Black Hills Must-See List for Families

The Black Hills is a fascinating area full of incredible landscapes and wildlife. We only had a couple of days to explore this area during our RV trip, so we had to limit what attractions we could visit. Our entire vacation was originally planned because of how much our boys like statues. We had to take them to Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

Check out this epic, FREE camping spot overlooking the Badlands.

After hiking and exploring the Badlands, we drove the 3-ish hours to our campground in Hill City, SD to stay the night. It ended up being a really fun place to stay with fire trucks for the boys to climb and a brewery for my husband and me!
(more on this place later…)

Watch a video of our 2 days in the Black Hills on Instagram!

First Stop in the Black Hills

The next morning, we woke up to a gathering fog so we hurried over to Mount Rushmore. Both our boys were so excited that they were actually listening to us talking about the Presidents whose faces they would see on the mountain. The moisture in the air slowly turned to a mist that would consume our view, but not before the kids got to look upon the “4 face statue” that they had been looking forward to seeing for months.

The weather was quickly turning and by the time we exited the gift shop, you couldn’t see the mountain anymore. D didn’t care though, he was in love with his souvenir.

Black Hills Stop #2

We buckled back into the RV and drove over to Crazy Horse. It was still early in the day, so we figured we would try and wait out the storm, hoping for a small glimpse of this massive project. We arrived and were charged a “reduced visibility” rate. Driving up, we saw nothing but a wall of white. So we parked the RV and let the kids sleep for a bit while the rain passed.

As soon as they woke up, they were anxious to get inside. Even though the rain and clouds were slowly smashing our hopes of actually seeing Crazy Horse, we also knew there were several museums to go explore. We walked in and the kids were immediately struck by the colorful artwork displayed around. We had just started looking around that first museum when someone came in saying the clouds had lifted. Crazy Horse was showing his face!

We were so happy that we got to see the mountain, even if it wasn’t all that great to stay outside. So, we went back to the museums. The kids loved looking at the beadwork and everyone was able to grab a piece of the mountain to take home.

We explored every inch and by the time we emerged back out to the statues in the front of the building, the sun was shining.

Our dog needed to stretch her legs too, so we went for a little walk around the parking lot. During the walk, we found this wonderful view of Crazy Horse in the back lot and stayed a few more minutes to play.

Playing in the back parking lot at Crazy Horse

Our next campground was located at Legion Lake in Custer State Park, but we had one more thing to do before going to camp.

Custer State Park Wildlife Drive
Black Hills, South Dakota

This is an 18-mile scenic drive around Custer State Park that gives you a good chance of seeing the diverse wildlife and landscape in the park. It is a two-lane road (one in each direction) and you need to be prepared to stop at any point as cars will back up around the wildlife, especially when near a herd of Bison or if some wild Donkey comes around.

Bison at Custer State Park on the Wildlife Loop Scenic Loop

The Bison didn’t seem to like the sound of the RV engine and had a mini stare down with my husband that made us get rolling again.

The Donkey left a big impression on the kids too. One was scratching its ear on the RV and another tried to lick us.

Wild donkey at Custer State Park on the Wildlife Loop Drive

We also saw prairie dogs and a couple of species of deer running around in the distance. The landscape was incredible and so diverse. I wish we had had more time to hike around Custer State Park, but we will have to save that for another time.

The wildlife loop in brought us right back to Legion Lake and our campground. Here, they told us that there was a chance to wake up surrounded by Bison, but that didn’t happen since it ended up raining again overnight.

Last Stop in the Black Hills

This park includes one of the largest cave complexes in the world. The kids were so excited to hike into the cave as we drove down from our campsite in Custer State Park. What we didn’t realize is that they had a shortage of rangers at the park, meaning a reduction in tours, they were sold out until 4:30 pm. The kids were devastated and tears formed.

I didn’t want to just pack up and go because then the disappointment would be the only memory. Instead, we completed the Junior Ranger program, learning about the caves and the prairie they lie under. D got to take the pledge and earn his badge. He was so proud of earning that badge that he completely forgot about his earlier disappointment.

Everyone was upset when we couldn’t tour the cave, but we learned an important lesson. The visit was salvaged and memories made. Vacation plans don’t always go as planned and disappointment happens, but that doesn’t mean you can’t twist the experience into something fun.

Junior Ranger Program:

They have them at most of the National Parks! You complete a booklet, learning about the park, and then return it to the park rangers to get checked. Then, you recite a pledge and earn a Junior Ranger badge for the park. I collected booklets at the Badlands and Mount Rushmore, but we didn’t complete them AT the park so the Wind Cave experience was special for D.

Black Hills Summary

The Black Hills has so much that we will have to go back one day. I mean, we didn’t even go on one hike there! It is a little weird to be in a place with such amazing trails and no time to see them. That is one of the disadvantages to the type of trip that we planned. We were moving from place to place so much that it was more of a “highlights” reel through the region.

The landscape in the Black Hills is absolutely breathtaking and deserves more exploration. Next time, we will plan more time here so that we can truly explore it more. For our first time as a family to the Black Hills, these 4 family-friendly attractions were the perfect introduction and I wouldn’t do it any other way.

What are your top “must-see” attractions in the Black Hills?

Where should we go next?

After visiting the Black Hills, we had another long drive to visit my friend just outside of Denver, Colorado. The kids were great on this drive and we hardly needed any of our entertainment techniques. It must have been all that activity!