Black Hills, South Dakota

The Black Hills of South Dakota may seem an unlikely favorite travel destination. Generations of Americans have made the pilgrimage to the Shrine of Democracy (Mount Rushmore), and generations of merchants have set up shop to take their money. But given the chance to go anywhere I wished tomorrow, I would fly into Rapid City, South Dakota, drive up into the hills, past the detritus of over 40 years of American tourism, to Custer State Park. I would then park the car and take a four-hour walk to Hearney Peak, where a Civilian Conservation Corps-style stone lookout hut has been perched on the highest point in the Black Hills. From there I would watch the sun set on the Needles, granite freestanding spires that jut skyward, looking like Superman’s ice palace, and think about the geologic forces that lifted this forested paradise out of the boring plains of South Dakota.

—Dan Westergren

Dan Westergren is Traveler’s senior photo editor.