Up the Missouri River through South Dakota

Route description

Leave Sioux Falls on I-90 west and stop in Mitchell at the Corn Palace, redecorated each year with murals of corn and grain. The interstate then crosses farm country to the Missouri River, where Dignity, a tall steel statue of a Native woman with a star quilt, stands at a rest area above the valley.

Chamberlain sits beside Lake Francis Case, one of several reservoirs that turned the Missouri into a chain of lakes. State highways, ending with SD-34, follow the river north-west through the hills of the Lower Brule and Crow Creek reservations to Pierre, the state capital.

In Pierre, see the capitol and then drive a few miles north to Oahe Dam, whose huge reservoir reaches far into North Dakota. US-83 and US-12 continue north across open ranch country to Mobridge, named for the railroad bridge over the river.

West of Mobridge, a bluff overlooking the Missouri holds the Sitting Bull Monument and a memorial to Sacagawea. Services are sparse between towns; summer and early fall are best, as winters are harsh and windy.