Best Route from Rapid City, SD

Whitetail wrote:
Class A, towing. Headed to St. Mary, SD via Hwy 2. In June. Factoring in elevation, road conditions, what's best route please?

Sorry but I must be lost???????????????

Could you mean St Mary, MONTANA???? There is no St Mary, SD that I can find. And Route 2 is nowhere near Rapid City. Gonna need to clarify where you're going.

I would be in no hurry to get up to US2 from Rapid City. We would take I-90 to Billings and then start working north using US87 to Great Falls and I-15 to Shelby and then US2 to Browning; or US89 from Great Falls to Browning. Once you get to Browning DO NOT take US89 from Browning to St. Mary unless you enjoy mountain driving. Take MT464 north out of Browning to where it intersects with US89 then turn south down to St Mary. Montana is not only Big Sky country it is just big, our fourth largest state. Enjoy your trip - the Black Hills and Glacier NP is two of our favorite areas.

What do you mean by "road conditions"? Do you want back roads or Interstate highways? How much time do you have? What do you like to see and do? All of these are usually factors in determining the "best route" to take between any two points.

I might just hit I-90 west to Missoula and then start looking for US 93 north up toward Kalispell (skirting the shore of FlatHead Lake. Then US 2 up thru Hungry Horse to West Glacier. More happening on the west side than around St Mary's. Some of the population around Browning were a little less than friendly several years ago.

My opinion is that US 2 is the least scenic way to get from Rapid City to Glacier NP, unless you love rolling plains interrupted by a few big coulees. The only reason I can think of for choosing St. Mary is to continue up to Waterton Lakes National Park in Canada. Other than that, there are better places in Glacier to visit and to stay, like East Glacier and the Going-to-the-Sun Highway.

I have taken US 87, US 191, US 287, US 89, I-15, I-90, and US 93 when going to or coming back from Glacier, Banff/Jasper, or Alaska. They are all good roads so "road conditions" aren't a problem, but they are not all "fast roads."

If you want the most scenic route and aren't worried about schedule, take US 14 from the Black Hills to Devils Tower, then through the Bighorn Mountains to Cody, WY. From Cody, stay on US 14 into Yellowstone NP, take US 191 to Bozeman, then US 287/US 89 to Helena, East Glacier, and St. Mary. This route could take 4 days to two weeks, depending on how long you spend at each of the scenic areas and at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody.

If you just want to get there in a hurry, take I-90 to Butte, then I-15 from Butte to US 287, and at Choteau take US 89 to St. Mary.

These suggestions will all be helpful in making our decision. Appreciate much! Thanks.

Most folks don't advise rving through the Bighorns.

Sure US 14 in the Bighorns, the Beartooth Highway, Trail Ridge Road in RMNP, Wolf Creek Pass on US 160, etc., have a lot of hairpin turns and steep grades. But for anyone with mountain-driving experience and a diesel exhaust brake, they are no more difficult to drive than highways through the Smoky Mountains or Cascades.

Maybe if I were towing a 25,000-lb., 43-foot 5th wheel, I would think twice. But I don't, so I just drive them at a safe speed using my gears and the exhaust brake on downgrades and using turnouts to let others get by if I am slow on the uphill portions.

Try it, you may like it!