Bear Country USA, Rapid City

We vacation in the black hills frequently and this has always been a must stop on my kids list. This is actually the #1 request for them. This year was amazing we went early in the morning right after opening time and we saw everything active. Another benefit of heading in early we had the park to ourselves essentially. One nice thing we encountered this year...we took my 93 year old grandpa. He was greeted by a golf cart in the parking lot that drove him through the park and told him about everything. Such and unexpected blessing, he was going to wait for us after walking to the gift shop and sitting on a bench. (Bear Country staff....you guys really hit the mark here. THANK YOU!!!). Not sure if it was the cooler weather or the feeding schedule. It looked like the bears had and were still eating. Keep the windows up and enjoy this ride I can't recommend it enough!!!! At 19 my oldest still makes a very vocal pitch to make time for a Bear Country stop!

We really enjoyed this place! $20 per adult. The loop is only a couple miles, so take your time! Then after the safari part, you park and walk around to see the animals in enclosures (bear cubs, skunks, porcupines, otters, and more). That part is about a quarter mile loop. So we were only there for probably less than a couple hours, but it was really worth it... Seeing bears and wolves up close was so cool!!! Highly suggest getting there around opening time on a weekday to see the most activity from the animals, no waiting in line at the entrance, and it's less crowded. And yes, the gift shop is huge and has a lot of fun stuff!