I have 1 week

[jfkmk]

My wife and I are volunteering at a camp in Montana this year. It is located about 5 hours from Yellowstone, so we figured we would take an extra week and do some site seeing. We will NOT be camping this time. Here is our thoughts.

Spend 2 days in Yellowstone then travel east to the Gillette area to see Devils Tower.
After seeing that, continue east to the Rapid City area and base the rest of the trip there to see:
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Deadwood
Badlands
Wind Cave

Then fly home from Rapid City.

It appears this is all doable, especially since I’m not towing my camper. I know it is just getting a taste of the area. We would like to spend more time in Yellowstone, for example, but will be returning at a future date with the camper. My wife has never been in the area, so we want to see as much as possible.

Am I missing anything obvious? Any pointers in seeing the area? It’s been about 30 years since I’ve been to this area of the country.

Thanks in advance!

[tragusa3]

I would eliminate Devil's tower if it buys you another day in Yellowstone. It's a long, boring drive to get out there and it is one place that a quick glance sort of does the trick.

Don't underestimate the Black Hills area. For us, it wasn't far behind Yellowstone.

[ppine]

My best advice is slow down and enjoy yourself. You could spend the whole time in Yellowstone and fly home from Billings, MT.

[schlep1967]

jfkmk wrote:

Spend 2 days in Yellowstone then travel east to the Gillette area to see Devils Tower.
After seeing that, continue east to the Rapid City area and base the rest of the trip there to see:
Mount Rushmore
Crazy Horse
Deadwood
Badlands
Wind Cave

I've been out there one time on a motorcycle trip so take my advice with that in mind.
Devil's Tower - With the walk around the tower and a stop to watch the local prairie dogs, your looking at about 3 hours there.
Mount Rushmore - Including the Presidential Trail walk, again 3 hours at the most. You can easily do Crazy Horse and Rushmore in the same day and add in the Wildlife loop in Custer State Park to complete the day.
Don't miss the drive on Needles Highway Rt 87 and Iron Mtn Rd Rt 16A. Early morning on Needles is great as you will likely have the road all to yourself and the wildlife.

I guess my point is, you should be able to spend more time in Yellowstone and less in S.D.

[BB_TX]

I think your plan is great. We did something similar years ago flying into Salt Lake City, seeing most of your list, and flying out of Denver. We saw a little of a lot of things, but by no means all of everything. But no regrets at all. It gave us ideas of what we wanted to spend more time at.

You should add in the Buffalo Bill Cody museum in Cody. And we enjoyed a quick visit to the Little Bighorn battlefield.

[Lwiddis]

X2 on jkwilson’s post.

[jkwilson]

Yellowstone is better than the other things added together.

[Isaac-1]

2 days in Yellowstone is barely enough time to see the highlights, expect it to take 2 full days just to drive the main figure 8 loop at Yellowstone, briefly stopping at the major attractions only, and skipping some of the secondary thermal features, waterfalls, visitors centers, etc. Yellowstone is BIG, and the loop road alone is 142 miles with 45 mph speed limit, which drops to 0 mph when wildlife is present. It would be easy to fill up a week in just NW Wyoming, and not come close to seeing all the major attractions that are within 100 yards of the highway. We spent 3 nights and 4.5 days in Yellowstone in the summer of 2017 just before the big solar eclipse and were barely able to hit the highlights.