Mt Rushmore, Yellowstone, Cheyenne

RamTX wrote:
We spent about six days in the Mt. Rushmore area, and about 7 or 8 days in Yellowstone (this was our third trip there). When going thru Custer State Park,go on the wildlife loop early in the morning or late in the evening-I think that you will see more wildlife then. We take it easy when camping, so we are a little slower in seeing various sights! No offense intended to another poster, but I can't imagine spending only 10 minutes at Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore, we went to Mt. Rushmore in the afternoon, then we back one night to see the light show!

No offense taken. To each his own. Needles Highway, Spearfish Canyon, Custer State Park, and traveling through the area forests... ie, the natural wonders of this beautiful Country, are more our speed.

Actually, we didn't even spend 10 minutes combined, at the two locations.

Glad you enjoyed it though.

We spent about six days in the Mt. Rushmore area, and about 7 or 8 days in Yellowstone (this was our third trip there). When going thru Custer State Park,go on the wildlife loop early in the morning or late in the evening-I think that you will see more wildlife then. We take it easy when camping, so we are a little slower in seeing various sights! No offense intended to another poster, but I can't imagine spending only 10 minutes at Crazy Horse and Mt. Rushmore, we went to Mt. Rushmore in the afternoon, then we back one night to see the light show!

Hi Mark,
We just did that trip this summer.

We spent several days in the Mount Rushmore area and stayed at the amazing Rafter J Bar Ranch. You can see my pictures and review HERE.

We spent 4 days in the Black Hills but we didn't spend all of that time keeping busy. We relaxed at the RV park a lot. For us, Mount Rushmore took 2-3 hours since we did the short trail that takes you closer to the monument. I highly recommend it.

We were a little disappointed in Crazy Horse. While we were there, they weren't doing the bus tours that took you closer, so we only got to see it from a distance. We thought a lot of the movie was more about the man/family who is building it than about the Native Americans. That being said, it was still kind of interesting. Again, this was 2-3 hours.

We spent a day exploring Custer State Park and the Needles Highway (highly recommend this!). We did a hike around the lake in Custer and did the wildlife loop drive. We probably could have lived without the drive since we saw many of the same animals in Yellowstone.

We spent 3 days exploring Yellowstone, and those were pretty long days. We didn't come close to seeing or doing it all, but we felt like we had a good amount of time to see the highlights without feeling rushed at all. I just did an interview on the RV Family Travel Atlas podcast with our trip planning recommendations and favorite sites. You can find it HERE. Just scroll to the bottom of the blog post to see the player and listen to the podcast, if you are interested.

We just drove through Cheyenne, so I have no tips for that. You are welcome to message me if you have any questions about Mount Rushmore/Yellowstone, though. Have fun trip planning!

Search this Forum for each of the areas of interest. Plenty of posts including mine.

10 minutes for Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse each. 2-4 hours for the Spires.

I'd say that 3 days in Yellowstone you could hit the high spots, that is a BIG park! Traffic is slow mainly because of the buffalo. One day at Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse would probably work. If you've got time & near the Buffalo Bill Museum is in Cody & is AWESOME. If you buy the one day pass & get it stamped before you leave, you can go back the next day for free. We spent 2 days in there & still didn't see everything! There is also a "village" in Cody that has some historic buildings. We didn't make it there, but I think they have Jeremiah Johnson't cabin & something to do with Butch Cassidy there.