Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota's Black Hills features the 18-metre carved faces of presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Sculpted by Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln between 1927 and 1941, it is visited by millions each year.

The Crazy Horse Memorial is a mountain carving in progress in South Dakota's Black Hills, honouring the Lakota leader Crazy Horse. Begun in 1948 by sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski, the completed face is about 27 metres tall. The site includes the Indian Museum of North America and cultural centre.

Badlands National Park in South Dakota features dramatically eroded buttes, pinnacles and spires striped in shades of red, orange and grey. It also protects one of the world's richest fossil beds and mixed-grass prairie with bison and prairie dogs. The Badlands Loop Road offers many scenic overlooks.

Devils Tower in northeastern Wyoming is a striking igneous rock formation rising 264 metres above the Belle Fourche River. It was declared the first US national monument in 1906. Sacred to many Native American tribes, it is popular with climbers and featured in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota protects colourful badlands along the Little Missouri River, where Roosevelt ranched in the 1880s. The park is home to bison, wild horses, elk and prairie dogs. Painted Canyon offers a sweeping overlook of the badlands.