If you are flying to the Black Hills, you will most likely arrive in Rapid City. Rent a car. It is the best way to navigate the area's widespread attractions. Mount Rushmore National Memorial, the larger-than-life mountainside sculpture of the faces of four American presidents -- George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln -- is surely on the top of your to-do list. If Rapid City is your base, drive about 23 miles southwest to reach the memorial. Arrive early in the morning to beat the crowds. After taking your fill of these imposing profiles, head west to the Crazy Horse Memorial. This unfinished mountain sculpture honors Native American cultures with a depiction of a rider on horseback. When complete, it will be 641 feet tall and 563 feet wide, making it the largest such sculpture in the world.
After seeing these elevated monuments, spend the next day underground. The Black Hills contain two of the five longest caves in the world. Jewel Cave National Park lies 16 miles southwest of Custer, a short drive from Crazy Horse Memorial. Jewel Cave has 145 mapped miles of twisting and turning passages and is the second longest cave in the world. Ranger-led walking tours take you easily into the cave. Call ahead during the busy summer season to make a reservation. If you're looking for adventure, ask about the Spelunking Tour. A second Black Hills cave lies just below Custer State Park. Wind Cave National Park is the third longest cave in the U.S. and stretches for some 129.78 miles. Rangers lead walking tours into some of the cave's most striking formations. To experience a manmade subterranean environment, tour the Big Thunder Gold Mine, near Keystone, on the route back to Rapid City.
The entire region is covered in the 1.2 million-acre Black Hills National Forest so nature is not hard to find. But for ensured views of native wildlife, visit the Norbeck Wildlife Preserve, Custer State Park or Bear Country U.S.A. All offer views of grazing elk, deer, bison, mountain goats and bighorn and dall sheep. Other wildlife you may see, though they are more elusive, are wolves, mountain lions and black bear. Bear Country U.S.A. is your only guaranteed black bear sighting, since they nurture some of their charges in shelters. No trip to the Black Hills region is complete without visiting the Badlands, so named because of their impassibility. This national park, just south of Wall, is a striking landscape of prairie marked by towering spires and dramatic canyons. Overlooks along the park road give views of the formations, including the 60-mile stretch of buttes called the Badlands Wall.
