Plans for 2015 Mt. Rushmore Trip

Just curious. With such a long drive to get there, why not another day and make it to Yellowstone? The Black Hills are OK, but Yellowstone . . . all I can say is WOW.

Islandman wrote:
After you leave the Hills, may I recommend that you travel north to ND rather than head south to NE. Go see Teddy Roosevelt NP in western ND, then the area around Bismarck where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1804-05,

Two year ago we spent a week at Custer's Gulch in Custer, SD and enjoyed the Custer State Park, Needle Highway, Mt. Rushmore, etc.

When we left Custer we followed the route suggested above by Islandman. We stayed at Teddy Roosevelt and Mandan (Bismark) and visited the Lewis & Clark sites around Bismark. We stayed at the Fort Lincoln State Park in Mandan. I completely concur with the suggestion of Islandman. By the way, we did not experience any problems related to the oil boom, which was around Williston (?) at that time.

From ND we went over into Minnesota where we stayed at Detroit Lakes in the Country Campground RV park which we enjoyed. From that point we headed south toward home.

You might want to avoid North Dakota on this trip. The big oil boom up there is still booming. Not as bad as it was when it started, but they've figured out a way to recover oil that was previously unrecoverable. That means lots of tanker trucks on I-94.

After you leave the Hills, may I recommend that you travel north to ND rather than head south to NE. Go see Teddy Roosevelt NP in western ND, then the area around Bismarck where Lewis & Clark spent the winter of 1804-05, then on to MN where you can visit the headwaters of the Mississippi and also Paul Bunyan's home. To me that would be far more interesting and also less traffic than your southern route back to IN. The badlands in ND are much more interesting than those in SD!

Dick_B wrote:
Be sure to search this Forum for `Mt. Rushmore' or just `Rushmore' to reinforce your desire to see this monument.
That trip violates my rule that you have to stay somewhere longer than it takes to get there and back.

Dick B I feel your pain. Although I'm not sure I agree with you.
The travel is part of the trip/fun/journey.
I do agree that the end destination should be worth the effort it takes to make the drive.
Rushmore is a unique one of a kind destination that that many have to drive a long way to get to. There are countless places that require a long drive. Grand Canyon, Orlando, and Washington D.C just to name a few.
I try not to determine my destination by the length of the rainbow/drive. But I try to let that pot of gold at the end of the drive determine the destination.
@Navysmoker I am envious of you because I want to do Rushmore but I can't take that much time.
As you can see I am from MD as well. I can't manage to get away quite that long. Your time frame and routes seems reasonable despite violating the Dick_B rule:W.
Dick B and I will be stuck home looking at are calendars wishing we had a better schedule.:
Actually we hope we will be out in a CG somewhere!....closer to home LOL
I do agree with Dick in that the journey should be worth the drive. In your case it certainly is . Carry on and have a great time.I hope you enjoy yourself

May I suggest that you take in the Dakota Badlands while you are out there. Years ago, we spent one night there....camped at a KOA in Interior, SD. This year, we're headed to Grand Tetons, Yellowstone and Glaciar, and will stop at the Badlands again on the way home.

Was a missile baby sitter at Ellsworth many years ago and have been back quite a few times, as recently as last year. They have added sites at the Ellworth fam camp and they have good facilities. Hope you our not going to be around at the end of July because the Sturgis bibe rally (should be called the Black Hills Rally since the whole place turns into a parking lot a week before to a week after). I made a similar trip years ago with a small TT pulled by a V6 pickup and really didn't have too much of a problem but had to use the truck lanes some. The Fam Camp at FE Warren in Cheyenne is also good place but I 80 has more long grades and going east to west out of Cheyenne is a challenge with a small TV but it can be done. Going the other way is a little easier. Lots of things to do and see in the Black Hills. Don't let a few grades stop you, nothing wrong with some high revs in a well maintained engine.

Not your question, but if you take route 85 to the junction with route 26 at Lingle, you can head west to join I25 down to Cheyenne. Route 26 will take you past three points of interest on the Oregon Trail, Fort Laramie, the wagon ruts in Guernsey and Register Cliff about 2 miles from the ruts.

Fort Laramie




Oregon Trail Wagon Ruts




Register Cliff

Be sure to search this Forum for `Mt. Rushmore' or just `Rushmore' to reinforce your desire to see this monument.
That trip violates my rule that you have to stay somewhere longer than it takes to get there and back.

Those routes will be just fine for you. I and others have done them.