After spending your next vacation in the Black Hills, you will not want to leave this island of mountain paradise rising 3000’ out of the vast sea of surrounding prairie. The Black Hills offers you great sightseeing, wildlife viewing, unique attractions including Mt. Rushmore National Memorial & Crazy Horse Memorial, five national parks, guided cave tours, gaming, numerous recreation opportunities plus some of the friendliest folks you’ll ever meet. Solitude is still very easy to find and many options exist for accommodations including beautiful forested campgrounds, cabins, bed & breakfasts, hotels, motels plus a number of unique lodges. Many unique dining experiences exist from chuck wagon suppers to fine dining. Combine this with a growing number of annual events, art galleries, festivals, museums plus, a number of unique shopping opportunities to round out your complete travel experience.
As visitors to the Black Hills wind and twist around on scenic highways they will be rewarded with great geologic diversity that creates a beautiful, unique, colorful and sometimes surreal landscape that seems to be ever changing as your journey unfolds through deep canyons into forests with sky piercing spires of granite. The Black Hills is home to many historic towns including Rapid City, Keystone, Hill City, Custer, Hot Springs, Deadwood, Lead, Spearfish, and Sturgis plus a number of ghost towns. The area is rich in gold mining history and modern day prospectors still find pay dirt. The Black Hills Region is also very rich in natural history. The region is a place where fossils of T-rex, the woolly mammoth, and many other prehistoric creatures continue to be unearthed and displayed. The wild west spirit still lives on in the Black Hills with wild west shows in several communities.
The recreational opportunities in the Black Hills are virtually endless. Both mountain biking and road biking enthusiasts will absolutely love this place with thousands of miles of trails and roads to pedal. Take a bike ride on the George S. Mickelson Trail which follows a restored Burlington Northern rail bed for 109 scenic miles. The Black Hills offers excellent hunting and fishing opportunities. Don’t miss a hike to the top of Harney Peak offering a five state view or hike a section of the 110 mile Centennial Trail. Boating, water skiing and swimming are popular on many area lakes. The geologic diversity creates a world class rock climbing destination featuring the Needles, Devils Tower and Spearfish Canyon. Equestrians will find the area to be very user friendly. Numerous golf courses can be found in a variety of settings. Winter visitors can experience downhill skiing & snowboarding, XC skiing, snowmobiling and a dog sled race.
The Black Hills is home to a number of popular annual events including the Sturgis Motor Cycle Rally during the first full week of August and Black Hills Overdrive in mid June. Deadwood hosts several events each year featuring Days of 76 in late July and the Deadwood Jam in September. The Festival of Presidents takes place every year during the last weekend of June in downtown Rapid City. Rapid City also hosts the Black Hills Stock Show during the last week of January. Don't miss a visit to Keystone to experience the best fireworks show on earth at the Mt. Rushmore Fourth of July Fireworks Show and the Black Hills German Good Times Club—German Fest in September. Hill City hosts the annual Heart of the Hills Celebration in July and the Hill City Quilt Show & Sale in September. Gold Discovery Days is hosted in Custer every July plus the Custer Stampede in September. The annual Buffalo Roundup takes place in Custer State Park the same weekend in late September as the Custer Stampede.
South Dakota 