South Dakota - Badlands and Wind Cave NPs - May, 2026

Thursday, May 28

🌤 Weather: Good travel weather.

🛪 Travel Day

American Airlines - O’Hare –> Rapid City. At the gate they upgraded us to first class - Sweet!

At the car rental they upgraded us to a Toyota Tundra. Nice!

Lunch in Rapid City at Tally's Silver Spoon

We stopped for lunch in downtown rapid city and parked at a metered spot on the street. It took quarters and the nice gentleman in the spot next to us gave us quarters to feed the meter. I'm liking this trip!

Tally's was pretty crowded so we just ate at the bar. The food was Tasty!

About Mount Rushmore National Monument

History & Culture "The purpose of the memorial is to communicate the founding, expansion, preservation, and unification of the United States with colossal statues of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt." Gutzon Borglum

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is host to just over two million visitors a year from across the country and around the world. They come to marvel at the majestic beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota and to learn about the birth, growth, development and the preservation of our country. Over the decades, Mount Rushmore has grown in fame as a symbol of America - a symbol of freedom and hope for people from all cultures and backgrounds.

All the cultures that make up the fabric of this country are represented by the memorial and surrounding Black Hills. One of the most important gifts we can give our visitors at Mount Rushmore National Memorial is an understanding and love for our nation's history and cultures and an appreciation of the importance of caring for that legacy. You can learn more about the park here:Mount Rushmore National Monument.

Mount Rushmore National Monument and the Black Hills

Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills about 30 minutes from Rapid City. We walked out to the main viewing area and took our photos. I thought that was about all there was but, we found the short hike that gets you closer to the monument with some good vantage points for more photos. After the hike we spent time at the museum and watched a video that tells the story of the monument from concept to completion - quite interesting.

Mount Rushmore is an impressive American accomplishment created by the sculptor Gutzon Borglum and hundreds of hard working men and women. A place of historical pride - well worth a visit!

Rapid City Airbnb

Back to Rapid City we checked into our bnb. Nice, clean, etc. We are staying here all three nights.

Friday, May 29

🌤 Weather: 70s, partly cloudy, windy, nice.

About Badlands National Park

Geologic Formations: How Badlands Buttes Came to Be

The formations in Badlands National Park and badlands formations around the world are the end-product of two simple processes: deposition and erosion.

Deposition is the process of rocks gradually building up. Over the course of millions of years, the layered rocks of the Badlands were slowly stacked on top of each other like a layer cake. These rocks were deposited by a number of natural forces which range from shallow inland seas to rivers to wind. Deposition began about 75 million years ago with the formation of the Pierre Shale, the base of the geologic formations in the park. Deposition ended about 28 million years ago with the Sharps Formation, the uppermost unit of Badlands stratigraphy.

Erosion is the process of rocks gradually wearing away. The Badlands began eroding about 500,000 years ago as the Cheyenne and White Rivers carved their way through the landscape. They are the reason for the narrow channels, canyons, and rugged peaks of the Badlands which we see today. And the Badlands are still eroding – it is estimated that the Badlands erode at the rate of one inch per year, which is a rapid rate for rocks. In contrast, the granite of the Black Hills, to the west of Badlands National Park, erodes at the rate of one inch per 10,000 years. Scientists estimate that in the next 500,000 years, the Badlands will have eroded completely – come visit the park while you can! You can learn more about the park here:Badlands National Park.

Badlands National Park

The badlands are about a 1 1/2 hour easy drive from Rapid City. Super light traffic. Stopped at the visitor center to discuss our hike plans and buy shirts and hats!

Views from the visitor center

Cliff Shelf Nature Trail

First hike - Easy, short, light traffic. Nice! And a few pics on the scenic drive to the next trail head.

Door Trail

Second hike - Easy but once off the boardwalk there was a little bit of scrambling, short, light traffic. Nice!

Window Trail

Third hike - Easy, very short, light traffic with a great view at the end! Nice! After the hike we had our picnic lunch on a bench along the trail with a great view in front of us.

Castle Trail (partial)

Fourth hike - Easy, longest hike of the day - 5.1 miles, light traffic! Nice! The full Castle trail is a little over 10 miles so we did about half of it. Since it is difficult to see the trail it is nicely marked with red posts all along the way so it is easy to stay on the trail.

This is the 2nd time I've been to the badlands. Castle trail is my favorite as you feel fully immersed in the badlands on this hike. One of my favorite hikes across all the national parks actually (although I do have a lot of favorites).

Full day of hiking was about 8.3 miles - pretty respectable!!

Drove back to Rapid City and went to dinner at the Golden Bison. A good day in the Badlands!

Saturday, May 30

🌤 Weather: 70s, cloudy, windy, nice.

About Wind Cave National Park

Park Geology

The Black Hills are a dome-shaped area of crustal uplift, and the rock units exposed at the surface are shaped like a "bullseye" around the center of the Hills. Pre-Cambrian aged granites and gneisses form the interior core of the Hills. Moving outward from the center of the Hills, rock units of limestone, shales and sandstones are expressed at the surface. Wind Cave National Park straddles the older interior Hills rocks younger rocks, covering about 2 billion years of earth history. Due to this, Wind Cave National Park offers prime opportunity to witness a slice of Black Hills geological history. Learn more here:Wind Cave - Park Geology.

Cave Geology

It’s old, complex, and filled with more boxwork than is found in all other caves on Earth put together. Any one of these qualities would make Wind Cave unique. Together they make it a world-class cave. And each component is essential to understanding how the cave formed. Learn more here:Wind Cave - Cave Geology.

Mammals

Wind Cave National Park is home to North America's heaviest mammal, the bison, and many other iconic prairie mammals. Other mammals the in the park include: Black Footed Ferret, American Badger, Prairie Dog, Elk, Proghorn, Mule Deer, Coyote, Bats and Bobcats. Learn more here:Wind Cave - Mammals.

Wind Cave National Park

An easy 1 hour drive from Rapid City. After a stop at the visitor center for hiking plans, shirts and hats we spent the morning above ground on a hike.

Look Out Point and Centennial Loop Trails

A moderate hike walking through miles of prairie dog towns with lots of curious Prairie Dogs chirping and keeping a close eye on us - very cool. In the distance on the rolling hills we saw a herd of about 50 bison! Pretty far away from the trail so the pictures are really rough (the video is probably the best) - very very cool. The first half of the hike was rolling hills of prairie (Look Out Point Tail) and the second half of the hike was in a canyon (Centennial Trail). Really nice hike, zero traffic (ok 2 other people) and a decent 5.1 miles and 500' of elevation. We got back to the truck just before some rain hit.

Natural Entrance Cave Tour

Since we had a bit of rain after our hike we had our picnic lunch in the truck - Tasty.

I bought a cave tour pass online - plan ahead - they sell out months in advance online and the day of fcfs tickets also sell out shortly after the visitor center opens for the day.

All tours are ranger guided. The best / longest tour is the Natural Entrance Tour. The tour had about 30 people. The cave passages are pretty narrow in most places which really gives you the feel you are underground - in a cave - exploring! There were three different rooms we stopped in for the ranger to give her talks. The first is called the Post Office because the Box Works on the ceiling resemble post office boxes. This is a rare formation created of limestone and gypsum with acidity over the years dissolving the gypsum to create the "boxes". 90% of boxwork formations known in the world are in Wind Cave. This cave is way cool.

Sunday, May 31

☀ Weather: 70s, Sunny, Nice - until a storm rolled in late morning!

River Hike

Not much planned for the day but we had time before our 3:30 pm flight. Original plan was to visit Ellis Air Force Base but it is closed on Sundays. Plan B - we found a nearby park along the river and did a short hike before the weather turned and we got some rain. Time to head to the airport.

One more unexpected perk for this trip! After boarding our flight we were sitting back in coach when the gate attendant approached us and gave us new seat assignments in first class - again! I am a little puzzled how we were selected. It was just us two bumped up to first class and there were still 5 empty first class seats. Kathryn thought perhaps because we used frequent flyer miles for this trip - who knows. Made for an easy flight.

Arrived back home about 7:30pm. Home Sweet Home!

Summary

• 🏙 Rapid City- A small town of 70,000 people. Close to both parks, clean, friendly and super light traffic.
• 🏨Airbnb- Nice space, clean, newer remodel, quiet neighborhood
• 🌄Mount Rushmore National Monument- Great history and an impressive accomplishment. Worth a visit.
• 🥾Badlands National Park- Awesome. Every hike was excellent especially Castle Trail. A very unique landscape.
• 🥾Wind Cave National Park- Hidden Gem! Impressed above and below ground. Loved the Prairie Dogs and Bison.