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My wife and I (plus our dog) plan to travel from the Twin Cities to the Black Hills this June for some nature and active hiking. Are there any great stops along the way, particularly for an overnight pitstop?
We also would like recommendations for cabins (that allow pets) in the Keystone/Custer/surrounding area for about 3 nights.
If you were our guide, where would you take us?
Mitchell has some neat things to see. Prehistoric Indian Village, Discovery Museum, Corn Palace.
Chamberlain/Oacoma is a nice place to stop. Al's Oasis is good to eat at and souvenier shop.
Wall Drug is a must. And a scenic drive through the Bad Lands never hurts either!!! That's as much as I know about the sight seeing.
Do you insist on traveling I-90. When I go the cities I generally take US 14 to US 23 to Granite City and work my towards MN 7. It seems to be a scenic route. Pierre is not a bad place to stop for an overnight.
Garretson, SD is a fun place to stop. You have Palisades State Park, Devil's Gulch and Splitrock Creek. Both Palisades and Splitrock have camping opportunities. Cabins can be found at the Palisades.
My recommendation for cabins in the hills is to call Black Forest Mountain Resorts. Very nice privately owned cabins that are rented out when the owners aren't using them. Just south of Lake Pactola, and a very manageable driving distance from both Custer and Keystone. There's a general store just down the road to the marina at Pactola and a restaurant/bar a walking distance from your cabins (hopefully it's open as this has been closed before).
This info. is a couple of years old as we haven't stayed there for a few years. Maybe some local posters can update my information if it's still accurate.
That's a long drive that I know all to well. I go to school and live in the Twin Cities but I'm from Rapid City. Stop for a bite in Sioux Falls, go to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, take a picture by the Missouri River in Chamberlain (it's a lot bigger and a lot cleaner than the Mississippi in the cities), maybe go through the Badlands if you have time, stop and see what all the fuss is about at Wall Drug, then zoom into Rapid City, check into the hotel, and have some REAL FUN in the Black Hills!
A couple of places to stop on the way to the black hills from the twin cities i think are amazing are:
[mod cut] Blue mounds state park in luverne which is 5 miles off of I90. It's very pretty during the summer months, flowers blossoming all over, we have beautiful cliff's, Buffalo herds, many deer herds running through there, just amazing. camping places as well and two small "lakes," as well as many hiking trails.
[mod cut] Palisades state park in garretson sd, about 7 miles off of I90 is another beautiful place, amazing cliff lines there. Devils Gulch also in garretson is very pretty place, a creek runs through it and some awesome cliff lines and it's just really pretty there.
you must hit up the badlands, it is absolutely amazing and pretty there. [mod cut] It's pretty much my favorite part of all of south dakota so pretty there and amazing, can spend to much time there.
there are some pretty lakes in the black hills especially by custer state park, some of the caves out there are pretty awesome as well.
Last edited by debey; 04-12-2010 at 08:09 AM..
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Pioneer Auto Museum in Murdo SD is great place to visit. Lots of history of SD, buidings full of old vehicles and beautiful rock & mineral specimens that at one time belonged to June Culp Zeitner (June was hailed as Queen of Minerals) before her death. Great specimens. Also one of the first race cars that Dale Earnhard Sr drove when he was still dirt tracking.
I know its 'kitchy', but 1880s Town would be fun stop -- you can even bring your dog in to stretch his legs. It's right on I-90 between Wall and Murdo.
As for cabins....have you thought about renting a cabin in Custer State Park? The cabins at Sylvan Lake and Legion Lake are spectacular.
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