The southwest corner of South Dakota surprises with stunning landscapes, rich history, and abundant wildlife.

Overview
For East and West Coasters, South Dakota is squarely within flyover country. But when ground travel was the only option, this was the Grand Central Station of the American West. Lewis and Clark passed through, Crazy Horse fought for freedom, and an 1876 gold rush in the Lakota-owned Black Hills created a miner's camp known as Deadwood that lured frontiers woman Calamity Jane and gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok. After a long, prairie-flat preamble in the east, western South Dakota abruptly changes into two beautiful but distinct landscapes, the striated, fossil-rich sedimentary buttes of the Badlands, and the nearby mountains so thick in evergreens that the native Lakota called them paha sapa—hills that are black. Following a lopsided figure-eight drive of about 350 miles, with Rapid City at the junction, packs a best-of-the-west itinerary with a variety of sights, Wild West towns, free-ranging wildlife, and the iconic expression of American democracy, Mount Rushmore. Originally carved to get motorists out to South Dakota, the monument draws some three million visitors annually. "People come to see Mount Rushmore but what they discover is how beautiful everything else is," says Mary Kopco, director of the Adams Museum and Historic Adams House in Deadwood.

Start at Rapid City
Heading east from Rapid City on I-90, take Exit 131 to the northeast entrance of Badlands National Park (+1 605 433 5361; www.nps.gov/badl). The Badlands State Scenic Byway drops immediately beside the park's serrated sandstone spires, which are banded in layers of purple, red, and orange rock that indicate their age. The quarter-mile Window Trail acquaints hikers with the striped sediment, though you'll see more wildflowers and rock-nesting swallows on the less-traveled Castle Trail across the road. The park's Ben Reifel Visitor Center introduces park geology and stories of human habitation, including tales about 19th-century homesteaders who tried to farm the arid land. Tucked below a butte just south of the park border, Circle View Guest Ranch (www.circleviewranch.com) offers intrepid travelers a chance to bunk down like a homesteader in a rustic 1889 cabin.

Prairie Dog Town
Most park goers take the exit for the town of Wall back on the highway, but an off-the-beaten-path sight warrants visiting. Follow the gravel Sage Creek Rim Road to Prairie Dog Town, where the social rodents sit perched atop their burrows throughout the day despite the presence of nearby bison.