Jewel Cave National Monument is in a part of South Dakota surrounded by other units of the National Park System, with interesting stops in between those park units to make worthwhile side trips you should consider.
An area map around Jewel Cave National Monument / NPS file
Just a 16-mile (25.7 km) drive east of Jewel Cave, this South Dakota state park offers amazing views of Black Hills scenery and plenty of opportunities for bison photos (no selfies, please) from a herd of nearly 1,400 behemoths. There’s biking, boating, birdwatching, hiking, history, swimming, and picnicking to fill your day, with 9 campground choices in which to pitch your tent or park your RV for the night.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
A view of the Presidents from Avenue of the Flags, Mount Rushmore National Memorial / NPS file
Thirty-two miles (51.5 km) from Jewel Cave, this unit of the National Park System tells the story of the birth, growth, development, and preservation of this country through the enormous faces of four presidents carved into the side of 5,725-feet-tall (1,745-meter) Mount Rushmore, known as Tunkasila Sakpe Paha, or Six Grandfathers Mountain by the Lakota Sioux. Not only will you learn the history of the presidents, but you’ll marvel at both the vision of the man responsible for selecting those four presidents, and the monumental work sculpting those faces into the mountain.
You'll have plenty of chances to view the iconic bison at Wind Cave National Park / Rebecca Latson
A shade less distance than to Mount Rushmore, at 30 miles (48.3 km), Wind Cave is an excellent venue not only for more guided cave explorations but also abundant wildlife sightings such as the iconic bison and prairie dogs, who will entertain you with their quirky habits. You might also spot a pronghorn or an elk.
Although a bit of a drive from Jewel Cave, a visit to Wall Drug may be combined with a trip to Badlands National Park and Minuteman Missile National Historic Site / Rebecca Latson
If you don’t mind a slightly longer drive (107 miles / 172 km), you should check out Wall, South Dakota. How could you not stop at a place you see advertised on billboards spaced maybe a mile apart (1.6 km), spanning 650 miles (1,046 km) from Minnesota to Wyoming? And that doesn’t even count the signs people have seen advertising this place in other countries such as Morocco, Amsterdam, and London.
Wall Drug is sort of an oasis in the middle of the South Dakota prairie. There’s a restaurant, art gallery, and small museum. You can purchase groceries, souvenirs, pharmacy items, cowboy boots, and Black Hills Gold jewelry, along with ice cream and ice water. As a matter of fact, free ice and ice water is what started this town on the path to national and international fame.
Badlands National Park – 114 miles (183.5 km)
Sunrise over the landscape at Burns Basin Overlook, Badlands National Park / Rebecca Latson
The Lakota Sioux may have called this “mako sica,” (literally “bad lands”) but this national park is home to some colorful geology and amazing landscapes, not to mention a wealth of wildlife from bison, to pronghorn, to prairie dogs, to bighorn sheep, to black-footed ferrets, to 206 bird species including the musical meadowlark you’ll hear while viewing the vast, mixed-grass prairie surrounding those badland formations. There’s history to this national park (DYK a portion of Badlands was once an aerial gunnery range?) and this land is the repository to one of the world’s richest fossil beds. You can drive the loop road (Highway 240) in a little over an hour but you really should stop at as many of the overlooks as you can to really get a flavor for the sights this national park offers.
Minuteman Missile Site National Historic Site
The visitor center at Minuteman Missile National Historic Site / Rebecca Latson
Yes, these side trips are starting to lengthen, with this national historic site a good 128 miles (206 km) away from Jewel Cave. Of course, if you are visiting Wall, South Dakota, then this place is only 21.5 miles (34.6 km) east of the town on Interstate 90, or a little under 4 miles (6.4 km) north of the Badlands Northeast Entrance booth on South Dakota Highway 240.
It would still be easy to drive on past the tall brick and glass building sitting by itself out in the middle of South Dakota mixed-grass prairie, just off the interstate highway. It’s a place essentially “hidden in plain sight,” just like the arsenal of Minuteman nuclear missiles once dotting the prairie and farmlands during the Cold War. But you really should consider this a side trip you can combine with a visit to Wall Drug and a drive through Badlands National Park for a full day before heading back to your evening lodging.
Take Exit 131 off the highway to tour the visitor center, watch the 30-minute video, and walk through the small museum. The visitor center is just one of three sites comprising this repository of nuclear Cold War history. From there, take the exit back toward Wall to visit the Delta-09 silo and view a decommissioned missile on its launch pad. Also try reserving one of 6 highly-popular spots on the Delta-01 Launch Facility tour, where you can go underground to visit the actual launch control room.
Click here to read the Traveler article about a visit made to Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
