Custer State Park, South Dakota

There was almost TOO much to see in The Black Hills of South Dakota. We booked a campsite in December of 2023 and even then there were slim pickings. It didn't take long to discover why this is such a popular destination.
The state park itself was incredible. Beautiful scenery, hiking, swimming, fishing and wildlife. We wished we had more days here. The first day we wanted to cross the big attractions off our list. First stop was Mount Rushmore. We spent a couple hours reading up on the presidential history. William was extremely interested in all the presidents, he bought a book that did a deep dive on all the US presidents and their history. Willow was excited to see Theodore Roosevelt on the monument, she learned lots about him in North Dakota. All that new knowledge earned Willow her second Junior Ranger badge at Rushmore.
The drive to and back from Mount Rushmore was a unique road of twists, sharp turns and tunnels. The Needles highway boasts the most narrow tunnel at roughly 8 feet wide. Our driver wasn't too concerned about the tight squeeze, he drove through with "room to spare"!
That evening we drove the wildlife loop in the park and saw Bison, Deer, and Donkeys.
On Day 2 we did some swimming and fishing at Legion lake, a 5 min walk from our campground. In the afternoon we headed up to the historic town of Deadwood. It was pretty touristy but the boys enjoyed the shoot out in the street. We hit up the evening program at Mount Rushmore which was highly recommended to us. It was cool to see everything all lit up but maybe not worth the second stop. The next day we were off to a new state, Wyoming!Läs mer