Road Trip April - Day 20

April 1st 2026 (Wednesday) 

April fools day and today is the day NASA are launching people to the moon, first time in 53 years, but for us here, it's a more down to earth kind of day. Started for me nice and early as yet again insomnia kicked in.

Today's plan is to go do Mount Rushmore, we didn't do it yesterday as its a paid parking and as it was late in the day, we wouldn't have had much time to experience it properly. So that's what we're doing today - subject to the weather, as snow forecast around here!!

We arrived at Mount Rushmore, paid our $10 to park - the parking fee gives you re-entry for a year! The rain & snow held off during our visit, so we were able to look at the monument at our leisure, the museum was very informative and the gift shop well stocked. The only downside and real negative for our visit was the Presidential Trail walk was closed, which for us was most disappointing, especially as there didn't appear to be any reason other than the time of year, yet there was no snow or ice on the ground to cause potential issues. So yes, we were really disappointed that we couldn't do this.

Back at Wanda2 the rain came, so this put our idea to go for a hike on hold. Instead we decided to drive up to Savoy to find a waterfall I'd seen listed.

As it turned out, this was the best idea we had! The drive through Spearfish Canyon was absolutely stunning and a definate must if you are in the area.

Waterfall located, we stopped for a bite of lunch first then set out on the trail. It was a pleasant 1 mile hike each way and the route took us through a beautiful canyon. Roughlock Falls was worth the visit, and has a large picnic area, all very nicely laid out and maintained, we had the place completely to ourselves when we visited as the season hadn't begun.

Footpath trail to the waterfall at Roughlock Falls, South Dakota

The canyon walls that surround us on our hike to Roughlock Falls

The canyon walls at Roughlock Falls, South Dakota

Roughlock Falls in South Dakota

Bridal Veil Falls

From here, we then carried on up the canyon road to find the next waterfall (there's three in the area worth visiting) but unfortunately we couldn't locate where to park to actually access the pathway to it, although we stood at the top of it and looked down. But time was getting on so we decided to head to the third waterfall, Bridal Veil Falls.

After heavy rain I'm sure it looks magnificent, but it was somewhat lacking due to the dry weather the area had been experiencing. This waterfall is accessed straight from the roadside with a small parking area opposite, which in tourist season I'm sure gets horrendously busy.

On our drive through the canyon we were lucky enough to come across a group of mountain goats, another first to see and we had great fun watching them with there super fluffy coats and agility of rock climbing / descending.

Then it was time to return back to camp. As we drove back there were signs that snow showers had happened, but we had been very lucky to have missed all the bad weather on our travels today.

Tonight we hit the supermarket for food essentials then it was a case of putting our feet up and calling it night after another exciting day of adventures!

Road Trip Day 20 - we've driven approximately 170 Miles today!