Badlands – Black Hills – Mt. Rushmore
2020
Day 1: Drive to Badlands (8 hrs) hike/explore in the badlands, then 1.5 hrs. to Mt. Rushmore and Under Canvas lodging.
Hiking in Badlands: easy to explore right off the trailhead for the window trail (.3 miles, very family-friendly, lots of places for kids to climb and explore)
The Door and notch trail are right off the same parking lot as the Window trail. The notch trail is a nice short hike; there is a ladder to climb so kids might need help. It was crazy hot mid-day so I would recommend doing any hiking early morning or towards evening. (this was basically on our way to Black Hills/Mt. Rushmore so we just hiked when we arrived around 1pm, you could drive back East a different day, but its about 1.5 hrs. to Mt Rushmore area from here.
Mt. Rushmore: you pay to park 10$, but no fee to enter monument area. There is ice cream and a snack area there. They have a short Presidential trail you can walk around (we got there around 6pm and didn’t stay too long, the trail was closed, we stayed to get photos and ice cream ~ 1hr)
Under canvas Tents: LOVED it. https://www.undercanvas.com/camps/mount-rushmore/ With the kids along we splurged to have the delux tent that has the toilet, shower and sink in it. But if you don’t mind a shared bathroom, go with the simple tent option-they are just as cool and less expensive. For family set up-at the time we went they let you rent up to 2 cots to add to a tent with a King bed. You can get a tent that has an extra small tent set up next to it if you wanted a separate area for kids to sleep. They had towels and a wood burning heater inside.
The lodge offers meals to go or eat there. They give out free s’mores bags with everything you need and have fire pits around the camp sites that they start each night at 7pm.
Some tents are a small walk from where you can park, but they have carts you can use if needed.
There is a short trail that’s takes out about 1 miles total from the lodge that takes you to a great view of Mt. Rushmore. They had just finished it when we were there. You have to walk/run out on the road you drove in on, and the trail head is on your right just past the dumpsters, its past the Under Canvas sign you see when you drive in.
Keystone: We did not explore the little town (which is minutes from Under Canvas) but it was a cute tourist town with typical tourist stuff. They do have adventure park options right in town for kids.
DAY 2: Needles Highway and Lake Sylvan
Needles Highway: a must do drive that can take you to Lake Sylvan (there are shorter routes to lake sylvan if desired too). Lots of great views and tunnels!
Lake Sylvan: Beautiful, a must do! Bring float toys and swim suites, we wished we had brought a blow up boat or large floaty’s as there are no motorized boats on here and it would be great to be able to explore around the lake. You can walk around the lake (but there is not a short loop around, it takes you on a longer hike if you try to hike all the way around). There is a longer hike you can do that leaves from right by the lake, we did not do that but looked like a fun option for other ways to explore the area (I do not think you could do the whole thing with little kids, but maybe part).
DAY 3: Drive to Estes Park (6.5 hrs), stop at Crazy Horse on the way
Crazy Horse: Honestly it looks the exact same as it did 15 years ago when I last was there. Cost 12$/adult and more per children over 5(I think). You can see it when you drive by, but if you pay you can park and explore the museum area. Neat to see the history of the area, we stayed for about an hr.
We originally also had plans to go to Wind Cave National Park, but the cave was closed so we skipped it. Was told it was really cool if it was open.
We combined this road trip with Rocky Mountain National Park and headed out there on day 3. You can otherwise continue to explore the Black Hills and Badlands area.