ND and SD road trip

[Battis]

Just got back from North Dakota and South Dakota. Flew to Minot, ND, stayed 3 days, then headed down to Rapid City, SD. Over 1600 miles of driving and we saw a lot - both Roosevelt parks, Standing Rock Reservation, Custer town and park (do not feed the donkeys), Needles Highway (twice), Salem Sue, Deadwood (where WAS Hickok shot?), Sturgis, Mt Rushmore, Crazy Horse monument, Wall Drug store, and the Badlands. I never thought I'd see the equal of the Grand Tetons but the Badlands are on the same level, just different. Very impressive country...big country. 80 MPH speed limits, not one tailgater in 10 days (no need to tailgate).
Next year I want to start south and work up.

[308Jeff]

I have not made it to that part of the country yet. I'm sure it's beautiful!

[GhostHawk]

A lot of it is very nice.

Not a lot to see in the Standing Rock country.

Black hills area is awesome.

Spent 7 of the happiest days of my life camped out next to a tiny stream in a valley some 7 miles south of Deadwood. I could have stayed there forever.

I loved Custer, and the Needles.

Good people up this way also. Weather seems to have moderated a lot in the last decade. We don't get the winters we used to get.

[Plate plinker]

+1 about the black hills I could definitely live there.

[Bzcraig]

Sounds like a trip I need to add to my bucket list.

[garandsrus]

You missed Devils Tower so you will need to go back!

[Battis]

Almost headed to Devils Tower. Hopefully, that will be next year, though my wife wants to go to Glacier. I couldn't get enough of the Black Hills and the Badlands. Even Deadwood, as touristy as it is, was great (then again, we were tourists). Perfect weather that included a crazy hail storm. North and South Roosevelt parks are worth the trip - we saw the most bison in the north. We did the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone last year (1800 miles including the Beartooth Highway) and ND & SD this year. I lived in SLC briefly in the 70s, and have been back to ski Utah several times. Love that giant Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota section of the country.

[reddog81]

I did most of the SD part of your trip earlier this year. It was much more impressive than I thought it would be. We stayed in a cabin right out side Custer park. We also did the spearfish canyon hikes to numerous waterfalls which was a great day trip.

Why no feeding the donkeys? That was one of the best parts of the park.

[Battis]

The donkeys were cool, but after a woman got out of her car and fed them, six of them swarmed around her like bees. She ran around the car screaming, trying to get back into the car, but each window had a donkey head sticking in so they couldn't open the doors, shut the windows or back up. I gotta say, it was hilarious.
At least she didn't feed the Prairie Dogs...

[brass410]

yes don't feed the p-dogs think of the donkeys as a preclude to a dog disaster omg !!! fur and feet like this world has never seen, think end of days .

[hc18flyer]

If you get to the Black Hills, make sure you stop at Ft. Robinson and the Museum of the Fur Trade in Nebraska. Curator Jim Hansen worked for the NE State Historical Society and distributed a superb quarterly period historical newsletter. Ft Rob has TREMENDOUS history/museums. The Museum of the Fur Trade is AWESOME, many, many original muzzleloaders, including Jim Bridger's. I can't wait to get back! hc18flyer

[Battis]

One of the parks had a sign that read "Prairie Dogs have Plague." Apparently some people can't read - I saw people walking around the prairie dog colonies, looking into the holes, touching things. No thanks...

[RGrosz]

One of the parks had a sign that read "Prairie Dogs have Plague." Apparently some people can't read - I saw people walking around the prairie dog colonies, looking into the holes, touching things. No thanks...

Some people have no common sense. Years ago with my first wife travelling through Custer State park, I saw a car with eastern plates on it, stop in the vicinity of a bull bison. He proceeded to exit the car and take a baby up toward the bull. The bull turned to walk away and the started to walk away from him. He proceeded to walk faster till he caught up with the bull and was going top slap him on the hind to get his attention to take his picture with the baby. I just drove away shaking my head. The next day there was a story in the Rapid City paper about a guy and kid hurt in the park. I always wondered if I could have said anything would he have paid attention to me. Go figure.
Rob

[swheeler]

I love Wall SD, spent 5 days there once. I believe it was the tenth of March, 1988 spent the night in the travel trailer, woke up in the morning and couldn't open the door from snow drifted against it. I'm sure someone can check but my recollection was 48" of snow fall in 24 hrs? Streets and hiways were open again after 4-5 days, we headed home to Montana.

[Battis]

I'm not much of a wine drinker (I like Pabst) but we stopped at the Prairie Berry Winery in Hill City, SD and left with these now empty bottles of wine. Yep, I was a tourist. The wine's pretty good. The bottles are great. We're going to order more.

[waksupi]

I love Wall SD, spent 5 days there once. I believe it was the tenth of March, 1988 spent the night in the travel trailer, woke up in the morning and couldn't open the door from snow drifted against it. I'm sure someone can check but my recollection was 48" of snow fall in 24 hrs? Streets and hiways were open again after 4-5 days, we headed home to Montana.

What a coincidence! I was stuck in Murdo, SD. We were trying to make Wall that night, but it was becoming obvious, that wasn't going to happen. Hundreds in the local gymnasium. Vehicles everywhere buried. I had cross county skiis with me, skied west on the interstate several miles, lots of people alongside the road marooned. Someone at the gym had rwo gross of eggs, so everyone had omelettes, and we had expeditions to the grocery. My buddy and I had musical instruments with us, as did a couple other travelers, and all in all, it wasn't a bad experience, more of an adventure.

[higgins]

Many years ago we went through the park with the panhandling donkeys. They had stood in the same area just past the don't feed the donkeys sign so long the ground was worn to dirt. In a car ahead of us a kid rolled a rear window down to feed one and it stuck its head in the car as far as its neck allowed. Should have seen the people thrashing around and potato chips flying inside the car!

[swheeler]

What a coincidence! I was stuck in Murdo, SD. We were trying to make Wall that night, but it was becoming obvious, that wasn't going to happen. Hundreds in the local gymnasium. Vehicles everywhere buried. I had cross county skiis with me, skied west on the interstate several miles, lots of people alongside the road marooned. Someone at the gym had rwo gross of eggs, so everyone had omelettes, and we had expeditions to the grocery. My buddy and I had musical instruments with us, as did a couple other travelers, and all in all, it wasn't a bad experience, more of an adventure.

We had food and electricity(plugged an extension cord into the outside outlet of office where we parked when blizzard started) but ran out of propane the second night, used a hair dryer to keep wife, 7 year old daughter and myself warm. The next day I started walking/wading through chest deep snow, a front end loader was trying to clear streets, he loaded me and propane bottle up took me to get propane, waited and gave me a ride back to where he picked me up. Yes it was an adventure!

[marvelshooter]

Due in a large part from reading this thread my wife and I just came back from a week in the Black Hills and loved it. We saw everything mentioned in the posts above so I won't list them all again. We rented a Harley in Rapid City for part of the week and did some of the best riding we have ever done. Trivia: The Peter Norbeck Scenic Byway which includes Custer State Park, Needles Highway and Iron Mountain Road has 6 tunnels, 3 of which exactly frame a famous landmark. Which one?

[Hickory]

Mount Rushmore!
I love that ride through the Black Hills.