Longest and Last homestead gold mine in Lead, South Dakota (near Deadwood)…read more Everyone should check this gigantic hole out for themselves. The history is interesting, except for the fact that wealthy entrepreneurs exploited the common folks during the 1929 depression and bought their gold claims/homestead for less than market value. The museum was informative and had incredible exhibits but lacked a feature movie to chronically narrate its evolution.

This was not in my itinerary to go here. It was recommended by our friends who are residence of…read moreDeadwood. For sure make a quick stop here in Lead if you're on your way to Deadwood. Pretty cool to learn and see the mine from above ground. It was active until 1998. There are tours available.

I love the park. My favorite time to drive through the park is during late spring and early summer…read morewhen all the animals are having their babies. It is the cutest thing ever. The scenery is so varied and breathtaking. I could go through the park every day

We started off our day at Custer State Park. We began by going into the visitor center, which is an…read moreabsolute MUST DO. Why? Because when you walk in there is a large scale model of the park and they mark it to show the last reported sighting of bison. The volunteers then showed us how to find that area, and they also showed us another visitor center along the way where they recommended we stop to get further updated information. The bison were located at the southern end of the park, so the beginning of our drive was just through beautiful landscape, without much wildlife at that point. We stopped as instructed at the next visitor center, and got an updated status of the bison, as well as directions on how to find them, as you needed to go off on one of the side roads. We headed off, and then as we rounded the bend on the road there they were! Hundreds of bison as far as you could see. It was absolutely amazing. You can easily pull to the side of the road and stop, and you can roll down your windows and just observe - it was incredible. Several times we were stopped along the way as they crossed the road in front of us. It was absolutely one of the highlights of our trip to South Dakota. After we finished driving through the herd, we continued our journey and ended up at the Blue Bell Lodge for lunch, which we highly recommend. From there, we drove the Needles Highway, a big portion of which in our case was done in the rain. But despite the rain, there was still lots to see, even though a lot of it for us was from inside the car, where we periodically rolled down the windows to take pictures. I would say our day at Custer State Park was absolutely the best experience we had during the entire stay in South Dakota, so I would highly, highly recommend it!

Black Hills National Forest is so beautiful! We hiked the 7.1 mile hike to Black Elk Peak starting…read morefrom Sylvan Lake. The views are spectacular and we even got lucky and saw a mountain goat at the top. If you do this hike, I would recommend hiking shoes, a hat, and a water pack to stay hydrated.

Beautiful natural landscapes! Gorgeous views! Got to take lots of beautiful photography!!read more

There's a whole hidden world under the prairie. The Garden of Eden Tour took us deep underground…read morethrough narrow passageways and into rooms full of rare boxwork formations and delicate honeycomb patterns that make this cave so special. Down there, everything feels slower. It's quiet, cool, and feels almost untouched. Then you step back outside and it's a complete contrast. Open skies, rolling hills, and bison grazing in the distance like something straight out of a movie. Two totally different worlds in one park.

It's getting really depressing to be on a National Parks road trip through the US during a…read moregovernment shutdown. Wind Cave National park was really nice and convenient and had a few interesting things to see. Unfortunately the visitors center and all the restrooms were closed even though there was a park ranger sitting in his running truck in the parking lot trying to avoid the visitors that walked up to him. I can't blame the park for the shutdown and I did really like the ease of navigating the simple beauty here. We caught a glimpsenof a buffalo and saw some prairie dogs (I love prairie dogs!) but I doubt I will ever be back to see it when it is fully operational.

A must visit in the area! Friendly staff, easily accessible and loads of information for whatever…read moreyou want to get into in the area.

From the owner: The Black Hills Visitor Information Center, located on Interstate 90 at exit 61 in Rapid City, is…read morethe unofficial east entrance for the Black Hills region. We'll make sure to welcome you to the area and our friendly and knowledgeable staff is ready to help with an array of free services like: * expert trip planning * free wi-fi * clean bathrooms * ATV and forest recreation passes * free maps, brochures and travel guides designed to smooth your way and max your vacation fun in the Black Hills & Badlands * reservations * weather reports and road conditions Or stop in our gift shop to pickup exclusive Black Hills Road Trip gear, local coupons or other great South Dakota-made products and souvenirs. We are open year-round, summer hours are 8 a.m.-6 p.m., seven days a week.

So happy we stopped in for some local information. The staff were super friendly. There was lots of…read moregood information. A gift shop was inside along with information displays. And cute area for kids to discover bones while digging. Very clean washrooms too.

We had a hiking boot failure in the Badlands. It was hot, and the boots were old, the soles…read moreliterally popped off at the same time on our hike. We needed a new pair of boots, because we have a lot more hiking and camping to do before we get back to California. A billboard for Cabela's drew us in. After a prolonged hiking boot search, some fudge, some gawking at the taxidermy, an elk sandwich, and some gawking at guns we were on our way. But we weren't quite sure where we were going. And so my honey suggested the Black Hills Visitor Information Center, which is located right where Google maps says Cabela's is. A wonderful woman gave us loads of brochures for unique hotels and B&Bs in the area, as well as a few restaurant recommendations. Lots of information for weary travelers. Lots of stuf for us to look at as well, there was a large landscape with lights to show places of interest and where we were in relation to those places. That was about all we had the energy for. We called The Hotel Alex Johnson first, and that is where we are staying. It's great, we've reviewed it as well. Another tip for you if you are traveling: www.hotelcoupons.com. Offers reduced rates for lots of hotels in the area.

I definitely recommend putting this on something you go and visit in your lifetime. It is a very…read moreamazing monument from the time you walk up through the main gate you can start to see the monument and it's just amazing at the work that was put into it they have lined the pathway with the flags from all 50 states and it just kinda gives you this amazing walk up experience and that if you haven't seen you early enjoy. My family and I spent about an hour and a half there which is a great amount of time you can walk up get some great photos plenty of park Rangers around to talk to get directions and tell you a little bit more about the park They do offer videos certain times of the day that are very informative. They have a full-blown theater at the foot of the mountain, which is really amazing when people can perform and things like that which I had no idea that was there until later. And then they have this amazing easy to travel trail. You can do about 50% of it with the stroller and get close up to the monument and take a great photo but then there comes an area where it says I have almost 450 steps so we stopped right there and turned back, but it does do a loop around the whole area with spectacular views. I definitely think that this is a great place to go and visit really peaceful place well-maintained. They do have restaurants and gift shops there so if you're ever in South Dakota, go and give this place a visit

We had an amazing experience visiting Mount Rushmore National Memorial. Even though it's one of the…read moremost recognizable landmarks in the country, seeing it in person is still incredibly impressive. Pictures really don't capture how massive the sculpture actually is. The entire memorial area is very well maintained and easy to explore. We enjoyed walking through the Avenue of Flags, taking in the different viewpoints, and learning more about the history behind the monument. The exhibits and informational displays helped give a much better appreciation for the amount of work that went into carving the mountain. What stood out most to me was the setting. The Black Hills surrounding Mount Rushmore are beautiful, and the scenery adds so much to the overall experience. It feels peaceful, scenic, and patriotic all at the same time. I also appreciated that there's more to do than just take a quick picture. You can really spend time exploring the area, reading about the construction process, and enjoying the atmosphere. Overall, this is absolutely worth visiting if you're in South Dakota. It's iconic for a reason and definitely one of those places that feels even more impressive once you're standing there in person. Check out our video on our socials @reessroots

I love caves, and I loved the Scenic Tour I went on! This cave is one of the world's longest caves,…read morewith passages still being explored and mapped out to this day. I thought the tour was very well done, and I saw a lot of calcite crystals (and other formations) which gave the cave its name. Be warned though, you have to bundle up for the tour as the inside is 49°F / 9°C year-round, and you must wear closed-toe shoes. The Scenic Tour itself is a guided tour that has over 700 steps and covers 1/2 miles underground. Some of the pathway's ceilings are low, so if you're tall be sure to duck when the ranger tells you. There is lighting all the way so you can see when the low sections are coming. I learned a lot about the cave, its history, and how it's currently being maintained. The steel walkways have catch trays for lint and other stuff that falls off of guests, and when they clean it annually it has around 17 lb of "stuff". They really try to balance cave preservation with accessibility to the public. I highly recommend this tour.

Touring Jewel Cave was definitely one of the cooler parts of my vacation in the Black Hills. I was…read moreworried about getting to see the cave because the tickets were sold out online, but upon seeing that they offer some additional tours on a first-come basis, I decided to get to the park early and take my chances. I wasn't the only one with that idea, but was fortunate to get a spot on a tour only about 45 minutes after I arrived, which was just enough time to grab by long sleeve and pants (because of the cave's cool constant temp) and take a look through the visitor center. The Scenic Tour itself was engaging and informative. Our tour guide did a good job of giving us some facts about the cave, its history, and pointing out different formations within and was very personable, chatting with members of the group as we walked between areas. I really enjoyed being able to see some of the details of the formations up close (or at least highlighted by our guide's flashlight) to see the amazing details that have formed over time. There are a number of stairs on the tour, but with the pace of the tour, it didn't feel strenuous. It's wild to me that they've discovered over 200 miles within this cave and there is so much they still don't know, thinking that there may be over 5000 miles total to explore! It makes me want to take other cave tours in the future to see the differences in the rocks. There are also some trails around the area to explore, if you want more than just the cave to look at

Trump was indoors here. Looks to of brochures & Don was a wealth of information. We were given a…read moremap of all the locations of the presidents & more. The visitors center had an adorable children's corner.

Loved this area and enjoyed the solitude, the hike, the lake and the trails. Definitely recommend.read more

Fabulous! Great little store inside, and some history too. Books and a few gift items available…read more Be respectful and do not take pictures of their holy items. Kind people running it. Answered a question I had about snakes. I love learning and they teach you what you need to learn. God bless.