Brainstorming a road trip -- need help

[Elan]

I am sitting here brainstorming a summer road trip, and need some help on things to see and amount of time to allocate, etc. This will be a non-TS trip, so I don't have that constraint.

Here is the tentative trip as I have it outlined in my mind:

Day 1: Leave Boise - arrive W Yellowstone, MT

Day 2: Minimal tour of Yellowstone (we'll do a full week there later), drive Beartooth
hiway into Red Lodge or Billings.

Day 3: Head for Mt Rushmore, stopping to see Devil's Tower along the way.

Day 4: Tour Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Not sure how long to allocate here.

Day 5: Head to Dinosaur Nat'l Monument in CO.

Day 6: Head to SLC.

Day 7: SLC to Boise.

I basically just included the driving parts. I can add days for sight seeing, rest, etc as needed, but I think this is all pretty achievable in 10 days or less. The parts I'm most unsure about are the Devil's Tower/Mt Rushmore visits. No idea on how long to allocate. Also, not sure of other nearby things that I may be omitting.

Ideas?

[Edited to add that this will be summer of 2010 or summer or 2011 at the earliest.]

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

I made a somewhat similar trip about ten years ago.

Coming back through South Dakota and Wyoming I stopped at both Wounded Knee and Little Big Horn. Both were quite interesting.

Wounded Knee is on the Pine Ridge reservation. It is maintained solely by the tribe. The Pine Ridge Sioux are among the most destitute tribes in the US; Wounded Knee is in bad condition. It's not neglected, but the tribe isn't able to do much to improve the site. It's certainly in better condition than most areas of the reservation.

*****

I confess to having a soft spot for Wounded Knee, and I think it's a shame that Wounded Knee doesn't receive more attention. Wounded Knee was the last gasp of Plains Indian life, and I personally think it has much more social and historical significance than does Little Big Horn. But hey, Wounded Knee wasn't a US Army military debacle and doesn't fit the romantic notions of the West, so it's largely shoved aside.

 

[ecwinch]

I am sitting here brainstorming a summer road trip, and need some help on things to see and amount of time to allocate, etc. This will be a non-TS trip, so I don't have that constraint.

Here is the tentative trip as I have it outlined in my mind:

Day 1: Leave Boise - arrive W Yellowstone, MT

Day 2: Minimal tour of Yellowstone (we'll do a full week there later), drive Beartooth
hiway into Red Lodge or Billings.

Day 3: Head for Mt Rushmore, stopping to see Devil's Tower along the way.

Day 4: Tour Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse. Not sure how long to allocate here.

Day 5: Head to Dinosaur Nat'l Monument in CO.

Day 6: Head to SLC.

Day 7: SLC to Boise.

I basically just included the driving parts. I can add days for sight seeing, rest, etc as needed, but I think this is all pretty achievable in 10 days or less. The parts I'm most unsure about are the Devil's Tower/Mt Rushmore visits. No idea on how long to allocate. Also, not sure of other nearby things that I may be omitting.

Ideas?

[Edited to add that this will be summer of 2010 or summer or 2011 at the earliest.]

A few weeks ago we completed a similar trip, but in the opposite direction (SD-WY-MT).

I was very impressed with all their is to do in the Black Hills area. You have Mt. Rushmore, Devil's Tower, plus Custer State Park, Jewel Cave NM, and Wind Cave NM. And that is just in a 40 minute radius of Mt. Rushmore. We wished we had allocated more time in that area to enjoy all the sites.

For Devil's Tower, if you are so inclined, you can hike around the entire Devils Tower - it is about 1.2 mile hike on a paved path. Only a couple of moderate inclines in the first third, but then it is fairly easy. With the hike, I would allocate about 2 hrs. Or substitute a picnic lunch for the hike. Their is a small visitor center that will take you about 20 minutes to go through. They also have range talks during the day. Some people we tell, that Devils Tower is best viewed from afar, but we enjoyed the hike.

Mt. Rushmore is a little bit more complicated. We ended up spending about 3 hrs there. We arrived in time for the 10:30 ranger guided walk on the Presidential Trail. If you have not been to Mt. Rushmore in a while (my last visit was in 1991), they now have a boarded walking trail that allows you to walk to the base of the Monument. I would encourage you to do that, as you get to see the Monument from different perspectives. The guided ranger walk goes about half-way down the trail, and provides some interesting background on the Monument. The trail ends at the Studio, and they have a ranger presentation there also that is interesting.

Mt. Rushmore also has an evening program where they light up the monument. We did not take that in, but heard from others that it was very nice also. If I had a wayback machine, I would arrive in the evening for that program, and then do the other parts the next morning. The Monument is open until 10:00 pm in the summer.

But also consider they other parks in the area. We did Jewel Cave and Custer State Park. Sylvan Lake (in Custer) is a real nice area, and they have some majestic rock formations in the upper part of the park. Based on what I heard about Wind Cave, I would recommend it over Jewel Cave.

Also, if you go on Bear Lodge to Billings, then you will probably be passing by Little Big Horn National Battlefield on I-90. We stopped there and found it interesting, but then we like NP stuff as we have a NP pass that allows free entry to all parks ($80 for a year for a family).

Also consider, heading to SD through Cody, WY rather than going up to Billings. There is a Buffalo Bill museum in Cody that others have said is interesting. Time-wise it is about the same.

 

[Elan]

Steve, Eric, appreciate the input. I was planning on including Little Bighorn, but hadn't seriously contemplated Wounded Knee, as it's a bit out of the way. My tentative plan is to go immediately south from the Black Hills on toward Estes Park and RMNP.

I know nothing about the Black Hills area, but in my mind's eye, I foresaw a lot of the interesting things there as being very quick visits. From your input, it seems as though I will need to allocate more time than I originally anticipated. I definitely want to include the Beartooth and Little Bighorn as part of my journey, so that precludes going thru Cody without backtracking.

Other input?

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Steve, Eric, appreciate the input. I was planning on including Little Bighorn, but hadn't seriously contemplated Wounded Knee, as it's a bit out of the way. My tentative plan is to go immediately south from the Black Hills on toward Estes Park and RMNP.

I know nothing about the Black Hills area, but in my mind's eye, I foresaw a lot of the interesting things there as being very quick visits. From your input, it seems as though I will need to allocate more time than I originally anticipated. I definitely want to include the Beartooth and Little Bighorn as part of my journey, so that precludes going thru Cody without backtracking.

Other input?

I found Little Big Horn interesting. Wounded Knee, however, was tremendously more moving.

 

[DaveNV]

I've done this trip, and have a few comments for you to consider:

Mt Rushmore lit up at night is spectacular. If you'll be in the area, it's a great way to end the day. If you arrive a few hours before sunset you can tour the visitor's center, see the "unlit" faces on the Monument, then stay for the presentation and show when they light it up. It's worth it. Stay overnight in the Rushmore area, and leave the next morning for points elsewhere.

While in the Rushmore area, stop and tour the Gutzon Borglum Museum in Keystone, SD. (It's the town at the base of Mt. Rushmore, more or less.) He's the man who carved the monument, as well as the Lincoln Memorial statue in Washington, DC. This museum talks about Borglum's life, and how he did it. It was quite informative. See that before viewing the Rushmore Monument - it'll make them even more meaningful. http://www.rushmoreborglum.com/

If you tour Custer State Park, note that every turn and the tunnels on Iron Mountain Road (I think that's the name) will put the faces on Rushmore in the center of your point of view. The faces are framed by the trees along the roadway. It's pretty cool. Bring crackers to feed the burros that hang out along the roadway in the park.

Drive the hour east of Rapid City and check out Badlands National Park. Good for a few hours, or more if you like to hike. And from there, it's a short drive to Wall, SD. Ever see a bumper sticker asking "Where the h3ll is Wall Drug?" Well, that's where it is. http://www.walldrug.com/

Go to Deadwood, SD, and see the Mount Moriah Cenetery. That's where Wild Bill Hickock and Calamity Jane are buried next to one another. http://www.deadwood.org/

On your way South from Rapid City, arrange the route so you can stop in the town of Alliance, Nebraska, and see Carhenge. It's unforgettable. http://www.carhenge.com/

If you're going to Dinosaur, Colorado, make it a point to cross over into Utah to see the other end of the park, outside of Vernal. (It's not that far.) It offers a much different perspective on the park, and the Dinosaur Visitor's Center in Vernal has an entire wall of fossils sticking out of the ground, "un-excavated" so you can appreciate how they were found. Great for any dino buffs in your family.

Crazy Horse Monument is kind of a tourist trap, in my opinion. You can't see much more inside the park as you can from outside it, and you can save the (inflated) entrance fees. Granted, it's been a few years since I was there, so it may be better than it was, but I've heard things haven't changed much.

I second the vote for traveling through Cody, Wyoming. During the summer months, the Cody Night Rodeo is well worth seeing. It's high school age people putting on an excellent rodeo, if you like that sort of thing. And yes, the Buffalo Bill Museum is definitely worth the stop.

I'm sure there's more, but that's what comes to mind at the moment. Enjoy your trip. It's a great one!

Dave

 

[susieq]

If I had a wayback machine...............

Thanks.............:hysterical: :hysterical: :hysterical: Haven't heard that in a long time!!

 

[Elan]

If I throw Badlands NP and Wounded Knee in there, I'm pushing the 10 days, I fear. I'll be travelling with kids, so I need to keep the "time in the car to things to see/do" ratio in mind.

I've been thru Cody previously. I wouldn't mind going back, but we're more likely to do that as a future Yellowstone side trip. It just doesn't seem to work in conjunction with the Beartooth Hwy and Little Bighorn.

Steve, I know you've posted about traversing the Beartooth. Roughly how long is it (time wise) from YNP to Red Lodge?

 

[gary01]

Jim, I don't know if you are using Google Maps to lay out your routing but it is an excellent way to get started. I use it all the time when starting my "road trip planning".

http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q=

 

[Elan]

Jim, I don't know if you are using Google Maps to lay out your routing but it is an excellent way to get started. I use it all the time when starting my "road trip planning".

http://www.google.com/maphp?hl=en&tab=wl&q=

Yep Gary, that's how I got started on this -- Google mapping the distance/route from Boise to Mt Rushmore. I agree Google Maps is great for trip planning (and daydreaming).

 

[Werner]

Crazy Horse Monument is kind of a tourist trap, in my opinion. You can't see much more inside the park as you can from outside it, and you can save the (inflated) entrance fees. Granted, it's been a few years since I was there, so it may be better than it was, but I've heard things haven't changed much.

I agree that the extra price to tour the monument itself is outrageous but the Visitor's Center has an excellent Native American Craft Museum and is well worth the basic entrance fee and the time to drive there. Many tribes contributed some of their best work to the museum. You can see the unfinished monument and a small scale model from the window.

Also, Bandlands National Park is pretty unique if not everyone's idea of beautiful. On our trip a few years ago the road through the park was blocked by the largest herd of Bison we had ever seen.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

If I throw Badlands NP and Wounded Knee in there, I'm pushing the 10 days, I fear. I'll be travelling with kids, so I need to keep the "time in the car to things to see/do" ratio in mind.

I've been thru Cody previously. I wouldn't mind going back, but we're more likely to do that as a future Yellowstone side trip. It just doesn't seem to work in conjunction with the Beartooth Hwy and Little Bighorn.

Steve, I know you've posted about traversing the Beartooth. Roughly how long is it (time wise) from YNP to Red Lodge?

Depends on how much time you want to spend along the way sightseeing. If I weren't pushed for time, I would make that a one day trip, particularly if you want to do some sightseeing in that corner of Yellowstone.

 

[Elan]

Depends on how much time you want to spend along the way sightseeing. If I weren't pushed for time, I would make that a one day trip, particularly if you want to do some sightseeing in that corner of Yellowstone.

That's pretty much what I figured, and why I listed W Yellowstone to Red Lodge as being 1 day's travel, even though it's a relatively short distance. I like to stop and see the sights along the way. Thanks for the info!