Rapid City Trip Overview
Please note start times.
7:00-8:00-9:00am Please contact us for additional start times.
Comfortable seating in our full-size a/c vans with new UV-HEPA air filtrations systems. Vans provide excellent viewing and we make frequent rest breaks. This tour will include religious sites of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Your guide will share with you the history of the region: Indian Wars, Gold Rush and settlement of the Dakota Territory.
Tour includes fees, bottled water, snacks and beer/wine.
Lunch Not Included. Restaurants are available or you many bring picnic lunch.
The vehicle is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and equipped with state of the art HEPA air filtration system.
Masks are not required during tour except at Federal buildings. Guides will wear masks as required and/or as requested.
Our guides are friendly safe drivers and knowledgeable about the Northern Black Hills. Ask any question you like. Private tour so you will not be rushed at any of the stops.
Handicap van available.
Additional Info
Duration: 7 to 8 hours
Starts: Rapid City, United States
Trip Category: Cultural & Theme Tours >> Historical & Heritage Tours
Explore Rapid City Promoted Experiences
What to Expect When Visiting Rapid City, South Dakota, United States
Please note start times.
7:00-8:00-9:00am Please contact us for additional start times.
Comfortable seating in our full-size a/c vans with new UV-HEPA air filtrations systems. Vans provide excellent viewing and we make frequent rest breaks. This tour will include religious sites of the Lakota and Cheyenne. Your guide will share with you the history of the region: Indian Wars, Gold Rush and settlement of the Dakota Territory.
Tour includes fees, bottled water, snacks and beer/wine.
Lunch Not Included. Restaurants are available or you many bring picnic lunch.
The vehicle is thoroughly cleaned and sanitized and equipped with state of the art HEPA air filtration system.
Masks are not required during tour except at Federal buildings. Guides will wear masks as required and/or as requested.
Our guides are friendly safe drivers and knowledgeable about the Northern Black Hills. Ask any question you like. Private tour so you will not be rushed at any of the stops.
Handicap van available.
Itinerary
This is a typical itinerary for this product
Stop At: Devils Tower National Monument, Highway 110, Devils Tower, WY 82714
Devils Tower sits across the state line in northeast Wyoming. The Tower is a solitary, stump-shaped granite formation that looms 1,267 feet above the tree-lined Belle Fourche River Valley. Once hidden below the earth’s surface, erosion has stripped away the softer rock layers revealing the Tower.
The two-square-mile park surrounding the tower was proclaimed the nation’s first national monument by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1906. The park is covered with pine forests, woodlands, and grasslands. While visiting the park you are bound to see deer, prairie dogs, and other wildlife. The mountain’s markings are the basis for Native American legend. One legend has it that a giant bear clawed the grooves into the mountainside while chasing several young Indian maidens. Known by several northern plains tribes as Bears Lodge, it is a sacred site of worship for many American Indians. Devils Tower is also remembered as the movie location for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Duration: 2 hours
Stop At: Aladdin General Store, 4001 State Highway 24, Aladdin, WY 82710-9700
Aladdin is a small community in the northeast corner of Wyoming that is worth a stop, especially during your trip to Devils Tower National Monument. It’s best known for the Aladdin General Store, which is the most prominent of the fifteen buildings that make up this tiny town. Built in 1896, the Aladdin General Store is perfect for loading up on groceries, antiques, western wear and fishing supplies. Before you leave, grab some sarsaparilla or old-fashioned candy to enjoy on the front porch. Just a mile from the general store you can take a walk around an old coal tipple featuring interpretive signs from the town’s short mining history.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Center of the Nation Monument, 415 5th Ave, Belle Fourche, SD 57717-1435
The Geographic Center of the Nation Monument is located in Belle Fourche in western South Dakota. The 21-foot diameter monument is located next to the Center of the Nation Visitor Center and the Tri-State Museum and is accessible year-round.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Bear Butte State Park, SD
Bear Butte State Park. This geological formation is one of several intrusions of igneous rock in the Black Hills that formed millions of years ago. From the 4,426 foot summit, you can view four states.
The mountain is sacred to many American Indian tribes who come here to hold religious ceremonies. Artifacts dating back 10,000 years have been found near Bear Butte. In more recent times, however, the Cheyenne and Lakota people have maintained a spiritual tie to this mountain. Notable leaders including Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull have all visited Bear Butte. These visits culminated with an 1857 gathering of many Indian nations to discuss the advancement of white settlers into the Black Hills. George A. Custer, who led an expedition of 1,000 men into the region, camped near the mountain. Custer verified the rumors of gold in the Black Hills. Bear Butte then served as a landmark that helped guide the rush of invading prospectors and settlers into the region.
Duration: 20 minutes
Stop At: Old Fort Meade Museum, 1 1/2 Mi E. of Sturgis on Hw 34&79, Sturgis, SD 57741
Fort Meade was strategic location at the mouth of the natural gap in the hogback ridge forming the outer rim of the Black Hills,
The 7th Cavalry, re-formed after the disastrous Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876, constituted the first permanent garrison of the post. Its commander, Colonel Samuel D Sturgis, was on of the founders of the nearby town that bears his name.
It was here, too, that the Star Spangled Banner first became the official music for the military retreat ceremony, long before in became the National Anthem. In 1892, the post commander Colonel Caleb H. Carlton, 8th Cavalry, began the custom of playing the “Star Spangled Banner” at military ceremonies and requested that all people rise and pay it proper respect long before it became the National Anthem.
Fort Meade outlived all other frontier posts of the Upper Missouri West, surviving as a military installation until 1944. It was the last frontier fort to use mounted cavalry to patrol until 1942 when WWII began.
Duration: 30 minutes
Stop At: Sturgis, Sturgis, South Dakota
(This is option only and can be bypassed if you prefer.)
We drive through the downtown area and stop for photos. This is the infamous location of the worlds oldest and largest motorcycle rally during the first two weeks of August.
Duration: 15 minutes
