Road Trip: Wyoming to South Dakota or Reverse

Wyoming to South Dakota or the reverse, is a popular road trip for good reason. The stops and sites are endless and incredible! 

‘Sounds like a lot of planning.’ ‘I don’t know where to start.’ Is this what’s running through your mind? Don’t fret, we are happy to share our itinerary with you! We will outline all of the amazing stops we made, including pictures and details, but try to keep it in a nutshell! Other posts on the blog have much more detailed info on Jackson Hole, Yellowstone, Badlands, Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park. 

JACKSON HOLE WYOMING

We flew into Jackson Hole, which is a destination all it’s own, and you can read this post for those details.  Here, we stayed at Snow King Resort and ate dinner at their restaurant, Haydens Post. It was one of the very best meals on the entire trip. Highly recommend! 

The next morning, we visited the town square, grabbed some hats and shirts at Lee’s Tees and some Starbucks for the road. You’ll love the antler entrances to the park in the middle of the square. The perimeter of the square, and even beyond, have so many fabulous places to shop and eat. Make Jackson Hole a destination one day!!

YELLOWSTONE/WEST YELLOWSTONE

The 1st day in Yellowstone, we visited incredible sites. Coming from Jackson Hole, we began at the South Entrance. 

West Thumb

This Geyser Basin was our first taste of Yellowstone and it did not disappoint. Bordering Yellowstone Lake, filled with colorful steamy geysers, and hosting a grazing elk herd made West Thumb Geyser Basin an adventure filled first stop. 

Old Faithful 

Our next stop was Old Faithful. We happened up on this popular iconic Geyser at just the right time. We had gotten settled on the platform good and then Old Faithful started gearing up and erupted for us. Cool experience! Another notable feature about this location, is the yurts. Just because I thought they were interesting. Also, Geyser Grill is at this site too, so we grabbed lunch here.

Biscuit Basin

Active geysers against a scenic backdrop. This stop was eventful for us because we were able to see our 1st bison up close. Really close!

Grand Prismatic Spring

This stop is nothing short of spectacular with the waterfall, turquoise geysers and surface formations. 

White Dome Geyser 

This was a raised active geyser in Lower Geyser Basin. It was like a mini volcano. 

West Yellowstone 

We spent the nite in West Yellowstone at Evergreen Motel. I know. But there are lots of motels in West Yellowstone for some reason and it was really cute. We ate dinner at Bullwinkles and breakfast at Running Bear Pancake house. My favorite though, was Go-go Espresso Café, where we drove through and grabbed customized hot chocolate for the road!

YELLOWSTONE/CODY, WY

We started day 2 inside Yellowstone from the West Entrance.  

Gibbon Falls

Beginning at a beautiful waterfall called Gibbon Falls in the Norris Geyser Basin, we then visited Artists Paintpots.  

Artists Paintpots 

Here you will have 1/2 mile or so scenic hike before reaching the bubbling and colorful geysers, but it’s an easy hike and worth it! From there we stopped at Roaring Mountain. 

Roaring Mountain 

This was basically a small mountain scattered with steam outlets.  We also saw more bison, in the field, across the road from here. 

Mammoth Hot Spring Terraces

Will try to keep it brief here, although this place was amazing an unexpected. This is an entire charming village. There are also Upper and Lower Terraces, with Upper being the most impressive to me.  Read all about this stop here. 

Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

Having been to the Grand Canyon in AZ a few weeks before, and not realizing Yellowstone had it’s own, I really didn’t have huge expectations. Boy was I amazed!! 

Canyon Village/South Rim Road

This stop, among other things, has a big general store, restaurant, hotel and a visitor center.  At the visitors center we were told the best views on South Rim road were Uncle Tom’s Point and Artist Point.  Of course, the Park Ranger was correct!

Uncle Tom’s Point

Here you will enjoy a beautiful waterfall view from Yellowstone River that you cross when you 1st turn on South Rim Road. We also enjoyed some chipmunks playing on the rocks and other here.  So cute and fast it’s hard to get a pic!

Artist Point

This is the absolute best and stunning view point of the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone! From the parking lot you will hike along the paved path. Another easy walk, but go all the way to the end and to the upper level! You will then be overlooking the breathtaking canyon! Pictures don’t do it justice. It is a gorgeous site with the Yellowstone River flowing down into it.  The yellow color of the canyon adds to the beauty, in my opinion. 

Mud Volcano 

We made a quick stop here. It’s a big steamy geyser at the base of a large hill. There was also a good size herd of bison grazing on the hillside here. 

Yellowstone Lake

Wow this lake is huge! You’ll drive beside it for quite a ways. It reminded me of the ocean with the waves white capping in the wind. We were blessed by a double rainbow out on the water’s horizon while we were here. Beautiful!

Sylvan Pass/East Entrance

We exited Yellowstone National Park through the East Entrance, headed to Cody, WY for the night. You’ll drive through Sylvan Pass on this route. It’s a beautiful drive with an elevation of over 8500 feet. Look for the awesome rock formations on this scenic drive. 

Cody Wyoming 

We just stopped in Cody for the night on our way to South Dakota.  After a long day in Yellowstone, we just checked in and ate at the hotel restaurant again. We even ate breakfast there the next morning and headed to SD. 

Bighorn National Forest 

Driving into Bighorn National Forest, around Shell, WY, it opens up to incredible views. We stopped for some pics and noticed some one, with a cooler van than our rental van, had stopped for lunch with a view! 

Devils Tower 

We continued through Wyoming, stopping one more time at Devils Tower,  before getting to Rapid City, SD to settle in.  Devils Tower National Monument is a 5000 ft plus rock tower. It’s a short hike up to the huge rocks surrounding the base.  With registration (and I would think a good deal of experience) , it can be climbed. 

SOUTH DAKOTA

Rapid City

This was our home base for the next 5 nights. There is a nice Town Square area and we enjoyed eating dinner here several nights.  

Badlands National Park/Wall Drug

You will want to visit Badlands and Wall Drug together.  Wall Drug is definitely a tourist destination. Starting with one drug store, it’s amazing how massive this complex has become.  For dining, shopping and history, here is your stop. From here you can jump on the scenic route to take in Badlands National Park.  Beautiful terrain and an enormous Prairie Dog Town with chubby little prairie dogs scurrying about. 

Sturgis 

We were too close to not check out biker capitol. Haha Seemed to be a nice town with huge biker bars. No rally while we visited, so relatively quiet. 

Deadwood

We loved spending the day here!  There is art, wine, boutiques, restaurants, bars, history, hotels and everything in between on this charming Main Street! We ate at Social Club for lunch and it was great. It snowed while we were there for added ambiance! Haha

Roughlock Falls

There are also several scenic routes around these two towns and Spearfish, where we enjoyed some waterfalls, especially Roughlock Falls.  It’s off the beaten path of 14 on 222, but definitely worth it.  

Mount Rushmore

Plan to spend most of a day here to really experience Mt Rushmore Presidential Monument. There is quite a bit more to it besides the obvious iconic carved mountain face with Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln and Jefferson.  There is the Presidential Trail which is a beautiful hike and full of educational opportunities. There is a gift shop, restaurant and ice cream shop.  More details in our Mount Rushmore post here. 

Custer State Park/Needles Highway

Custer State Park is an incredible state park full of wildlife and beauty. One of the most interesting parts is Needles Highway and driving through the one lane tight Needles Eye Tunnel.  Custer State Park is truly an awesome destination and we’ve dedicated an entire post to it, here. 

Crazy Horse

While this mountain carving promises to be huge, the Indian Warrior monument is far from completion. Honestly, I keep wondering if there is any current activity or progress.  

1880 Train

Black Hills Central Railroad 1880 Train is a tour I would love to do one day. It had just closed for the season when we were here in October. We did get a pop up snow shower while we were there checking it out though! Bonus!

Hill City

We ate at Alpine Inn Restaurant here and it was a fabulous experience. This restaurant has had the same two items on the dinner menu for the past 38 years. And it’s worked! We also grabbed some sweet goodies at Turtle Town in Hill City. Another very good decision.  Chocolate for days!

Hot Springs, SD

We visited The Mammoth Site here which was really cool. At this active paleontological dig site, they actually leave the bones and fossils in place.  I’ve discovered that we have a very similar site in our home state of Texas, in Waco, where they leave the finds in situ also. Going to have to check that one out now.  We stopped in Mornin’ Sunshine Coffee House & Boutique to grab lunch while in Hot Springs. This is a cute little café and the food was good. 

Our Wyoming to South Dakota road trip was absolutely amazing. We hope our itinerary will give you an idea of some of the most fascinating sites to add to your own trip to these states.