Goin'6 Yellowstone to Badlands Driving Tour

From the surreal landscapes created by one of the planet's most volatile super volcanic calderas to the sweeping grasslands where the iconic American bison once roamed by the millions, the wildly shifting terrains of Wyoming and its neighboring states form as impressive a gallery of nature's artistry as you'll find just about anywhere.

Massive Yellowstone National Park, with its legendary geyser basins, hot springs and assorted geothermal oddities, dominates the northwestern corner of Wyoming, even stretching into parts of Montana and Idaho. As the region's marquee attraction, it draws visitors by the millions each summer, many of whom spend upwards of a week trying to experience everything the park has to offer.

Some 400 miles to the east as the crow flies, a dense cluster of parks and monuments dots South Dakota's southwest corner. This is where the state's famous Black Hills approach the foreboding rock formations of the Badlands, separated by yet another amazing type of terrain – the prairies of Buffalo Gap National Grasslands. Throw in Mount Rushmore, the gold rush town of Deadwood, and a half dozen other prime destinations, and you've got the makings of an unforgettably epic driving vacation.

Between attractions, we'll help you find all the Motel 6 locations lining the region's major east/west and north/south routes, making it easy to plan a manageable itinerary.

Yellowstone National Park

To the uninitiated, the name "Yellowstone" usually conjures up images of steam and spray spouting dutifully as a throng of camera-toting tourists madly clicks away. While it's true that Old Faithful and the rest of the Upper Geyser Basin performers are the Park's headline act, there's a vast and impressive supporting cast that awaits you.

Read MoreIf Old Faithful merely whets your geyser appetite, you can follow the string of basins concentrated along a 50-mile stretch from the Park's Grant Village Visitor Center to the village of Norris. The list includes the West Thumb, Midway, Lower and Norris Geyser Basins, each of which is worth its own short detour. Another top attraction in the vicinity is Great Fountain Geyser, which has an 11-hour eruption cycle and is considered one of the Park's most spectacular sights. This stretch is equally accessible from the Park's West Entrance (a little more than 2 hours from Idaho Falls) and South Entrance (about an hour from Jackson, Wyoming.) All in all, Yellowstone currently accounts for close to half of the entire planet's geyser activity. We say "currently" because, like any place shaped by massive geologic forces, Yellowstone is a constant work in progress.

You can enjoy different kinds of hydrothermal fireworks in some of the Park's other top attractions. If oozing pools of bubbling mud are your cup of tea, the Fountain Paint Pots, Artists Paint Pots or Mud Volcano put on a delightful daily display. Then you've got the much-photographed travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, which are conveniently located near the Park's headquarters and largest visitor center just a few minutes drive from Yellowstone's North Entrance (about 4 hours drive from Billings or Butte on I-90.)

Beyond the daily geothermal rumblings that animate so many of the Park's features, you'll find other forces at work in shaping the Yellowstone landscape. The Continental Divide follows a jagged path through the Park's southwest corner, helping create the high plateau at the Park's core. The surrounding peaks, alpine lakes and rivers provide a rich tapestry of geologic formations, climate zones and terrains that support an abundance of wildlife (including bison, elk, bears, and wolves) and culminate in other signature features like the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone, the Hayden and Lamar Valleys and stunning Tower Fall.

Getting around inside Yellowstone is made relatively easy by Grand Loop Road, a 142-mile figure eight accessible via each of the Park's five entrances – South, West, North, Northeast (open seasonally and a little more than 3 hours from Billings), and East (open seasonally and 4 to 4-1/2 hours from Billings, Montana, Sheridan, Riverton and Buffalo, Wyoming.) The Grand Loop lives up to its name, skillfully taking you close to the Park's major areas of heightened visitor interest. With a little advanced planning, you can pack a lot of sightseeing into every single day. Hide

Grand Teton National Park

A mere 30 miles due south of Yellowstone, the Teton Range suddenly rises out of the Wyoming wilderness to create one of the Rocky Mountains' most picturesque scenes. Given the mesmerizing grandeur of The Grand Teton, its neighboring peaks, and the glacier-carved alpine meadows below, it's easy to see what inspired the creation of a separate Grand Teton National Park so close to Yellowstone.

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Thunder Basin National Grassland

If you're a fan of vast, open spaces, where you can be alone with your thoughts while communing with nature, then Thunder Basin National Grassland is your kind of place. Located in the northeast section of Wyoming, between the Big Horn Mountains and the Black Hills, Thunder Basin contains some 570,000 acres of unspoiled grassland, a regular stop for migrating birds and a rich habitat for a wide range of wildlife.

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Devils Tower National Monument

It's not every day that an "intrusion of igneous material" captures man's imagination with quite as much gusto as Devils Tower. This eerie 1,267 foot monolith outside of Hulett, Wyoming was declared a National Monument by Teddy Roosevelt way back in 1906. But its starring role in the groundbreaking extra-terrestrial movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind thrust it into national pop-culture prominence.

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The Black Hills of South Dakota

The Black Hills describes a region in South Dakota's southwest corner that is so overflowing with natural splendor, historically significant locations, and bona fide tourist destinations that it's difficult to fathom how such a place could exist.

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Deadwood, South Dakota (Black Hills)

Spawned by the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1874, the lawless town of Deadwood was founded on land originally granted by treaty to the Lakota peoples. Because the illegal settlement was technically beyond the jurisdiction of the U.S. government, it quickly attracted a host of shady and colorful characters – prospectors, gamblers, gunfighters and prostitutes whose names live on today in books and on the silver screen.

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Mount Rushmore National Memorial (Black Hills)

A little more than 20 miles southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota, four familiar faces loom above the Black Hills wilderness. Discovering how exactly Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and a bespectacled Teddy Roosevelt came to occupy this remote granite outcropping is part of the fun of visiting. But visit you must.

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Crazy Horse Memorial (Black Hills)

Given the contentious history of the Black Hills, it's easy to understand why the Lakota might be sensitive to the presence of the Mount Rushmore presidents towering unchallenged over a land they consider to be rightfully their own. A similar line of thinking led to one of the most ambitious and yet-to-be-fully-realized projects ever undertaken – the Crazy Horse Memorial.

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Custer State Park (Black Hills)

Free-roaming bison, "begging burros" and sprawling prairie dog towns – these are just a few of the star actors making their home in the Black Hills' Custer State Park. Named after the famous and ill-fated Civil War soldier-turned-Indian fighter, Lt. Colonel George Armstrong Custer, this wildlife preserve remains the first and largest of South Dakota's state parks.

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Wind Cave National Park (Black Hills)

Just 10 miles north of Hot Springs, South Dakota, the Black Hills' lone National Park is also the first cave network to receive that lofty designation – Wind Cave National Park.

From the surface, Wind Cave National Park looks like a wilderness-rich tall-grass prairie complete with picture postcard landscapes. It's all that and more. For starters, the Park is an excellent place to try and catch a glimpse of the bison herds that roam freely throughout the region. The main scenic drive includes a series of pullout areas with names like Bison, Mineral Lick and Prairie Dog Pullout, giving you ample opportunities to stop and soak in the scenery.

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Jewel Cave National Monument (Black Hills)

Follow Mount Rushmore Road as it winds its way west toward the Wyoming border, and you'll come across another Black Hills subterranean wonder – Jewel Cave National Monument.

Named for the colorful calcite formations that lined the cave's original entrance first discovered in 1900, Jewel Cave ranks as the world's second longest known cave with more than 150 miles of mapped passageways. Today, the Monument is open year round and offers three separate tours – a half-mile scenic tour centered around the Cave's elevator-accessible main chamber, a candlelight tour that retraces the discovery and history of the site, and a spelunking tour.

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Buffalo Gap National Grassland

Just outside of Wall, South Dakota, and surrounding much of Badlands National Park, Buffalo Gap National Grassland features some of the finest unspoiled prairie wilderness left in America thanks in large part to the Cheyenne River watershed. It's also home to its own imposing stretch of badlands only slightly overshadowed by its National Park neighbor.

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Badlands National Park

Just minutes outside the aptly named town of Wall, South Dakota, the entrance to Badlands National Park reveals an otherworldly landscape that's both foreboding and fascinating. When approached from the high prairie to the north, the Badlands aren't readily visible and could easily be missed. But when approached from the southern low prairie, the nature of the obstacle is unmistakable – a literal topographic "wall" portending the worst for anyone attempting direct passage.

Read MoreToday, the Badlands that proved so formidable to anyone unfortunate enough to encounter them in their path, have been tamed, but only partly. The Park's North Unit is served by Badlands Loop Road, which will take you through the heart of the Park's erosion formations and provides a series of regular overlooks for scenic viewing, photo opportunities and small walking trail forays that venture deeper into the formations and reveal some of the more interesting landscapes.

Most folks wisely choose to start at the Park's northeast entrance near the Big Badlands Overlook, and follow the Badlands Loop Road as it drops onto the lower prairie before working its way back up at the Pinnacles Overlook (about a half-day's journey). Along the way, you'll come across the Ben Reifel Visitor Center, which is also Park Headquarters. Here, you'll learn about the area's history and the geologic forces that turned this stretch of land into an alien terrain often likened to the lunar landscape. Another Park highlight is the Fossil Exhibit Trail. The same erosion that helped sculpt the Park also acted as a master excavator, revealing a particularly rich fossil bed. Take the quarter-mile walk along this paved trail and you'll leave with a better understanding of what it takes to hunt and preserve fossils.

Once you reach the Pinnacles Overlook near the Pinnacles Entrance, you'll have a choice: head back to Wall or turn left onto Sage Creek Rim Road and spend the rest of the day exploring the Park's Sage Creek Unit, where a more hospitable wilderness containing bison and prairie dogs awaits you. Eventually, this road leaves the Park and becomes unpaved, but you can follow it all the way to State Route 44. From there, a right turn takes you back toward Scenic, South Dakota en route to the Black Hills region and a left takes you back toward Scenic Pass and the Ben Reifel Visitor Center.

Another option is to explore the Park's remote South Unit, but that requires another level of commitment given its undeveloped nature and a dirt road network that casual passers through won't find enjoyable. Those who do sign up for the adventure are rewarded with one of the Park's best views at Sheep Mountain Table and, after a particularly arduous drive, can visit one of the most sacred sites in Sioux culture, Stronghold Table, scene of the last Ghost Dance ritual in 1890. Today, the Oglala Tribe helps keep Indian culture alive at the White River Visitor Center which it operates throughout summer. Hide

Dinosaur National Monument

If the Fossil Exhibit Trail in Badlands National Park is up your alley, then you may want to consider making a southern swing along I-80 as part of your driving tour. That way, you can make a special stop at Dinosaur National Monument, a post-mortem Jurassic Park with one of the most productive fossil beds ever discovered.

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