+ Several exciting off-trails you can explore a lil. Just be careful, don't wander too far off…read more+ Lotta room for photo ops without anyone else in the bg. + A couple pit toilets here. + Multi-trash bins here to dump out yo basura. - Moderately crowded. Lotta people here, but a lotta space at this stop, so you're able to find your room still. + Decent amount of parking.

At this overlook we had a view above the Badlands. It was a very smelly tree here and garbage…read morereceptacles. We followed the boardwalk for a view over the Badlands. that's priceless.

As long as I can remember, I have been wanting to go see Mount Rushmore since I was a teenager…read more Never had the opportunity, or time or the money to do so. I'm happy to check this off my travel bucket list! It is exactly what I imagined and more. We arrived at around 6 pm towards the end of the day on Thursday, September 17, 2026. It's off peak season and it wasn't busy. I was disappointed that they ran out of the Thomas Jefferson vanilla ice-cream that is supposed to be amazing and popular. Hence, they were out! We did the Presidential Trail which is a scenic walking loop that brings visitors directly beneath the carved granite faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. It's about 0.90 miles. It's not a long or difficult walk but there are steps going down and eventually steps going up. I wouldn't recommended for anyone with a heart condition or elderly folks. It is a nice and paved trail. I wish I knew ahead of time that they have a light show at 9:00 pm each evening. I would have timed that better. Go get dinner and come visit the monument. The gift shop is nice with a lot of cool souvenirs. There is an ice-cream shop and a cafe.

It was a beautiful experience. Highly recommend. Explore the…read morehistory and development. Take the time to do the scenic walk!

Great place, free parking, free entrance, nice displays. You can get a guided tour to go see one of…read morethe missile control facilities that you have to drive to or one of the missile silos, you also would have to drive there. It's at the eastern exit for the entrance to Badlands national Park. I remember when this visitor center was in a trailer house next to the gas station there. This is a beautiful facility. Scary history, but necessary to remember it.

+ Nice free war history museum (and show). + Good amount of…read moreparking, - but no shade in that windy desert heat. + Restrooms and water bottle refill station. + Nice, helpful staff. - Crowded inside. . Popular place for schoolchildren's field trips. - While I was using the men's restroom, the boys turned off the light. I didn't like that.

Flood control, irrigation, and recreation. For us, this was just a beautiful and restful stop on a…read morelong driving day from Wyoming to South Dakota. Photographs don't fully capture the beauty of the area. Sept, 2024.

Such a beautiful lake. Reminds me of Emerald lake in Lake Tahoe. The first day we did the reservoir…read morewhich is an overlook with a large parking lot to take photos. The next day we went to the actual lake to swim and kayak. It's $7 to enter the parking lot for day use and free if you have the State pass. There are two boat launching area but only one swimming area. Plenty of picnic tables. If you want to rent equipment, you'll need to drive further up. Saw people fishing in this area. If you bring your own food, make sure to pack a trash bag because we did see any trash cans near us. Also wear water shoes, it's really rocky in the water. Bring floaties and everything that will make your day complete.

Fascinating highlight of Needles HIghway. If you're going through this Custer area, whether to…read morevisit Mt Rushmore, Custer SP, etc, it's an enthralling experience to traverse this fun tunnel (or funnel) once. Just make sure you're driving like a sedan/SUV to clear it, cuz boy it sure is narrow!

Had spent the morning in the southern area of Custer State Park, and the afternoon was going to be…read morethe Needles Highway, followed by Mount Rushmore. It was a little bit drizzly, but the sites were still amazing as we drove the ever winding path. The tunnels were pretty crazy, one in particular being extra narrow! We were in a big SUV, but we were following a big SUV, so I figured if the car in front of us made it, we would! This is a great drive to make if you're in the Rapid City area.

We were staying at the little hotel right next door (which is amazing, by the way), but it was an…read moreeasy walk from that parking lot to this one, and so we decided to go here, even though it was not on my itinerary originally. If you don't know me, which I'm almost positive you don't, swaying from my itinerary is not something that I usually do or something that I take lightly...so it kind of has to be awesome for me to do that. I came because a few of the reviews said that this place was even better than they had expected, and I am very happy to report that this is true. This entire place looks and feels like a labor of love. We didn't get to watch the entire movie in the theater, but whatever we did see, shows how much of an effort it was to go through and make this building and exhibition. This is the kind of place that makes you feel like you are a homeschooler, which I love. I loved how educational it was, and how much we learned during the trip here. The QR codes are awesome to go at your own pace and learn at each different station. There were people there that were willing to answer any questions and others that were digging up at the site and it felt like a very interactive experience. Because I had not already planned for this in advance, we were only able to give the site around an hour and a half, but I think to fully enjoy it, you would need to have around 3 hours worth of time available to come here. I'm grateful that we were even able to go for as long as we did. It was well worth the trip. The gift shop was also great. And we got binoculars and cute little magnets to take with us.

Well done! Very informative displays and easy to navigate. QR codes at each site play a narrative…read moreof what you are looking at during the self guided tour. Takes about 1-2 hours to see everything. Gift shop is okay and there is a snack shack out front selling hotdogs/hamburgers/ chicken strips and nachos. I would highly recommend stopping by The Mammoth Site if you are in the area.

There's a lot of history and culture that you can learn in the visitor center but that's as far as…read moreyou can go. You can see the monument from the visitor center inside only unless you pay extra to ride the "tour bus" ($5 per person) on top of the admission price being per person. The eatery closed at 4pm which we had planned to grab a snack so that was disappointing. There was plenty of parking and the visitor center was beautifully well done. I was also very happy to support the center and pay admission, but I don't feel like it was clear how far away you'd be. It felt more like just going to a museum. The clarity on what your experience would be was not explained or labeled clearly at the entrance which is why I gave the experience a 4.

Hint - pull over on the shoulder before you get to the pull off. The pull off is surrounded by…read moretrees and you can't see the memorial. From the pull off you have to get out of your car. I swear if I was Gates/Bezos/Kardashian rich, I would donate however many millions was required to finish this sculpture. It's a shame we have 4 presidents carved into stolen tribal land and there is no money to finish this.

A temporarily placed statue of Pres. Lincoln outside the Hotel Alex Johnson, Don Perdue came up…read morewith the idea to put a life-sized statue of every U.S. President on the sidewalks of Downtown Rapid City. Each statue is privately funded, then a local artists is selected . They research the president ; learning their passions, hobbies & achievements during their presidency. Well known mannerisms or characteristics are incorporated. This information helps to decide on the pose, facial expression, clothing, and all the amazingly tiny details found on each statue. After they have their concept the sculpting work can begin. It can take up to 9 months for each statue to be created. All the statues match the height & weight of the president except one. Pres. Taft's statue was trimmed down from his actual weight to make the monument affordable. A new audio tour allows us to get to know each as people, not just presidents. We can now dial in or scan the QR code found in the brochure to read along. The audio will even point out those tiny details the artist added info we might overlook.

We were in the area for Mount Rushmore, and were looking for other historic things to do/see. The…read moreFounding Fathers exhibit is really a unique experience. Being able to walk around a display with that kind of detail is impressive. I just wish that there was a bit more included in the price. It is $12 per person (discounts for large families/groups). This price includes a light and audio show (about 20 min) of a life size replica of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. For $30 per person, you get to see the show and shoot 3 shots from a musket at the range out back. The light and audio show was a pretty standard museum type explanation of the events surrounding the Declaration of Independence and the people involved. It's well done and fun to look at. They have information around the room to look at afterwards that gives you a background of all the people mentioned. The stories on them are worth taking a few minutes to read and was probably my favorite part. We really just didnt get enough out of it to make it worth the stop, especially for the price. We were in and out of there in less than an hour. We loved the idea of being able to shoot the replica guns out back and it would have been a fun way to complete the experience, but for $30 each it just didn't make sense. I'm glad we checked it out, but its needs a bit more included to make the detour worth it.