The Black Hills of South Dakota are a unique place. They are chock full of natural and historic places, and are a huge part of the American story in a year in which we’re celebrating the semiquincentennial year of the United States: America 250.
We had a lot of reasons to make a road trip to the Black Hills in June of 2026:
1) To explore places we have never been to on prior trips.
2) To revisit some sites with our now 13-year-old son that he had only visited once as a 6-month old baby.
3) To enjoy the great American roadtrip with some out-of-way and out-of-the-ordinary tourist stops along the way.
4) And finally, to see if the Black Hills might be a place to open a future campground business we hope to pursue in the next few years.
Day 1: Wednesday: The Drive to Cheyenne, Wyoming
We decided to start the journey with a Wednesday afternoon drive up to Cheyenne, Wyoming after work to better position ourselves for the roadtrip the following day. By spending a night in Cheyenne we’d bypass the traffic in the Denver metro and give us two extra hours to explore.
The 2-hour drive north on the I-25 from our home we have done dozens of times, but since it was our intention to take our time, we made a stop at the Buc-ee’s in Berthoud, Colorado and had dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Colorado: Nordy’s in Loveland.
At Buc-ees we picked up some road trip snacks: glazed almonds, pecans, and cashews, cinnamon-roll frosted pretzels, etc. We brought our Blue cooler and could put anything that might need to be kept cool within (like the chocolate Overbites). And, on a Wednesday evening, it wasn’t even crazily busy within the store.
We’ve made stops at Nordy’s on a bunch of roadtrip vacations over the years and I also enjoy walking in the door, seeing the Western decor, and smelling the delicious BBQ. Since it’s only about 30 miles from Nordy’s to Cheyenne, we also could have a beer with our dinner.
I ordered the Carolina pulled pork sandwich with corn fritters and it was delicious as usual. Nordy’s is one of those places I’ll genuinely miss if we leave Colorado.
Earlier this year I signed up for the Marriott Bonvoy Chase Card. And because we spent the $3000 within the first three nights, I received five free nights at Marriott branded hotels.
We used two nights at the Marriott in Breckenridge and I used another free night at the Fairfield Inn in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
It’s a nice new hotel on the southwest side of the city. The room was clean and comfortable and the breakfast the next morning was also good.
The hotel is across the street from train tracks and trains are frequently passing by throughout the day and night. I called ahead when I booked to request a room on the backside of the hotel which faces a parking area and open land. Some of the reviews mention train noise, but I can say the back of the hotel is very quiet.
This is a photo from our room on the 4th floor. I would certainly stay there again, especially with Bonvoy points.
Day 2: Thursday: Cheyenne to the Black Hills via the Nebraska Panhandle
When I made plans for the roadtrip I decided it would be interesting to take a route further east instead of our typical route directly north through Wyoming.
We would make the second day all about the journey and not the destination.
This would be a day that would see us on the road early, and going to sleep late. We ate a hot breakfast in the hotel then got out on the road.
Holiday Park Big Boy Locomotive
The first stop of the day was in Cheyenne, Wyoming itself. We are train aficionados (especially my 13-year-old Evan) and the chance to see a Big Boy locomotive was something we were not going to pass up.
The Union Pacific Railroad company built the Big Boy steam engines in the 1940s to run between Cheyenne, Wyoming and Ogden, Utah. They are still the largest locomotives ever built.
Only a few Big Boy engines still exist and I’m aware of only one that is still running. The one at Holiday Park in Cheyenne has been idle since the 1960s. But they are absolutely huge and well worth seeing.
The engine is 132 feet long with eight drive wheels on both sides. The tender is by itself as large as a modern diesel engine.
After spending some time walking around the engine and taking photos, we returned to my truck to start off for the next destination (with a stop for coffee at a Ziggi’s in Cheyenne before leaving town).
Scott’s Bluff National Monument
We drove northeast from Cheyenne and crossed the Nebraska state line to make a visit to Scott’s Bluff National Monument.
There are two interesting reasons to visit Scott’s Bluff.
First, the bluff itself stands about 800 feet above the surrounding prairie and offers distant views of the surrounding bluffs, the North Platte river, and the city of Scottsbluff, NE. There are numerous scenic trails to explore from the summit.
Second, is the bluff’s significance to Oregon Trail pioneers. When the pioneers were traveling in wagon trains for over the two thousand miles, they did so at a time when road signs and GPS were a distant dream. Instead, they noted their progress by passing notable geographic landmarks.
Scott’s Bluff was a passageway for the wagon trains as the journeyed west.
First we walked along the Oregon trail path which has conestoga wagons on display (one with faux oxen), giving a sense of what the wagons would have once looked like passing over the same ground.
Afterward we drove to the top of the bluff to do some short hikes (I also ran down a section and ran back up to exercise my legs before we continued on with the drive). The bluff top is fairly extensive and the trails lead all the way to the base if you want to skip the drive.
Since we had limited time and a big day planned, after about an hour we needed to move on to our next stop: Chimney Rock.
Chimney Rock National Historic Site
We drove a section of highway between Scott’s Bluff and Chimney Rock along the same route that the Oregon Trail would have traveled in the reverse direction (we were traveling southeast and the Oregon trail traveled northwest).
Like Scott’s Bluff, Chimney Rock was an important landmark on the Oregon Trail. And this landmark is so significant it is featured on the Nebraska license plate and in the game Oregon Trail.
There are two areas to visit at Chimney Rock: The Nebraska State Historical Society run museum and trails, and the privately owned Walk to the Rock.
We first visited the state park section which is more distant from the landmark but includes the museum. Chimney Rock is a historic site because the Oregon Trail pioneers used it as a landmark and also engraved their names on the sandstone (but you can’t get close enough to the monument to see the engravings).
After visiting the museum we proceeded to the next section of the monument which was only opened a few years ago: Walk to the Rock.
Walk to the Rock is just a short half mile drive up from the museum parking lot and allows you to view Chimney Rock from much better vantage points. You still can’t approach any closer than a couple hundred feet, but you can see more of the geologic details of this iconic landmark.
You will absolutely want to visit Walk to the Rock as the views are simply much better and provide different viewing angles as well.
Alliance, Nebraska
After an hour and a half at Chimney Rock we needed to keep moving. We needed to find a place to have a picnic lunch and I found Laing Park in Alliance, Nebraska. All we needed was a quiet spot with picnic tables and that is what we found.
The park had a nice lake and was very quiet, but we were a little disappointed by the amount of litter left behind by someone’s birthday party.
We stopped to look at some neat ducks by the lakeside. One appeared to be a wood duck.
Carhenge
The real reason for proceeding to Alliance, Nebraska was to see a famous tourist attraction that mimics Stonehenge in England, but using old cars: Carhenge.
Carhenge helps draw tourists to Alliance, Nebraska and it is really a cool scale model of the ancient Druid monument.
We walked around the car structures, and the oddball dinosaur and other monsters on the site. We wanted to visit the gift shop, but there was a pretty bad odor inside so we decided to just get back on the road. We still had a lot to do that day.
Chadron, Nebraska
Driving north from Alliance, Nebraska the terrain begins to change from the Sandhills region of Nebraska into the rugged southern end of the Black Hills. I wanted to stop at Chadron State Park (and it would have made a prettier lunch spot), but we were running short of time and needed to make a stop at the local Walmart for a few supplies.
With the shopping done it was time to leave Nebraska behind and cross the state line into South Dakota.
The Black Hills
The South Dakota Black Hills are both a mountain range and a major cultural and historical region that defines western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming.
We had a busy itinerary planned for our time in the Black Hills over the next several days.
Under Canvas Mount Rushmore
I mentioned that my wife Shelley and I want to eventually open a glamping business and we thought it would be fun idea to spend a few mights at the biggest glamping chain in the US: Under Canvas.
I will have a lot to say about our experience here in a subsequent post (overpriced and overall bad), but I’ll just say in this post that we were staying in a Safari Tent with an additional Kid’s Tent.
After we got checked in and put our luggage in the tent we were hungry and drove to Hill City for dinner.
Prairie Dog Taproom, Hill City
The guy who checked us into our tent at Under Canvas recommended the Prairie Dog Taproom in Hill City. The food was good, but it was also rather difficult to order because everything was done via phone and text message. I felt like we needed a user guide for the restraunt when all we wanted was some cold beers and a pizza.
They did have friendly staff and a lot of games to play while eating. The waitress told us all about her life and asked us for personal advice after just meeting us. We said what we always say: You do you.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
The final stop of the night was probably the most important for us in this year of the semiquincentennial: Mount Rushmore.
We visited Mount Rushmore on the previous visits in 2013 and 2020, but we felt we should visit again, this time at night for the evening program with the lighting ceremony.
We had to make a quick getaway from the Prairie Dog Taphouse conversation to make sure we could get over to Mount Rushmore in time to get in line for ice cream. They serve an original recipe that was Thomas Jefferson’s own and it is so very good.
After eating our ice cream we walked over to the gift shop for much needed sweat shirts. We were cold and under-dressed for a night at the monunent. The Black Hills were relatively cool (60s and low 70s F) during our trip and it was in the 40s F during the evening lighting ceremony.
The lighting ceremony was quite nice. A ranger spoke about why he chose to become a park ranger, there was a video about the American experience, and finally all of the military vets and gold star families were called down from the audience to the stage to lower the flag.
The illumination of the memorial was as good as I had hoped.
Afterward we headed back to our glamping tent for the night. We got to sleep at about 11 PM after a long, but fun day.