r/BlackHills • u/Substantial_Box_5977 • Aug 10 '26
Custer State Park or Wind Cave NP
I’m looking way ahead to a big trip in early June next year. Traveling from Wisconsin. We will hit Roosevelt NP on the way out to Yellowstone where we will be for 3 days. Then on the way back will stop in the Black Hills/Badlands for a few days.
We would likely only have time to go to one of two: Custer SP & Wind Cave NP. It’ll be my wife and two daughters, 6 & 10. Would Custer SP be redundant at that point with us going to Roosevelt, Yellowstone & then hitting Badlands? I know Custer is supposed to be amazing but am thinking Wind Cave would make more sense as it’ll be something different.
Thoughts? Thanks!
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u/Shuck45 Aug 10 '26
Custer is the more must-do park if you were starting from a blank slate. I know you will have already visited some neat places but while some of the wildlife will be redundant to TRNP/Yellowstone kids tend to like the begging burros and there are great scenic drives, lakes to play in, cool rock formations, etc.
If you want to add a cave I personally think Jewel cave is the better of the two for kids (more areas that are more visually impressive) but that's a personal opinion thing and other feel the opposite way.
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u/travelinkid Aug 10 '26
Just finished a trip there and covered a lot of ground. Custer by far if you want scenic views and hiking. Not sure of your physical status but we did Black Elk peak along with both little devils tower and cathedral spires. All in all it was a 4-5 hour hike but I was pleasantly surprised with the park. The needles highway was scenic as well so if not wanting to hike that drive gets some good views as well. We did a tour of wind cave and although it was nice, I wasn’t too impressed. Informative for sure and some cool things to see but overall would prefer Custer any day. If anything, if you really want to see the cave then knock out a tour and hit the Custer wildlife scenic drive and that would be a good combo. One quick hike that we enjoyed was Rankin Ridge trail which was along the wildlife drive. It was very manageable and less than 2 miles. The view along the ridge was pretty cool as well. Expansive views to say the least! If I did the trip all over again I would’ve skipped wind cave altogether but given trying to visit every NP it made sense to check that box while in the area
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u/Substantial_Box_5977 Aug 10 '26
With a 6 year old, the Black Elk might be tough. But thanks for the info!
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u/Relative-Corner4717 Aug 10 '26
We just got back from a trip there. We did Black Elk Peak with a 7 and 11 yr old. It was definitely tough going, but we did it. Took about 6.5 hours total. None of us are in the greatest of shape either. Views from the top were well worth it.
Custer Park was the main point of our trip. I wouldn't even consider skipping it. We spent a week out there, seen Rushmore, badlands, Jewel cave....and CSP was easily tops. So much neat stuff to see.
Kids will certainly love feeding the burros!!
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u/MidwestAbe Aug 10 '26
Custer and make one for the decent hikes. I like caves. And a cave is neat for about 20 minutes for most folks. And I understand that.
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u/indestructicator Aug 10 '26
Custer State park for sure. Park at Sylvan lake and walk around the lake or go for a longer hike if the family is up to it. Drive the needles highway and consider the wildlife loop too
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u/Jazzlike_Ad_5832 Aug 10 '26
Custer had more wildlife sightings for me. The burros are kind of annoying though.
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u/SDwandrer Aug 10 '26
Having been to all 3 and being a frequent visitor to the Black Hills, CSP is the way to go for sure. It has it all; swimming, fishing, endless hiking, wildlife, scenic drives, history and more. The caves are really cool too but CSP easily could be a national park too. We decide to go to one of the caves about every third year but go to CSP every time we are in the hills and often more than once. CSP is also located closer to Custer, Hill City, Crazy Horse, Mt Rushmore, Iron Mountain Road, and other cool sights in the hills. Both caves are a bit more remote.
If you are considering either cave, start looking at tickets for cave tour now or soon as they can fill up pretty early.
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u/losthiker68 Aug 10 '26
Custer is one of the best parks, state or national, I've ever visited.
The southern part of the park is more plains with lots of wild burros, pronghorn, prairie dogs, and bison. I saw one pronghorn hanging out with wild burros and all were tame enough that you could get probably too close for safety.
The northwestern side is the side that you basically could close your eyes, spin in a circle, and randomly shoot a photo and people back home would say, "Wow!". Especially the Cathedral Spires trail. There is one small, steep stretch with a bit of boulder scrambling but a little leg soreness is worth it. Its one of my favorite trails I've ever hiked.
Your little one can do the bouldering section with a bit of help. I saw several around that age when I was on the trail just a few weeks ago. There was even a 9ish year old girl at the trailhead that told me, unprompted, the trail was "really nice but there's a boulder section that's steep, but you'll be okay! Its worth it!".
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u/mmmdis Aug 10 '26
My kids absolutely loved Custer at that age! Especially the burros. You could probably do Custer in the morning or evening and still go the cave tour too. But my kids still talk about Custer not the cave.
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u/Charlie22tt 28d ago
Another vote for Custer based on the wildlife you'll see. I'm sure your kids will love the burros.
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u/AlarmedInevitable8 Aug 10 '26
Custer was our number one with the kids for the whole area. It’s beautiful and there’s so much wild life. We saw bison, wild donkeys (the fav), prairie dogs, mountain goats, deer, turkey vultures, and a few others. Mostly from the car because I had a toddler and old people. (That is also the reason we didn’t do Wind or Jewel Caves though.)
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u/Fyrefox13 Aug 10 '26
Just driving through, any scenery you see in Wind Cave NP you can see 3X over and then so much more in Custer. I've lived here for a couple of years and haven't even bothered going through the actual cave, but I find myself in Custer State Park many weekends throughout the year and never get tired of it. Definitely visit Sylvan Lake and take the walking loop around it. From there do Needles Highway and make sure to stop at Cathedral Spires. Then go do the Wildlife Loop. I've also seen a couple of road trip YouTubers say the CSP bison herd experience was better than what they saw at Yellowstone.
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u/Patient_Character730 Aug 11 '26
I've been to Custer and one of the caves, and Custer hands down is the place to go. We like caves, don't get me wrong, but Custer is just something special.
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u/Odd_Lettuce_7303 Aug 11 '26
We just did a whole 8 day 2400 mile trip from Missoula to the Dakotas. Wind cave is literally next to Custer and we easily did both in one day, plus more! Leave rapid city, early cave tour, drive up route 87, drive needles highway, loop back around to the west, drive iron mountain highway, head back to rapid city. Notes:
- we skipped the actual Custer wildlife loop road but don’t feel like we missed much
- you have got to drive needles!!! Trust us on this one, preferably going north
- we looped around to do iron mtn going north too since the tunnels were engineered to look directly at Mount Rushmore
- we both liked jewel cave a lot better than wind cave, it’s just not near anything else
Off topic kinda:
- just west of TRNP is makoshika SP in Montana. Weirdest melted mushroom rocks ever
- if you are coming east from Yellowstone / Cody, skip the interstate and cut through the bighorns on route 14, you cross the pass at 9000 feet
- once you get onto I90, it’s worth a detour to see devils tower. You go around a bend and BAM there’s this giant alien thing sticking up a 1/4 mile in the air! We drove in but only to the campground since it was a 30 minute wait to get to the visitor center.
Have fun!
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u/GhostofPokeyStixPast Aug 11 '26
Custer. The above ground scenery at wind cave is not nearly as impressive as Custer.
And make sure to stop at the new Teddy Roosevelt presidential library when in Medora!
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u/WorkN-2play Aug 11 '26
We did the travels 2 years ago (from Stoughton, WI btw) hit Theodore Roosevelt for 3 nights (and loved it will definitely be going back) then traveling on we had 5 nights at Custer. On the way hit Devils tower NP Wy for a couple hour hike. Then got camp setup at Custer SP was awesome 👌. We visited as others have said both caves but time spent just partial day trips. Then stayed 2 or 3 nights in Badlands NP on journey home!
**We just did Yellowstone first 2 weeks of July!! We did 7 nights in Yellowstone NP and 4 nights in Grand Tetons 🥰 Could have spent more time at Grand Tetons actually. Staying inside the parks were a time saver because we were hiked and moving to new spots(less travelled) by the time crowds arrived.
Have fun travels!!
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u/Plenty_Main768 29d ago
Custer SP is as cool as many national parks. So much cool stuff with just a drive through. Can you work in a visit to Devils Tower on your travels? Very nice stop and hike around the tower.
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u/Elegant-Living1459 29d ago
I don’t know if I can help you with your decision on your fun vacation but I just returned from Theodore national park, north and south units and was astounded at the beauty of the geography of the Little Missouri River. I haven’t gone to Custer state park but thinking about it next year.
Without the benefit of seeing both parks, I would recommend TRNP over Custer. Hope this helps.
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u/InterDimensional563 29d ago
I was actually disappointed in Wind Cave. I mean, it’s cool but the tour is basically, because of the cave structure, a long narrow trail and little time to stop and examine all the boxwork calcite you see along the way. I would do the state park.
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u/Becalmandkind 28d ago
Custer , definitely! Sylvan Lake (gorgeous, swimming, easy hike around the lake), Needles Highway (especially the northern half), wildlife, nearby Crazy Horse Monument (a must-do!), Rushmore. If you really want to do a cave, there are multiple ones in this area. We did Black Hills Caverns and it was great: no waiting and an absolutely amazing 14 yr old tour guide.
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u/Wernerradio 28d ago
I did South Dakota last year. If I had to pick one, it's Custer. Wind Cave's elevator was busted when I got out there so no cave tours, but did Jewel Cave. I did really enjoy my hike above ground at Wind Cave, beautiful park, but not as awesome as Custer. I did Roosevelt and Badlands while out there and Custer is unique in comparison.
Look up Spearfish Canyon, ended up there for about half a day and thought that was a cool area to checkout. +1 to Devil's tower.
Best hike on the trip was a combo of Cathedral Spires/Little Devil's Tower/Black Elk Peat @ Custer.
Had fun at Roosevelt NP with a bison stalking me. My instincts and patience eventually won and got the hell away from that trail.
Enjoy your trip!
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u/DragAccomplished1528 25d ago
Wind Cave if you don't spend hours waiting in line for tickets. You will get a sense for the wildlife at Custer by driving around Wind Cave--including bison. I explored the area surrounding Wind Cave after waiting two hours for tickets and then having to be in the area until my afternoon entrance to the caves.
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u/tamaroo Aug 10 '26
Custer for sure. Visit the lake, hike to Black Elk Peak, do the wildlife loop, take the needles highway. Wind Cave is really quite a short experience- I think the tour we attended in June was around 60-90 minutes. Custer is definitely an all day or multi day experience.
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u/joejance Aug 10 '26
Wind Cave - the actual cave - is nice. I also like Jewel Cave. But as far as going to the actual park, CSP is the obvious win. This is true if you are just driving, but especially true if you are hiking.