South Dakota
From the Black Hills east across the Missouri to the tallgrass prairie — Pahá Sápa, the hills the 1868 treaty promised the Lakota and the government seized after Custer's men found gold, Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, the Six Grandfathers, which the maps call Mount Rushmore, the eroded walls of the Badlands, Wounded Knee, where the army massacred Lakota people in 1890, and the homelands of nine tribal nations of the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ.
All of South Dakota, One Map
Tap any dot to discover what makes a place worth the stop.
Plan a Trip
Day-by-day plans — real drive times, honest overnights, and the permit fine print sorted before you leave.
Scenic Drives
The roads themselves — traced end to end, with the stops worth making along the way.
I-90: Sioux Falls to the Badlands
About 378 miles across South Dakota on I-90 from the falls of the Big Sioux to the edge of the Black Hills: the Corn Palace, Dignity above the Missouri, a car museum in Murdo, a Minuteman silo, the Badlands Loop and the free ice water at Wall.
Rushmore, the Needles and Wind Cave
About 97 miles through the central and southern Black Hills from Rapid City to Hot Springs: the presidents on Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe, the granite spires of the Needles Highway, Coolidge's summer lodge, the bison range of Custer State Park and the breathing cave the Lakota came up from.
The Missouri: Chamberlain to Mobridge
About 225 miles up the Missouri through the reservations of the river nations, from Dignity and the Akta Lakota Museum at Chamberlain past Big Bend Dam, the capital and the Vérendrye plate's hill to Oahe Dam and Sitting Bull's grave across from Mobridge.
Regions of South Dakota
Each region gathers the parks, towns, drives, and roadside stops that define one corner of the state.
Custer State Park & the Southern Hills
Maka Oniye, the breathing cave the Lakota came up from, the Custer State Park bison herd, the Needles Highway, Jewel Cave, and Hot Springs' mammoth sinkhole.
Deadwood & the Northern Hills
Bear Butte where the Lakota and Cheyenne still pray, Deadwood's gold-rush gulch, the Homestake's mile-and-a-half shafts, and Spearfish Canyon.
Mount Rushmore & the Central Hills
Tȟuŋkášila Šákpe carved with four presidents, Black Elk Peak, the Crazy Horse mountain carving, and Rapid City where the creek leaves the hills.
Pierre & the Missouri River Lakes
The capital on the Missouri, the hill where the Vérendrye plate was buried, the Bad River meeting of 1804, and the dammed lakes that drowned reservation bottomlands.
Sioux Falls & the Southeast
The falls of the Big Sioux over pink quartzite, Mitchell's Corn Palace, Yankton on the free-flowing Missouri, and Spirit Mound where Lewis and Clark climbed.
The Badlands & Pine Ridge
Makȟóšiča's eroded walls and fossil beds, the Stronghold where the Ghost Dance was danced, Wounded Knee, and a Cold War missile silo off I-90.
The Glacial Lakes & the Northeast
The Coteau des Prairies and its glacial lakes, the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate's Lake Traverse homeland, Fort Sisseton, and the Ingalls family's De Smet.
The Grand River & the Northwest
The Grand River where Sitting Bull was born and killed, his grave above the Missouri, Hugh Glass's grizzly, and the Slim Buttes on the open northwestern prairie.
The Rosebud & the South Central Plains
The Sicangu Lakota homeland of the Rosebud, Spotted Tail's grave, Sinte Gleska University, St. Francis Mission, and the long stretch of US-83 south from Murdo.
Stories from South Dakota
The histories behind the places — the people, the disasters, the inventions, and the long memory of the land.
