Self-Guided Audio Driving Tour in Black Hills and Mt Rushmore

What's Included

Meeting and pickup

Itinerary

• 1
  The Black Hills

  As the audio guides play commentary based on your gps location, you can create your own itinerary along the tour route(s) to match your interests and schedule. Or you can use our trip planners for our suggestions on half, full or multi day itineraries. Some of the many highlights are listed below;

  24 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 2
  Mount Rushmore National Memorial

  The most famous and recognizable memorial celebrating the nationhood of the USA must be the 4 presidential faces that look out from Mount Rushmore. Though you will have seen it many times depicted on TV, movies and photos, there is no equivalent to seeing it with your own eyes and feeling the scale and depth of the sculpture.

  15 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 3
  Custer State Park

  Take a leisurely drive through an enormous area of natural habitat of rolling prairie hills with open grasslands and some pine forest. Though the drive is officially only 18-miles long, expect to spend at least 1 hour, but if you enjoy spotting wildlife, its easy to spend 3 or more hours watching. Also explore some of the side roads that branch off the main route.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 4
  Devils Tower National Monument

  Devils Tower was always a place of intrigue and fascination since it became the nation's first National Monument. For a multitude of generations before that, and continuing to this day, Native Americans celebrate the site for its spiritual importance. The Tower was thrust into pop culture in the 1970's sci-fi classic as the geographical star of Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

  25 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 5
  Badlands National Park

  Western South Dakota delivers a wide variety of spectacular landscapes ranging from the prairies grassland and rock formations of the Badlands National Park, through to the mountains, canyons and forests of the Black Hills for you to explore.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 6
  Crazy Horse Memorial

  In 1948, Sioux Chief Henry Standing Bear approached a Polish sculptor about creating another larger than life sculpture on Thunderhead Mountain - this time celebrating Sioux and other Northern Plains native groups through a depiction of Crazy Horse.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 7
  Keystone

  Once a mining boom town, Keystone today is the nearest community to Mount Rushmore. It is filled with hotels, restaurants, cafes and stores to find your perfect Mount Rushmore souvenir.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 8
  Rapid City

  The hub of the three best scenic drives in this part of South Dakota is Rapid City and it is the ideal place to base your accommodations, and to do some exploring in this lively town.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 9
  Sylvan Lake

  Located along route 87, Sylvan Lake is described as the Jewel of Custer State Park. If time allows, it's very worthwhile to allocate 45 minutes or so to enjoy the relatively easy 1.1 mile trail around the lake. The combination of grassy shores, still lake water and granite formations rising from the water are truly scenic. For more dedicated and prepared hikers, this is also the starting point for the Black Elk Peak trail, a 7 mile loop that rises 1100 feet to South Dakota's highest point.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 10
  Iron Mountain Road

  The final 45 minute approach of the recommended direction to Mount Rushmore follows the amazing Iron Mountain Road. We'll encounter tunnels, pigtail bridges, superb lookouts and 314 curves. It is a scenic delight! The most magical moment of the drive is the view through the Scovel Tunnel where 4 presidential faces greet you at the other end, like a postcard.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 11
  Bridal Veil Falls

  This 60 foot, narrow, wispy spray of water sits right beside the road in Spearfish Canyon. It's easy to capture that perfect photo right from the viewing platform.

  10 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 12
  Deadwood

  One of the most famous wild-west towns in the entire country - Deadwood became legendary for it's gold rush boom and the multitude of characters who we recognize to this day.

  2 hours • Admission ticket free
• 13
  Roughlock Falls State Nature Area

  From the tiny ex-sawmill town of Savoy on the Spearfish Canyon Road, Roughlock Falls is an easy and popular spot to visit with an attractive waterfall easily accessed by boardwalk. Extend your visit with a 1 mile stream-side walking trail to the falls from the Spearfish Lodge.

  1 hour • Admission ticket free
• 14
  Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway

  Spearfish Canyon is a superb 19 mile stretch of road with stunning waterfalls and 1000 foot high limestone walls. This scenic drive connects the town of Spearfish with Savoy and Cheyenne Crossing, following the Spearfish Creek all the way.

  1 hour • Admission ticket free
• 15
  Badlands Wall

  At different times during the drive through the Badlands, we will pass through the Upper and Lower Prairie. The barrier that separates these 2 levels is known as the Wall.

  30 minutes • Admission ticket free
• 16
  Door Trail

  The 3/4 mile Door Trail is the most popular as you follow a boardwalk until reaching a notch in the rock - the Door. Through the Door, hikers can venture into the amazing rock formations, characteristic of the Badlands. The shorter option is known as the Window Trail, just 1/4 mile long.

  1 hour • Admission ticket not included
• 17
  Fossil Exhibit Trail

  This easy 0.25 mile boardwalk is dedicated to the stories of fossils that have been found throughout the park. During its history, what is now the park has experienced perfect conditions leading to animal, plant and insect life forms to be quickly buried in silt of mud. When these events are timed just right, bones, teeth and shells especially are preserved to provide us a window to past times. Fossil finds are active to this day.

  1 hour • Admission ticket not included
• 18
  Minuteman Missile National Historic Site

  For a complete change of theme in the Badlands, there is an opportunity to experience an important location from the Cold War arms race era. The Minuteman Missile Visitor Center serves as a museum and an opportunity to visit now decommissioned nuclear missile silos and control centers.

  1 hour • Admission ticket not included
• 19
  Yellow Mounds Overlook

  One of the best vistas in Badlands National Park, the view from this overlook reveals classic buttes and erosion. The unique coloring in bands across these mounds, ranges from yellow and beige through to pink. The formation originated as black, ocean mud which has weathered through exposure to air into this highly photographic yellow display.

  20 minutes • Admission ticket not included
• 20
  Wind Cave National Park

  These 2 cave systems are incredible and if you have time in your itinerary, should not be missed. Both locations require driving on side trips off the Black Hills Loop tour route. If you follow the loop, the commentary will include descriptions of where to turn off for these these places, and details of how to visit. Simply return to the tour route when you are done.

  5 minutes • Admission ticket not included

Additional info

• Suitable for all physical fitness levels
• How to Access: After booking you’ll receive an email and text with instructions (search “Download Audio Tour”). Click the link in the email/text to sign in with your preferred Apple or Google account and redeem your voucher code ahead of time.
• Download The GuideAlong App: Download the free app over WiFi or cellular data and sign in with the same Apple or Google account.
• Download The Tour: Download the tour in the GuideAlong app under 'My Tours' over WiFi or cellular data.
• Start The Tour: Open the tour in the GuideAlong app to preview the start locations, tour route and trip planner, or start the tour.
• Location-Based Stories: Audio commentary plays automatically as you drive using your phone’s GPS chip. Wherever you are and whichever direction you’re going, you’ll hear the best stories and tips.

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