Many popular Yellowstone tours start in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, travel through Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park, and end at Mount Rushmore near Rapid City, South Dakota.
The drive from the center of Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore is about 9 hours. Yellowstone bus tours break up the trip with an overnight in Cody, followed by a marathon 7-hour bus ride to Mount Rushmore, with a stop at Little Bighorn Battlefield, the site of Custer’s Last Stand.
We did a little research and came up with a three-day driving route with kid-friendly stops and plenty of swimming. If we were driving to Mount Rushmore, we'd enjoy the trip!
Thinking about flying? Sorry — there aren’t any non-stop flights between the Yellowstone area and Rapid City, South Dakota. By the time you drive from Yellowstone to an airport, you could be well on your way to South Dakota. From there, you'd still need to deal with connecting flights and pick up another rental car. It's easier to just drive!
From Yellowstone East Entrance to the South Dakota State Line
An Evening in Cody, Wyoming
Cody is about two hours from Yellowstone National Park’s East Entrance, and has enough interesting things to do that you could stay for a few days. We arrived mid-afternoon, checked into the Hampton Inn, and found the pool before heading into downtown Cody.
We strolled up and down Main Street, soaking up the Wild West vibe and picking up a few souvenirs, then walked over to the historic Irma Hotel, built by Buffalo Bill himself and named after his daughter, Irma.
Sensory: Just as we arrived at the Irma, a (staged) gunfight broke out right in front of the restaurant! Most kids would love this Wild West moment, but for G, the unexpected gunshot noise was a huge problem. It turns out this happens every Monday through Saturday at 6 PM.
Once G recovered, we were able to go inside and have a great meal in what used to be the Irma Saloon.
After dinner, we headed to the Cody Night Rodeo, which performs at 8 PM every night in the summer. G absolutely loved the beginning of the show, and especially enjoyed watching the Queen of the Rodeo riding around the ring with the American flag! After about 20 minutes, the excitement wore off, and G decided the noise wasn’t worth it anymore, so we called it a night. Sensory: Rodeos are loud. Really loud music and really loud cheering.
Before leaving Cody the next morning, we paid a visit to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West which houses 5 small museums under one roof.
G definitely enjoyed the Raptor Encounter at the Natural History Museum and appreciated the circus oddities from the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show.
The Whitney Western Art exhibit was perfect for grown-ups, and small enough to hold G’s interest.
Sensory: The overall museum atmosphere was calm and quiet. We had no issues at the Raptor Encounter, but some children might have trouble when the bird screeches or flaps its wings unexpectedly.
If you want to take a break from driving and linger in Cody for an extra night, there’s no shortage of interesting things to do here.
Imagine life as an Outlaw -- walk in Butch Cassidy’s footsteps at Old Town Trail
Go horseback riding at a dude ranch
Take a white water rafting trip on the Shoshone River
Enjoy the water slides at the Paul Stock indoor pool complex
You’re back in civilization! Go bowling or take in a movie.
Dinosaurs or Wild Horses? Kid-Friendly Stops Between Cody and Buffalo, Wyoming
Knowing that the Little Bighorn history lesson wouldn’t hold much interest for G, we decided to find some kid-oriented stops along the way from Cody to South Dakota.
We had two possible routes, and a choice to make, on the way to our next hotel in Buffalo, WY. The northerly route would give us time to do one more activity in Cody, with short stops at the McCullough Wild Horse Reserve and the Red Gulch Dinosaur Track Site. The southerly route would bring us to the Wyoming Dinosaur Center in Thermopolis and through the Bighorn National Forest.
G was more interested in seeing lots of dinosaurs than anything Cody had to offer, so we took the second route!
We arrived in the small town of Thermopolis just in time for lunch, then stopped at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center. Inside, you’ll find about 70 dinosaur skeletons in a wide-open, well-lit area.
If you make a reservation in advance, you can participate in a real, full-day or half-day dig. For families eager to keep moving, there’s a one hour tour of the live digs, available first-come, first-served basis, with no reservation required. Learn more about the tours and dig opportunities at the Wyoming Dinosaur Center.
Sensory: Just like our dinosaur encounter in Bozeman, this is an extremely sensory-friendly experience. It’s such a big space, and in such an out-of-the-way location that it’s hard to imagine it could ever get crowded or chaotic.
Rest and Relaxation in Buffalo, Wyoming
After leaving Thermopolis, we drove through the Bighorn National Forest on the Cloud Peak Scenic Byway. We were amazed by the stunning views of the rugged peaks and lush valleys of the Bighorn Mountains. The byway hits elevations over 9,000 feet, winding through alpine meadows and dense forests. We stopped a few times to look for the bighorn sheep, but didn’t meet any on or off the road. We also didn’t meet any restrooms that had running water - so plan accordingly!
Our total driving time for this day was a little bit over 3 hours, all easy driving on scenic roads. Our stop in Thermopolis was long enough that the second part of the drive felt like a second, short trip versus a big long slog.
We finally made it to the Holiday Inn and Suites in Buffalo in the late afternoon, ready to do absolutely nothing but enjoy a sensory reset in our hotel pool with some pizza and a few cold beverages!
Are We There Yet? The Drive from Buffalo, Wyoming to Mount Rushmore
Our route (Days 2 and 3 in yellow on the map) kept actual driving time each day to a little over three hours and included both swimming and a highly preferred activity for G. The blue routes (which we didn’t take) would bring you to the McCullough wild horses and Red Gulch Dinosaur Tracks on Day 2, and Devil’s Tower on Day 3, featured in the 1977 classic movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
The final leg of this trip brought us into South Dakota. The drive was not overly scenic and not terribly interesting, but at least we didn’t have to worry about traffic. We saw cattle ranches, oil rigs, towns whose welcome signs showed total populations under 100 people, and lots of empty highway. When we reached the turnoff for Devil’s Tower, we decided that we’d had enough driving already and took the shortest route straight to Mount Rushmore.
Learn about how we wrapped up our adventure in South Dakota in our next post, Is Mount Rushmore Worth the Drive?. Spoiler alert: this was our favorite part of the trip.
Some Baaaad Jokes are Udderly Hilarious
G wasn’t very interested in our observations about life in rural Wyoming. Luckily the cell signal on Route 16 between Buffalo and Mount Rushmore was very strong, so we put G to work, looking up jokes about Bighorn Sheep and Cows. Here are a few good ones:
Where do sheep go on vacation? To the baaaaaa-hamas
Where do sheep get their wool cut? The baa-baa-shop
Why did the farmer buy a brown cow? He wanted chocolate milk
How do farmers count their cows? With a cow-culator
What do you get when you cross an angry sheep with a grumpy cow? A baaaaaad mooooood
That last one really hit home!
Planning Your Own Yellowstone to Mount Rushmore Drive
A quick summary of distances for people who like charts, numbers, and graphs:
Route | Approximate Miles | Approximate Driving Time |
|---|---|---|
Day One: Canyon Village, Yellowstone to Cody | 92 | 2 hours 15 minutes |
Day Two: Cody to Buffalo (direct route) | 176 | 3 hours 5 minutes |
Day Two: Cody to Buffalo via Thermopolis | 207 | 3 hours 30 minutes |
Day Three: Buffalo to Mount Rushmore | 204 | 3 hours 30 minutes |
Day Three: Buffalo to Mount Rushmore via Devil’s Tower | 262 | 4 hours 15 minutes |
Driving times are approximate and do not include stops, traffic, or road construction.
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