Late on Oct 2 I plan to arrive in Badlands SD
My plan is to start the next morning and drive through the badlands and during the day make my way over to Mt Rushmore, down through Custer SP and by that evening end up in a room in Custer or somewhere just over the line in WY.

Next day I plan to drive up to Buffalo and then through the Bighorn Mtns then turn south toward the hot springs and just see where I end up, maybe make it back to Casper.

The next day continue east and hit whatever catches my eye tll I end up back in the south.

So.......what is a must see/ dont miss in the Blackhills to central WY area?....
I plan to skip the Jewel Cave and Wind Cave, I'd rather stay above ground.
Is Cody worth the drive if I am not going on up to yellowstone?
Is it worth spending time in the thermopolis/hot springs area?
Any must see things around Casper down to Cheyenne?

Thanks for any suggestions

There's lots to see out that way. See all you can.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

I know what you are saying, I plan to see everything I can while out there.
I was just wondering if there was anything in or near Cody I wish I had seen while out there. Making that loop up to cody from Worland is probably 175 miles.
Now if I took the northern pass accross the Bighorn mtns it wouldn't be as far, but I read somewhere the lower(powder river) pass was most scenic drive through the mtns.

That why I'm asking.......

Which a fellow could easily spend all day looking at.

Nm

Not much out there to be seen other than big open country. Although, the last time I drove across WY it was at night the entire way and I think I saw some Woolly Mammoths beside the road around hour 18 of driving.

I try to avoid night drives out west after I split a heard of mule deer immediately followed by a cow elk just standing in my lane one night between Cimmeron and Raton.

I would go straight there and skip everything else, except Cody.

Cody museum is worth a day or two - besides the guns it also has a considerable Western/Indian art collection. Devils Tower and the Custer battlefield are also possible side trips between the Black Hills and Cody. The medicine wheel was a great place to visit when I was a kid 45 years ago when it was just the wheel and the DEW radar dome on the top of a mountain. Now it's fenced off and the archaeological value removed by the Indians doing some leveling of the area and re-arranging the rocks to straighten the spokes and round out the rim. There is also Medicine Lodge Petroglyph State Park in the area that is a surprisingly nice place to spend an afternoon or more, try and setup for a picnic if you can even if it's just subway sandwiches (from Cody) and a 12 pack of drinks on ice. Be sure to keep hydrated, it's very dry in the fall even along the river (often 10% humidity or less) and you get very tired very fast if you don't keep hydrated and it's hard to notice how much water you are losing as your sweat evaporates before you notice you are sweating.

Thermopolis hot springs are worth a visit just to soak tired bodies in the pool and it also now has a fossil museum, LOTS of fossils in the area as it's mostly sedimentary rock that is all the correct age for dinosaurs. During the summer there are always some university digs happening that often allow volunteers to do the unskilled labor jobs. Take the road from Thermopolis south through Wind River canyon to Shoshone and plan on making a few stops on the parking pullouts. The rocks are all on a tilt with the newest layer being red Morrison sandstone formation (lots of dinosaur fossils in it) around Thermopolis on the north end, and the oldest being pre-Permian granite near the dam at the south end and most of the layers in between are identified with signs and info boards. The Wind River and the Big Horn River are the same river on either end of the canyon. This was one of the last places in the U.S. that they couldn't travel the length of the canyon to be sure it was the same river at each end, you'll see why when you get to the tunnels at the south end of the canyon. The tunnels are short but through buttresses of rock that are straight up and down from the river, without the tunnels there is just no place for a foot trail much less a road. Between Shoshone and Casper is Hells Half Acre, a tourist trap but that is where they filmed the movie "Starship Troopers" with all the weird rock formations.

Would you take the northern or southern(powder river) pass through the bighorns?

Since you plan to cross the Bighorn Mountains, I would drive a little further up the road to the Custer Battlefield, then back down to cross the Bighorns, and into Cody. Have lunch or dinner at Buffalo Bill's Irma hotel, and definitely do the Buffalo Bill Historical Museum. Minimum of a full day there.
As someone else said, I can't imagine not touring Yellowstone. Personally, I'd then also drive down to see the Grand Tetons across the River, then down into Utah and Arches National Park or Canyonlands. But then, I'm a tourist.

Nm

I personally think ALL the scenery is good. We came into Cody through Thermopolis, wonderful drive. Went out through Powell, also wonderful despite the fact that they were doing road construction. Lots of gun stores in Cody and they seem (perhaps past tense a bit) to have an exceptional number of neat things.

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Sincerely,

Hobie

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--
Sincerely,

Hobie

probably depend on the weather. Even in September it's possible to get an early snow. I would definitely avoid crossing the Big Horns in a snow storm and head north on I-90 and take it up to Billings then come back south to Lovell. Otherwise it's a very pretty drive taking Highway 16 from Buffalo across the mountain and down the canyon to Tensleep, then into Worland and north to Greybull then west to Cody. It's also very pretty drive taking 14 just north of Sheridan up to Bergess Junction, then either to Lovell or to Shell and Greybull. Going to Lovell does take an extra hour or so across the mountains; and then you spend more time heading south to Greybull and Highway 14 to get to Cody. Highway 14 on the east side of the mountains climbs a fairly steep slope in a bunch of switchbacks (no, it's not a cliff, just seems that way when you are going the other way and coming DOWN those switchbacks) to get up the first ridge, once over it you know you are in the mountains.
According to google it's roughly 6 hours from Rapid City to Cody taking the southern crossing, about 6 1/4 hours taking the northern crossing. Either would leave enough time for a side trip to see Devils Tower along the way. But if you want to see the Custer battefield then it's on up I90 to see the Battlefield, across to Billings and back south to Cody for a full days travel.

I would probably take the northern crossing as you spend a little more time in the mountains. The southern crossing may work out better for you as you could take the southern route to Cody from Worland going through Meeteetse and not double back on your tracks going from Greybull to Cody, then Cody to back to Greybull. I definitely would plan on spending a couple hours at Medicine Lodge north of Hyattville and spend a night in Thermopolis soaking in the hot pools.
It was on a ranch just outside of Meeteetse that they found the black-footed ferrets that were thought extinct, now they are getting fairly common up there with all animals from the captive release breeding program; but it's doubtful if you would see one as they spend most of their time underground hunting prairie dogs in their burrows. Lots of pronghorn antelope, some deer, lots of cows and sheep and close to Cody the possibility of wolves.

I almost hit a nice bull elk on that same stretch a couple of years back.