Ready-made plans

Custom planning is temporarily unavailable for this route. Ready-made plans are still available.

Best Time for Black Hills, Deadwood & Badlands Road Journey

Last updated: 2026-09-23

Preferred months for this journey: June, July, August, September. Check the seasonal notes before choosing your dates.

The Needles Highway's granite eye-of-the-needle tunnels are open, Custer State Park's 1,300 bison graze the loop road, and the Badlands glow pink at both ends of the day.
Sturgis rally week floods the hills with half a million motorcycles — thrilling or avoidable depending on taste; book accordingly.

Month	Low	High	Rain	Daylight
January	−8.7°C	1.5°C	11 mm	9.1 h
February	−9.4°C	1.7°C	16 mm	10.2 h	❄
March	−4.7°C	8.3°C	26 mm	11.6 h	❄
April	−0.7°C	13.3°C	53 mm	13.2 h	❄
May	4.9°C	19.1°C	87 mm	14.5 h
June	11.1°C	26.2°C	70 mm	15.3 h
July	15.6°C	31.1°C	57 mm	15.0 h
August	13.9°C	29.0°C	48 mm	13.8 h
September	8.5°C	23.4°C	38 mm	12.3 h
October	0.9°C	13.6°C	35 mm	10.8 h	❄
November	−4.0°C	7.0°C	13 mm	9.4 h
December	−8.2°C	0.9°C	13 mm	8.7 h	❄