South Dakota

South Dakota offers hiking and climbing the granite Black Hills, exploring otherworldly badlands, caving vast underground systems, and bison-watching. Badlands National Park, Custer State Park and its bison herd, Wind Cave and Jewel Cave (among the world's longest), the Black Hills, and Mount Rushmore anchor it.

Summer (June–September) is prime for the Black Hills and badlands; fall brings the dramatic Custer State Park bison roundup and color. Winters are cold and snowy in the hills; spring is variable.

Bison, pronghorn, elk, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, prairie dogs, and burrowing owls inhabit the parks; Custer State Park's free-roaming bison herd is among the largest publicly owned in the country (~1,300).

Mixed-grass prairie, the ponderosa-pine-forested Black Hills (an ecological island), the badlands, and the Missouri River corridor make up South Dakota's ecology.

The ancient granite and limestone Black Hills rise as an isolated mountain island from the plains — 7,242-ft Black Elk Peak is the highest point east of the Rockies — riddled with some of the world's longest caves (Jewel Cave exceeds 220 mapped miles), while the eroded, banded Badlands and the Missouri River break the surrounding prairie.

The Lakota (Sioux) hold the Black Hills (Paha Sapa) as sacred, at the center of a long and unresolved land dispute. Site of Wounded Knee, South Dakota became a state in 1889.

Lakota heritage and the sacred significance of the Black Hills, Western and ranching traditions, and a strong climbing scene (the Needles pioneered American crack climbing) define the outdoors.

Protecting the cave systems and their unique formations, conserving bison and prairie, managing the Black Hills forest, and the unresolved Lakota land claims frame the region's issues.

Rapid City (RAP) serves the Black Hills and badlands; Sioux Falls serves the east. A vehicle is essential, with the hills and badlands close together in the west.

Extreme plains and mountain weather, summer heat and storms, winter cold, and wildlife (keep far from bison — they are dangerous) are the main concerns. Carry water in the badlands.

State parks charge a fee (Custer requires a license), and South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks administers licenses; Badlands and Wind Cave require park passes, and cave tours need reservations.

Keep far from bison, and carry water in the badlands.

Drive Custer State Park's Wildlife Loop for bison, hike the badlands at sunrise or sunset for the best light, tour Wind or Jewel cave, and climb or hike the granite Needles in the Black Hills.

South Dakota borders North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana, linking the Black Hills, the badlands, and the northern plains.