Welcome to South Dakota

South Dakota packs more into one state than seems fair. Everybody comes for Mount Rushmore, but the Black Hills out west are the real prize — you can drive the Needles Highway through granite spires barely wider than your mirrors, watch a bison herd stop traffic in Custer State Park, and paddle under the pines at Sylvan Lake all in an afternoon. Head east and the land cracks open into the Badlands, a moonscape of striped spires that glow pink at sunset. Then the roadside legends: Wall Drug and its free ice water, the Corn Palace in Mitchell rebuilt in actual corn every year, and the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs where the bones are still in the ground. Deadwood still feels like the Wild West, and every August Sturgis fills with a half million motorcycles. Below you will find every South Dakota map, trip, guide, and hidden gem we have.

• Nickname: The Mount Rushmore State
• State bird: Ring-necked pheasant
• State flower: American pasque flower
• State tree: Black Hills spruce
• State animal: Coyote
• State fossil: Triceratops