Hilton Club Traveler - Fall 2019 - 19

Pack a picnic to enjoy at the
scenic Sylvan Lake, located
inside Custer State Park.

19

Day One

Base yourself in Rapid City.
In the eastern gateway to
the Black Hills, the historic
downtown brims with shops
and restaurants. Head to Wall
Drug Store, a roughly onehour drive east. Founded in
1931, one of America's most
famed tourist spots offers
loads of kitschy fun. Just
south of Wall, fantastically
eroded hills mingle with
grasslands at Badlands
National Park. Stop for at least
one hike-we recommend
Door Trail-while motoring
the park's scenic Loop Road.
Next door to Badlands,
history buffs will enjoy
Minuteman Missile National
Historic Site. In the Cold War

era, 1,000 nuclear missiles
sat in launch silos beneath
the Dakota plains. Back in
Rapid City, grab burgers,
barbecue ribs and ice-cold
suds for dinner at Firehouse
Brewing Co.

Day Two

Stroll around Rapid City's
kid-friendly Dinosaur
Park, home to a collection
of cartoonish dino statues.
Then drive about 55 miles
south for a subterranean
spell at Wind Cave National
Park. There, you can take
a guided cave tour and
keep an eye out for aboveground wildlife such as
elk, pronghorn herds and
colonies of prairie dogs.

Nearby at Custer State
Park, the 18-mile Wildlife
Loop Road will bring you
face to face with some of its
1,350 free-roaming bison.
For lunch, the park's State
Game Lodge restaurant
dishes up tasty buffalo
sausage. Head to the Black
Hills Institute of Geological
Research museum in Hill
City and, for supper, sip a
craft cocktail and bite into a
juicy rib-eye steak at Rapid
City's Murphy's Pub & Grill.

Day Three

Drive about 23 miles south
and devote a half day to
Mount Rushmore National
Memorial. The visitor
grounds are surprisingly
compact. You can lose
some of the crowd by
hiking the short yet steep
0.6-mile Presidential Trail

through ponderosa pines to
awesome, up-close views of
the granite busts.
Departing Rushmore,
check out pretty Jewel
Cave National Monument.
Or, if you can't get enough
gargantuan granite
sculptures, beat a path for
the Crazy Horse Memorial.
Started in 1948, this ongoing
monument currently
boasts an 87-foot image
of the immortal Lakota
warrior's head, with plans
to eventually depict Crazy
Horse atop his steed.
Cap your last day
channeling your inner Wyatt
Earp or Calamity Jane in
the fabled Old West town of
Deadwood. Sure, it's a bit on
the hokey side. But winning
a mint at one of the town
casinos, you'll see fit to let
that slide, partner.
Hilton Club Traveler - Fall 2019

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