Black Hills & Badlands National Park

Like everyone else in 2020, we were needing to get out!!! So what better way to get out than getting into nature! Aaron and I have been camping since before we got married. We would tent camp, but we'd make sure to pick an RV site so we'd have electricity and water handy. Some might call that "glamping," and yes, we would also bring a blow up mattress. So. It was glamping. No shame. I mean, we're no Bear Grylls!

When we decided enough was enough and needed to venture off somewhere, we decided on Black HIlls, South Dakota. Since we're from the midwest, it was close enough for a short 9 day trip and also somewhere Aaron and I hadn't been yet. There are so many things to do in that area of the world and we made sure to check out as much as we could!

We rented a Coachman Leprechaun 210RS C-Class RV which had a bunk above the driver/passenger seat for the girls, bedroom in the back, small bathroom and full kitchen. The #1 favorite thing about having a C-Class with kids was full access to the bathroom! And a close #2 was the 55 gallon fuel capacity. With less stops for gas and bathroom breaks, we made good time taking 2 days to get there, stopping overnight in Sioux Falls.

Itinerary:

Day 1/2 - travel days

Day 3 - Horseback Riding & Mount Rushmore

Day 4 - South Dakota Air and Space Museum & Badlands NP

Day 5 - Custer State Park/Needles Highway

Day 6 - Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming

Day 7 - Relax day/Custer State Park

Day 8/9 - travel days

Our sweet Hatch rode shotgun with me!

Finally settled in and enjoying a campfire.

The girls playing cards and eating lunch while on the road.

If you're looking for a recommendation for where to stay in the Black Hills, hands down please consider Rafter J Bar Ranch. They mostly have RV sites, but they have some cabins too. We stayed in campsite #159 with some great shade and the views were breathtaking.

After settling in, the next morning we went to The Stables at Palmer Gulch for horseback riding though the Black Hills. It was a gorgeous morning for this activity! Throughout this trip we kept asking ourselves - What fun social distancing options can we do on this trip? Horseback riding... why not? We didn’t realize it when we booked it, but we got a private family horseback riding trail ride. The girls had a blast and I hope they remember it forever! Welcome

our horses: Buddy (my horse), Fancy Pants (Aaron’s, perfection IMO), Blueberry (Charlotte’s) and Mailman (Paige's).

In the afternoon, we went to Mount Rushmore. Since it was COVID, it wasn't as busy as it normally would be for the summer. We got our candid shots of the gentlemen and walked the Presidential Trail which was only about a half mile, but it had lots of stairs. It was nice that they had some benches along the way if you needed a break.

After our busy day, we enjoyed some camp time!

The next day was just as busy. In the morning we visited the South Dakota Air & Space Museum, then the afternoon was dedicated to the Badlands.

If you need to know anything about Aaron, know that he is a kid at heart whenever airplanes are around. He'll geek out about what each plane is, how fast it goes, if it's a carrier plane, a bomber plane, a fighter plane, a maritime patrol plane, an attack plane... He's really just the Bubba Gump of airplanes. He's pretty perfect.

After eating the best Domino's pizza in our entire lives right across the street from the SD Air & Space museum, we headed to Badlands National Park. Google would say that the Badlands "contains one of the world's richest fossil beds, permitting scientists to study the evolution of mammal species such as the horse, rhino and saber-toothed cat. From tiny shrews to 2,000-pound bison, the Badlands is home to many species of mammals, reptiles, amphibians, birds and butterflies."

But really it's just a vast desert with unique colorful Earth layers. It was great to explore, throw rocks off the cliffs and drive though the park!

The next day was dedicated to Custer State Park and if I knew how much fun it was going to be, we would have planned to explore the park for longer. This was surprisingly a big highlight of our trip! We spent the day driving thought the park, hunting buffalo! And boy did we find them.. not once, but twice! We were so lucky to have found the heard and got a front row seat to watch them pass across the road! Some of the males were starting to grunt at us as the herd moved on and I was terrified they were going to scratch our rental car with their horns! After Custer, we drove though Needles Highway which was a memorable experience!

The next day we drove into Wyoming to visit Devils Tower National Monument. This unique rock rises almost 1,300 feet above ground. At first we thought it was from a volcano, but it's not. The funniest thing about the drive in, is that it's mostly a flat to lightly rolling plains and then BAM, there's the tower! So crazy. It took us about an hour to hike around it. We took our time, so it might not take you as long. But the girls loved to climb on all the rocks and explore the area.

After many days exploring the area, we needed a rest day. This day was dedicated to hanging out at the camper, riding bikes, eating s'more and playing games! However, we did go back to check out Sylvia Lake in Custer State Park for some more exploring.

Thanks for coming on our adventure! Until next time...

~ Mary