South Dakota

South Dakota RV Travel Destinations

There are many places to visit while traveling in your RV in South Dakota.   The National Park Service is oversees seven areas in South Dakota which are listed below.  Click on the links to find out more about these national treasures.  Though we have not yet visited all of them, the ones that we have not been to while traveling in our RV, are on our list for out next trip to South Dakota.

• Badlands National Park
• Jewel Cave National Monument
• Lewis And Clark National Historic Trail
• Minuteman Missile National Historic Site
• Missouri National Recreation River
• Mount Rushmore National Memorial
• Wind Cave National Park

Cities and towns listed with brackets [ ] were our base camps where we stayed and left our motorhome to visit the local attractions using our tow vehicle.  We have also included, if applicable, our recommended RV parks and any restaurants we particularly liked in these areas.   As RV parks, attractions and restaurants can change owners and/or management, we cannot guarantee the same level of food/service/accommodations as we experienced so please check current reviews and recommendations.

The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs SD, Hot Springs, SD –   This is a fascinating research facility.   “The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs, South Dakota is the world’s largest mammoth research facility where you can tour an active paleontological dig site and view Ice Age fossils exhibited as they are found.”

Badlands National Park – We visited the Badlands National Park in 2002 and it was an awesome experience.  The unique geological formations are a rugged beauty not to be missed!  Be sure the visit the soddy house outside of the park.  The prairie areas around the Badlands can be teeming with prairie dogs popping their heads out of their holes.  Watch the landscape for them.

Mount Rushmore National Memorial – When we visited Mount Rushmore in 2002, I had a lump in my throat at the amazing sculpture of four of our finest presidents.  The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, chose George Washington as he represented the birth of our country, Thomas Jefferson as he embodied the expansion of our nation, Abraham Lincoln beacuse of his preservation of the nation during challenges of the Civil War and Theodore Roosevelt as he respresented the development of our country.  When Gutzon Borglum died in 1941, work was continued by his son Lincoln.  Mount Rushmore is 5,725 feet tall and took nearly 400 workers to construct.  Most of the “carving”  was done by dynamite.

Wall Drug, Wall, SD –  In 1931, Ted and Dorothy Hustead purchased Wall Drug.  After almost five years of serving the small poor population of Wall, SD, the owners almost gave up trying to make their livelihood from this remote town until the idea struck to give away ice water to draw the hot and thirsty highway travelers.   They put up roadside signs similar to the Burma Shave signs of the day and it did the trick!  When we were there in 2002, they were still using the Burma Shave type signs to draw the highway traffic but the one small drug store is now a complex.  To read the entire history of the Husteads and Wall Drug, click on Wall Drug History.