Itinerary: Best of the West

Seeing the Rocky Mountain West by motorcycle, rental car, or motorhome has become one of the most popular and practical ways to go. Motorhome rental is available at most major hub airports. Visitors can take advantage of the superior camping and recreational vehicle campgrounds throughout the region. This is also one of the most popular pre-planned fly-drive routings offered by tour operators.

Day 1 - Arrive Denver
Tour Denver, gateway to the West, with its outstanding collections of museums as well as excellent shopping in Cherry Creek Shopping Center and Larimer Square, a restored section of Victorian Denver filled with quaint old buildings, gas lamps, courtyards and gardens. Overnight Denver.

Day 2 - Denver To Cheyenne
Proceed north to Cheyenne, where the Terry Bison Ranch offers a new RV park, chuckwagon dinner'�d tours of their large buffalo herd. Overnight Cheyenne.

Day 3 - Cheyenne - Ft. Laramie - Custer
Ft. Laramie National Historic Site, now preserved, was a landmark settlement on the Oregon Trail, the first road west for pioneers. Wind Cave National Park contains the world�s sixth longest cave with amazing boxwork, frostwork and popcorn formations. Overnight Custer, Keystone or Rapid City.

Day 4/5 - Black Hills & Badlands
Custer State Park is the second largest state park in America and home to one of the largest publicly owned buffalo herds. The carving of Crazy Horse Mountain is continuing.� Black Hills Balloons offers scenic aerial flights of Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding Black Hills country. Mt. Rushmore is considered the world�s greatest mountain carving and is certainly America�s most recognized. Badlands National Park contains spires, pinnacles, buttes and gorges covering over 98,747 hectar of eerie, haunting topography created over 37 million years by wind and water erosion. Overnight Custer, Keystone or Rapid City

Day 6 - Black Hills to Chamberlain
Traveling east, Chamberlain�s Akta Lakota Museum offers artifacts and art of the Lakota (Sioux) culture. Overnight Chamberlain.

Day 7 - Chamberlain to Mitchell to Sioux Falls
Mitchell�s Corn Palace is a tribute to the harvest with its decorations made from thousands of bushels of colorful grain. Sioux Falls offers shopping, history and culture. Overnight Sioux Falls.

Day 8 - Sioux Falls to DeSmet to Pierre
DeSmet is the site of six of Laura Ingalls Wilder�s "Little House on the Prairie" books and Pierre is home to Oahe Dam, the second largest earthen dam in the world. Overnight Pierre.

Day 9- Pierre to Deadwood
The town of Deadwood has been restored to its original rough-hewn authenticity and is a living history to the wild gaming days of the 1870�s. Overnight Deadwood.

Day 10 - Deadwood to Buffalo/Sheridan
Devils Tower was America�s first national monument and reaches 364 meter into the western sky. Southwest of Buffalo, the Klondike Ranch has been hosting guests for horseback riding, moving cattle, fishing, and other ranch activities. Sheridan features the Sheridan Inn, King Ropes, and vast mountain ranch country. Overnight Buffalo or Sheridan.

Days 11 - Buffalo/Sheridan to Cody
Cody offers not only the world-class Buffalo Bill Historical Center, but nightly rodeos, whitewater rafting and excellent guest ranches through the Wapiti Valley. Overnight Cody and/or Wapiti Valley.

Day 12/14 - Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park has over 10,000 thermal features. Hundreds of animal species run wild within its borders. Overnight Yellowstone.

Day 15/16 - Yellowstone to Jackson Hole
Adjacent to Yellowstone is Grand Teton National Park, home of seven mountain peaks ranging from 3,000 to over 4,000 meter in height. Jackson Hole features wooden sidewalks, elk antler arches and shops that range from the chic to the traditional. Overnight Jackson Hole.

Day 17/18 - Jackson Hole to Red Lodge Via Big Sky
Big Sky and Red Lodge, both well known winter ski resorts, offer golf, horseback riding, pack trips and numerous summer activities. Overnight Big Sky and/or Red Lodge.

Day 19 - Red Lodge to Virginia City
Virginia City/Nevada City is the site of the richest placer gold discovery ever made in 1863. It has been restored to show how businesses flourished in the boom days. The Virginia City Players entertain during the summers. Overnight Butte.

Day 20/22 - Butte to Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park, in the northwest corner of Montana, features the spectacular 88.5 KM Going-To-The-Sun-Road and over 1126 KM of foot and horse tg ils. Overnight Glacier and/or Flathead Valley.

Day 23 - Glacier to Sandpoint
Travel south into Idaho via Sandg int, a beautifPend Oreille. Other spectacular lakes with great campsites in the area include Priest Lake and Lake Coeur d�Alene. Heading south, the resort community of McCall on the shores of Payette Lake offers several campgrounds. Overnight Sandpoint.

Day 24/27 - Sandpoint to Boise
Heading south on Highway 55 go east through Garden Valley into Boise National Forest to Stanley and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area. The 36 campgrounds nestled in this spectacular setting offer abundant privacy in this pristine environment, famous for hiking, fishing and whitewater rafting. Craters of the Moon offers an eerie moonscape in the heart of the Rockies.
Overnight Boise.

Day 28 - Boise to Denver and Departure

Related Links

Minnesota Office of Tourism