Things to see on the way to Yellowstone

Remember the Custer monument (battle field) is a long ways from Custer State park.

If it fits in your travel plans, Sinks Canyon State Park is wonderful place to stay. The nearby town of Lander is a nice walk up and down the main drag.

The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD is unique and worth a short visit if you haven't seen it. It's along the way if you take I-90 across SD so will not take much out of your day.

Near the Badlands you will also come to Wall, SD which is home to Wall Drug of which you will see a million signs along your journey.

I've never stopped but have been told the Badlands going through SD is worth a night or two to enjoy, plan to do it on our next trip to Black Hills. Obviously Wall Drug is worth a few hours stop. So many things to do in Black Hills, 6 days will fly by: wildlife loop drive in Custer (both dawn and dusk), Needles highway, 1880 train, Prairie Berry winery, Mammoth site, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Cosmos mystery area, Lead gold mine tour, walk the cemetery in Deadwood, Reptile gardens, etc. There's a restaurant/bakery in Custer that has an excellent breakfast burrito. Devils Tower is worth a few hours at least. We only stayed in Cody one night and would love to go back and spend a few days with the rodeo, museum, etc. We were in Yellowstone mid July and I will never go back during that time of year again, too many people, congested traffic and everyone in a hurry. I did not truly enjoy myself. We stayed in and around West Yellowstone and enjoyed wandering through the shops. Drove down past Tetons and would love to spend a week in that area.

Enjoy yourself and happy camping.

I was looking for a cheap overnight spot so we stopped at Wasta SD. There is a $10.00 a night campground and military museum. If you just stop for the night and leave in am it's $5.00. It has about 10 spots all in a row that are easy to pull through. We ended up staying there a few days and went to Wall and the badlands then continued on to Legion Lake campground. We rode our bikes around Wasta and stopped to talk to some of the locals. I noticed the dead motels and campground and asked one of the locals about it. He pointed to the crumbling black top road that runs on the opposite side of town from the freeway and said that road was the Black and Yellow highway. Back in the day that was the road from Chicago to the Black Hills and Yellowstone. When the expressway came through the town died. The Redwood motel was used in the 80's to film a movie which I cant recall the name of.

I never did have time to go in the Military Museum but figured that was good as it gives me reason to go that way again. It was our first visit to the Black Hills but after quickly checking out some of the other campgrounds we thought that Legion lake was very Nice.

We will be in Custer SP for 6 days, Yellowstone for 5 days and the Grand Tetons for 3.

Houston Remodeler wrote:
Which entrance to yellowstone ?

Haven't really thought out that far ahead yet, but probably the East entrance. I had assumed I'd take 90 out of Custer SP to 16 through the Bighorns, and then head through Cody and into Yellowstone.

While in Custer visit the Purple Pie Place - The pie is so good, we went twice! Their is also this really amazing burger place downtown where they make the buns and freshly grind the beef everyday for the patties. Very yummy and busy, but a must while in Custer SD. Take care, Matt

If you have time to swing into Sioux Falls, the falls are nice. Make sure you block out enough time for the Badlands, we only blocked out enough time to drive through and once we arrived we regretted not having enough time to do some hiking. Lots of great opportunities for beautiful landscape photos.

If you've never seen Wall Drug, that's something to consider also. Sure it's a huge tourist trap, but it's a must see if you have the chance.

Doug

Which entrance to yellowstone ?