Duluth, MN to Rapid City (band land area), SD

[S-n-L]

Hello everyone,

We are traveling west along the UP of MI now and will be heading through Duluth to Rapid City. I would like to know any suggestions for the most scenic route with the most interesting stops.

We love to hike/walk, bicycle ride, eat and love "kitschy" fun things.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. We like traveling the smaller roads if there are things to see and don't mind hopping on an interstate to get from point A to point B if there is not much to see.

Thank you in advance,

Stuart & Leslie

[minn_camping_fa]

golf_bears wrote:
After the Bad Lands heading west, don't forget to stop at Wall Drugs in Wall, SD. They have the greatest cake doughnuts in the world and still 5 cent coffee. Enjoy your trip.

x2!

The donuts really are good...best when very fresh. Wall Drug has a good diner too. The hot beef sandwich is great!

[golf_bears]

After the Bad Lands heading west, don't forget to stop at Wall Drugs in Wall, SD. They have the greatest cake doughnuts in the world and still 5 cent coffee. Enjoy your trip.

[S-n-L]

Thank you all for the suggestions.

I think we will plan to take a diagonal path through Mitchel, SD passing through Pipestone national Monument in MN. Then we will head west to the Bad Lands.

We will finalize our plans over the next week or two.

Stuart & Leslie

[APRSRVer]

After you get across northern MN, you might go south. Near Milbank, SD and Apelton, MN, you'll cross the continental divide. Not dramatic like the mountains but from there every thing flows north to Hudson's Bay or south to the Gulf of Mexico. Watertown, SD has the nationally renown wildlife artist Terry Redlin Museum. West on SD 14 you'll get to the state capital Pierre. Capital grounds are interesting and there is an artesion fountain that has a fire burning on it. North of Pierre is Oahe Dam. The largest earth fill dam until the Answar Dam was built in Egypt. After SD 14 joins I90 (about 50 mi from Rapid) there is the infamous Wall Drug where you can still get a free drink of ice water. From there, you can go south to the Bad Lands national park. Then on to the Black Hills.

[paulj]

There are lots of lakes across that part of Minnesota. South of US2 is the Lake Itasca, headwaters of the Miss (see Minn.State Parks).
Bimidji (sp?) has a Paul Bunyan and Babe statue. A couple of towns also celebrate St Urho (the Finish immigrant's answer to St Patrick).

Once you leave the Lake Superior shore, the countryside is flat, especially in the Red River Valley along the MN/ND state line.

To drive south from US2 or I94 to I90, almost any NS US numbered highway in the Dakotas will do. Just beware that US2 in western ND is the center of an oil boom, with lots of truck traffic and overloaded campgrounds. But it doesn't affect the Teddy Roosevelt Nat Park in western ND (I94).

[Bumpyroad]

23 across minnesota would probably be the shortest. the parts of that I took years back were OK.
bumpy