Trail, but got lost about 30 minutes in, so decided to turn around. Overall, it was still a really nice hike. We then headed off to lunch at the Sylvan Lake Lodge where we tried buffalo for the first time!

We then went to the hotel to freshen up, drop off our stuff, and then headed to the Historic Downtown Deadwood. Our hotel was outside of the city (cheaper hotel) but we wish we would just have stayed in Deadwood. We walked around main street where there are old style saloon and gift shops, everything had an old western feel. We had pizza and beer for dinner, then headed back to hotel to hit the hay.

Sunday

After checking out of our hotel, we headed for the famous Mount Rushmore National Memorial which has really nice roads on the way. It was a sunny so we were able to see Mt. Rushmore clearly. It was very nice to see in person and is something everyone should see at least once in their lifetime. After that, we had a long road ahead of us, so we decided to head home. Overall it was such a nice trip and recommend to those even considering going!