Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Vacation "must sees" in Wyoming and South Dakota?

The "Mammoth Graveyard" at Hotsprings, South Dakota is really worth seeing and it's right near the other attractions of the Black Hills.

You'll be talking about it for years.

http://earthwatch.org/expeditions/mammoth-graveyard-in-south-dakota

Blessings,

Steve

Devil's Tower is a must-see. If you are into caves, Wind Cave by Custer is pretty cool.

Buffalo women at the creek

The Mammoth site is worth the trip, Needles highway as well, then up towards the Badlands, but don't forget Cooney Table where the ghost dances started. Wounded Knee is historic. Watch yourself on the Rez

If you go to Mt Rushmore spend a little more time and go see this too:

http://crazyhorsememorial.org/

We like Wind Cave a little better than Jewel, but both are nice.

Spend time in Custer State Park just driving around and hiking off the Wildlife Loop. It's a fun drive (and lonely at dawn) if you take the southern exit out of the loop down into Wind Cave park on the dirt roads.

On the regular road drive from CSP down to Wind Cave, you can take some of the side forest service roads and get easily/quickly back into the fire burn areas. They're interesting to see.

"Badger Hole" in CSP is a neat little couple of hours.

Be sure to hike Harney's Peak too--7 miles round trip.

The town of Custer has two decent grocery stores that will have all you need.

There's plenty of old rebuilt historical forts on the Bozeman Trail the kids might enjoy. A lot of hallowed ground to be explored.

Be certain to stop and read any historic monument sign you might see. We stopped at a little turnoff to rearrange something in the back seat and there was a little sign describing the Wagon Box fight.

Independence Rock and Register Cliff on the Oregon trail are pretty cool. The travelers would engrave their names in the granite at Independence Rock, the sandstone at Register cliff, and the rock overlooking the Green River at Names Hill so those following them would know they have already passed.

While you are in Jackson you have got to catch one of the shows put on by the Bar J Wranglers! They are a hoot!

National Grasslands and Badlands, Black hills. Needles and Moonshine Gulch bar in Rochford,SD. Devils tower. Medicine wheel west side of Bighorns. Little bighorn (WTF was Custer thinking?). Cody and Buffalo Bill museum.Yellowstone wI'll be a zoo but every one needs to see it once. Once you get much past the BighoRN mts you are out of Red Cloud's Country.

If you fly fish there are more spots.
If you come through SD from the east stop at the prehistoric Indian village near Mitchell. Quick stop but intesting if you like history.

I prefer the Tetons over yellowstone. Yellowstone can be like going to disney world in ways. The tetons are great to look at and a lot less hectic and more relaxing.

My wife and I made a circuit close to what you're talking about..

Badlands
Custer Battlefield
Rushmore
Crazy Horse museum
Devil's tower
Yellowstone (Wild About Yellowstone Tour). Had a GREAT driver/guide who knew his stuff about the critters, plant life and some spots tourists miss.
Grand Tetons
Flaming Gorge
Arches, Utah

Devils Tower for sure. The nightly rodeo in Cody if they still have it. Dont take the bus to the rodeo from the campground because you never know when a storm will blow in and you wont have anyplace to take cover. I made that mistake. And make sure you have a jacket handy weather changes in a heartbeat. The Badlands are a must see as well.

If you are going to see the mammoth site in Hot Springs (and you should), stop at Evans Plunge, a huge natural hot springs. Lots of swings and slides-the kids will love it and you'll tire them out--you might even get a quiet evening out of the deal...(Sometimes we get up early before the day's drive and let the kids swim for an hour or two, makes for a quieter day on the road.)

If you are camping, there are some great campgrounds around Angostura Reservoir, with sandy beaches and shady cottonwoods, just a few minutes south of Hot Springs and much quieter than the campgrounds in the hills, not a bad place to spend a few days while exploring the southern Black Hills. When I lived there, (admittedly a long time ago--it might be different now) Angostura campgrounds were empty during the week, though crowded on the weekends. Like others have said, call ahead and make reservations, especially around Custer State Park.

If your kids are into trains, think about the 1880 train; we did it a couple of years ago and my kids loved it.

If you are into guns, definitely stop at First Stop Guns and Jack First in Rapid City, both great gun stores. Jack First used to have a huge supply of parts on hand, even if you are looking for something unusual, they often have it, and can usually find it if they don't.

I miss the Black Hills, great place to visit (and grow up!). Enjoy.

I will add to this that Hot Springs has one of the finest golf courses in SD. The town itself has a hot (Fall River) river running down main street and some of the coolest old sandstone architecture I have ever seen in a small western town. There is a VA hospital campus there that is over 100 years old and a truly great display of architecture.

The mammoth site is not to be missed.

Beartooth Hwy.

Make sure to stay away from the Sturgis motorcycle rally dates the beginning of August.

Took this many posts to get this???

Don't miss the Beartooth. Don't take the camper over it.

Deadwood and Lead, gold mines and such come to mind. Mt.Moriah cemetary in Deadwood has gravesite of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane. Also Seth Bullock and his partner Sol Starr are there... I wonder if Al Swearengen (co�ksucker) is there? ... or was he just a fictional character unlike the others mentioned??

Amen. The roads in the vicinity of Yellowstone, Grand Teton NP, Cody and Mt. Rushmore country aren�t Interstate Highways, and they have a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs with low speed limits plus a lot of traffic during the summer. A 50 mile detour to see something could wind up costing many hours. It is much better to pick some places to spend some quality time with the family and enjoy the beauty outside a vehicle than to drive all over the place and see a lot of things through a windshield. I also agree about the reservations. Get them now!

I have a book on the people that are buried at Mt Moriah Cemetery It said that Al Swearengen moved away from Deadwood before he died and he was not buried there.