SLC->Yellowstone->Mt.Rushmore "this road may be seasonally closed" (Sheridan: to rent, hotel)

[mrdon]

Greetings,

I'm planning a road trip with my girlfriend from San Francisco back to Chicago and visit national parks along the way. I am a bit concerned on "this road maybe seasonally closed" from Google Maps.

This is a link to my planned route (not including drive within Yellowstone) :
[Mod cut - link didn't work]

I am planning to do this segment between June 7-16. Am I safe to assume that these roads will be open & entire route possible?

Since I'll be driving through Bighorn from Yellowstone -> Mt.Rushmore (~10hr drive), is there anything interesting that would make it worth spending a day or night there?

This is the first road trip for both of us. Tips & recommendation are much appreciated.

Don

[ElkHunter]

The only thing your link did was to point at a spot in Salt Lake City. No further route from there.

If you tell us, "Generally" what you want to see, or what route you want to take, we can help steer you through Yellowstone and the Big Horns and get you to where you want to be.

If you are talking about the town of Big Horn, I only live about 20 miles from there.

So what do you want to see?

[mrdon]

My bad, I'll describe my route here instead :

From SLC :: I-15 -> US-20E -> US-191 S/US-20 E/US-287 S* -> Grand Loop Rd/US-89 N*
From Yellowstone :: Grand Loop Rd/US-20E* -> East Entrance* -> US-14E to South Dakota.

* = "This road may be seasonally closed"

Our plan for the entire trip is Yosemite -> Lake Tahoe -> SLC -> Yellowstone -> Mt.Rushmore -> ??? -> Chicago.

We are pretty flexible with our schedule. Our goal are visiting national parks, enjoy the scenery, and maybe a little bit of camping/hiking. So we turned to Google Maps and got that route. I assume that some of those highways are closed during the winter and I'm safe to plan based on this route. But I just wanted to be safe than sorry.

We just learned about Bighorn Naional Forest from Google Maps (US-14). It seems like there are 2 options driving through the forsest, US-14 or US-16. Which one would you recommend? We can drive through the mountain and enjoy the scenery, or camp there for a night or two if there's more to see/do.

Despite the 'national parks & scenery' theme, we wouldn't mind visiting or doing something interesting in any town along the route.

Thank you!

[CptnRn]

Yellowstone is closed in Winter as is the route over the Big Horns on US 14 from Lovell over the Big Horns, they should all be OPEN in June. I highly recommend US 14 thru Lovell up the Big Horns is very scenic. You shouldn't have any problems, and I expect will have a great trip.

Just West of Lovell is the Big Horn Canyon Recreational Area. The area has several scenic wonders such as:

Natural Trap Cave: http://www.city-data.com/forum/wyomi...l#post11005482

Bad Pass Trail with 120 teepee rings found in the area.
http://www.amerisurv.com/PDF/TheAmer...il-May2008.pdf
http://www.city-data.com/forum/wyomi...l#post12656550
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/natio...yon_park97.pdf

Devils Canyon Overlook:

http://www.srwyants.com/millieandral...devilscanb.jpg

http://commondatastorage.googleapis....nal/901406.jpg

Believe it or not the first trappers in Wyoming floated pelts down the Big Horn River to St. Louis, before the river was calmed by dams.

In the Big Horns... on or near US 14

See the map here of Big Horn National Forest Campgrounds. USDA Forest Service, Bighorn National Forest - Maps&Brochures

Stop and check out the Medicine Wheel. medicine wheel - Google Maps

Medicine Wheel National Historic Landmark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Porcupine Campground is a great place to camp, we camped here a lot. porcupine campground - Google Maps

Bear Lodge, just West of Burgess Junction is a good place to rent rustic or modern cabins, my family spent some great holidays there. Bear Lodge Resort in the Bighorn National Forest

I will leave it to someone else to describe the scenic Eastern slope of the Big Horns, as I am not as familiar with them.

But after leaving the Big Horns, you absolutely must stop and check out the Devils Tower National Monument in Eastern Wyoming, it is just North of US 14 and Keyhole State Park. Devils Tower National Monument (U.S. National Park Service)

[ElkHunter]

East from Burgess you'll drop down off the Big Horns. You'll pass Sibly Lake, Fallen City, then as you go through the town of Dayton you can take a quick side trip of a couple miles and see Tongue River Canyon.

After Dayton and Ranchester you'll be on I-90. Sheridan is about 15 miles and it has the Sheridan Inn (Owned by Buffalo Bill), Trail End, King Rope, etc. Then about an hour and a half down the interstate is the exit for Devils Tower.

Once you get back on I-90, it's just a short jaunt to Spearfish. You can either go on into Rapid City, or at Spearfish take 385 through Deadwood/Lead, and on over to Mt Rushmore and Crazy Horse.

Mt Rushmore is only about 25 minutes outside of Rapid City. Lot's of nice places to stay around Mt Rushmore if you want to camp.

[mrdon]

CptnRn & ElkHunter -- Thank you very much for the information. I do appreciate it. There are several interesting sites from Yellowstone to Mt.Rushmore.

But it looks like I'll have to monitor road conditions in WY carefully just to be sure before I leave Yellowstone.

In case taking US14 is not possible, I suppose I could backtrack to I-15, north to I-90 then head straight to Mt. Rushmore. ( Or maybe US 287 or 191 instead of I-15) -- Or is there some other route that you would recommend?

I'm not familiar with that area and seeing several road closures/advisories on WYDOT concerns me quite a bit.

[jody_wy]

june the roads should be good, only constuction

[ElkHunter]

Hwy 14 is always open. Hwy 14A is closed seasonally. Hwy 16 is always open. So at Cody, you'll have to make a decision based on conditions. They should be fine.

[WyoNewk]

I often post on an RV site and suggest Hwy 16 over the Bighorns for those who aren't too sure about driving their big RVs through the mountains. It's got few switchbacks and is a nice easy drive, but I agree that 14A should be fine if you don't mind mountain driving. It's more scenic, and even if you went all the way to Greybull and took Hwy 14 (rather than 14A), it's still a little more scenic than Hwy 16, but both are very nice drives and take about the same amount of time.

One quick little "correction" on Elk Hunter's post.... To get to Devils Tower via I-90 you'll want to exit at Moorcroft, and it's a good 2 hours from Sheridan if you scoot along without stops. Elk Hunter must drive with the pedal to the metal. And after visiting Devils Tower, I'd suggest that you pick up I-90 at Sundance rather than Moorcroft. That'll save you the half hour you lost by not driving EH's 90 mph. (Note: The "Sundance Kid" picked up his moniker after spending a little time in the Sundance jail.)

If you enjoy art and would like to see the home of a prominent cattle baron as it was in the late 1800's, stop and visit the Bradford-Brinton Memorial just south of Sheridan (SW of Big Horn on Hwy 335). It's a nice place to spend a couple hours if you're not in a hurry.

And if you're in no rush at all, take Hwy 342/192 (you'd have to backtrack a couple miles from Big Horn) to Story and then on back to I-90. It parallels I-90 but is a much slower route... but very pretty and has a lot of history relating to the Indian Wars. At that point you'll also be in Johnson County of the infamous "Johnson County Range Wars," also famous for the Hole-in-the-Wall Gang. You might even want to spend some time in Buffalo, maybe an overnighter at the historic Occidental Hotel. The Historic Occidental Hotel in Buffalo, Wyoming - Butch Cassidy stayed here, Now You Can Too!


And if you're into pretty drives, instead of taking Hwy 85 (5-6 miles past Spearfish) to Lead/Deadwood, take Hwy 14 just on the east edge of Spearfish and it'll take you through Spearfish Canyon to Lead. It's a longer route, but lots of people really enjoy the drive. It's mostly all canyon following a small creek and you'll see a nice waterfall or two, including one of the many "Bridalveil Falls" in the country.

Once you're at the end of the canyon, you're deep into the Black Hills and can go any direction you like, but Lead is just a few miles east, and Deadwood a few more miles. Both are historic (1876) gold rush towns. Deadwood has become somewhat of a little resort town with lots of gambling halls. That's where Wild Bill Hickok was murdered, and his body is buried there at Boot Hill near Calamity Jane's.

It would be a shame for you to be in this area and not stop to spend a little time in the Black Hills. Mt. Rushmore should be a must, as well as the Crazy Horse Monument near Custer. And while there, be sure to drive through Custer State Park, especially the wildlife loop. There are also a couple very nice caves near there run by the National Park Service.

Heading back east from Rapid City, you MUST stop in Wall, SD to see Wall Drug. It's the law! And from there take a drive through the South Dakota Badlands National Monument. It won't take too much time -- an extra hour, maybe two if you stop and gawk for a bit.

If you're ready for a break when you get to Mitchell, SD, take a drive downtown and see the Corn Palace. You'll get a kick out of it. I think admission is free if you want to go inside and gather some info.


Have a great time passing through our state. I hope you enjoy it!

[WyoNewk]

Ohhhhhhh.... I almost forgot. If you enjoy western history, western art, antique firearms, or Plains Indian history, be sure to stop at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center (http://www.bbhc.org/home/index.cfm?CFID=29611793&CFTOKEN=69959753 - broken link) in Cody. Plan on at least a few hours, at most a couple days.