The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota Review

A great educational place for kids. We learned some stuff too!

Engaging and at a good price. The giftshop is pretty decent with mostly related items. As an active research site it's cool to see that.

Cassie was a great guide, and it was wonderful to hear from someone actively studying and working at the site!

This is a very interesting and learning place to visit. We loved panning for rocks and fossils.

Awesome experience if you are into that sort of thing.

Great guide with Oliver. Neat articles for purchase. They need to change the American flag. Decent prices.

A must for any dinosaur enthusiest.
Great for kids as well.

Great spot for learning about the Mammoth and other ice age mammals.

Loved the guided tour, very informative. Self guided part was fun...wish we would've got there sooner to see the team working in the sample room.

We stopped there on the whim of our seven year old. He enjoyed it greatly seeing real mammoth bones preserved where the animal died. We went in with a guided tour and enjoyed it. A plus and a minus is we were given headset to wear to hear the guide better. The plus is you really do get to hear the guide no matter were in the line you were. The negatives are they look like stethoscopes and are slightly uncomfortable and it is easy for people to accidentally change radio chanels. The accidental channel change required our wonderful guide to have to stop and retune the headphone. Despite the one negative, it is a worth the stop.

Lots of fun but not so great for pre schoolers and early elementary kids. It all goes a bit over their heads. The fossil dig was the only thing that saved us, but you have to pre register for that and book it ahead of time. Thankfully we did.

Awe inspiring. What an incredible discovery and story that is still waiting to be fully told. Admission includes a guided tour of the facility where you can witness workers and volunteers continuing to excavate this site, along with an awesome gift shop and activities for kids. Highly recommended.

Due to COVID we had to do our own tour with the app. The app had somewhat out-dated pictures and we couldn't listen to the audio without headphones, but other than that it was good. It was sad that we couldn't do much of the more hands-on activities, but that's to be expected during a global pandemic. Masks weren't required, but people did a pretty good job of staying with their small groups and keeping distance between strangers. Very informative and fun! Most certainly recommend!

World Class. I'm disabled and need a walker. Facility is very friendly to disable persons.

The video at the entrance was neat to see how the site was formed.

Awesome to see. Have ear buds to listen to tour via phone app.

Yeah this was worth it. Kids loved it. No fidgeting at any point even from our seven-year- old which proves he was enthralled. Everyone in the family loved the whole thing.

Pretty interesting. Kids were entertained for about and hour

This was a very interesting stop, we learned a lot.

This place keeps improving. I think this id's a must see if you've never been there.

Omg, awesome and fascinating! Must do its only 10.14 a person and well worth it!

We had never heard of this place and decided to stop off and visit it with the kids on our way back to Colorado. I'm so glad we did, its absolutely amazing and very educational.

It was interesting and little odd but what isn't. Me and my family had a great time

What a wonderful find and interesting place for history

This was the highlight of my South Dakota trip! I learned so much and am so grateful that the general public are allowed to view these amazing mammoth bones up close. The tour was so interesting and the guide, Oliver, was very knowledgeable. If you like science, you'll LOVE this place. If you don't like science, you'll START to like science after going here!

We didn't get to stay long because the fire alarm went off.

In all honesty, we did not know what to expect. I was really hoping it wasn't some lame-o thing geared towards kids.

Thankfully, it was nothing of the sort. We were treated to a very well-run organization. Very informative and interesting tour, which cleverly utilized headsets, eliminating shouting back and forth. Once the tour was done, we could continue hanging around in the dig room (not the right term) for as long as we wished.

Seriously, this was a very pleasant surprise!

An awesome place to learn about the mammoth and explore an actual dig site.

it was a really neat experience and I enjoyed every second I was there, it was really cool that they let you go down into the dig site

It's ok for a quick stop if you're already in the area. Some cool stuff but nothing impressive.

Awesome! You're probably going to drive right past it on your way to the Black Hills. Go ahead and take an hour and stop here. You won't regret it.

A very beautiful place, where you learn from the life of the now extinct mammoths.

What a cool experience! I knew nothing about Mammoths. I have lived in California my whole life and had to move to South Dakota just to learn that they have discovered Pygmy Mammoths on the Channel Islands off the coast of California. Who would have guessed? I was very impressed with the self-guided tour we took, it was fascinating. We will be back again this summer and maybe even try to volunteer on one of their dig days.

Fantastic and tragic at the same time. All those mammoths drowning.
Cheap good food and ice cream at the food booth.

It's a short walk around an excavation site. It's quite amazing and a must see.

A place to stop on the way to Mount Rushmore in hot spring - lots of details to learn about the history of the area

Incredible place with a sad story but a wealth of knowledge for our generations

Great place for knowing things you never thought happened

Very very interesting and still a working site they claim to take about another 75 years before the may finish at the site

Amazing to see so many mammoth bones and a real dig

We had a wonderful and informative visit to the Mammoth Site. The grandkids absolutely loved the Junior Paleontologist program! Thanks for an enjoyable day!

Very interesting. I had no idea of what they found here in S.D.

most extensive grouping of mammoths than almost anywhere. you are up close and personal with these long gone giants but the volunteers are cheerful and helpful

My husband wanted to see this. It was not my cup of tea, till I got there. Mammoth Site was amazing. I enjoyed the history, and the magnitude of the recovery process .

This place was a Hidden Gem I had never heard of it and I've been out to this area 19 times now. We are so glad that we found it and did explore it.

Took the Boys & Girls Club of BH here and we had a great time! Super educational, the staff was great, and the exhibits were incredible to see! The staff both during the tour AND down in the laboratory were super informative, went out of their way to welcome and associate with the kids. It was an incredible experience that I would recommend time and time again!

Very interesting. Budget an hour and half to 2 hours minimum.

The site is amazing! Kids did the junior paleontologist dig and enjoyed it. We spent 1.5 hours there.

This is the most amazing thing we just happened to come across while on vacation to mt. Rushmore. A must see for everyone.

My 8 year old said he would give 10 stars out of 5.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME for people interested in Dinosaurs especially Mammoth

Very interesting. Enjoyed the tour and the guide was friendly

Boys favorite activity so far. Hasn't changed much from when I was little but a cool place to see paleontologists at work

Our kids did the junior paleontology program and we had to resist jumping in and digging with them! So cool!

The tour was fantastic, including the lab site. We did a cool class, too, and recc it for young paleontologists. It's a must for Black Hills travel.

A great place to visit if you have interest in the sciences at all! A true working dig!

So interesting!! All 3 generations of my family loved it!!!

I loved it! It was so interesting to learn the history behind it! Great for all ages! Very nice gift shop as well! I highly recommend!

Did you know the found an ancient sink hole with mammoth remains and other animals all jumbled up together in Hot Springs, South Dakota? Did you know they built a building around & over the dig site to preserve it and allow for leisurely excavation? Well... THEY DID! Quite the unique location with the actual dig still progressing and many already unearthed artifacts on display. Actually quite amazing. Great for all ages.

Fascinating exhibits, staff more than willing to share their knowledge and experience "digging". Hands on stuff for the kids. Pet friendly, too!!

This place is very educational and insightful. I really enjoyed seeing people work on further excavations. You could easily spend four or more hours here. The kids dig was super fun and educational for the kiddos. Definitely make it a to do if you're in the area.

Can t say enough about this place! EXTREMELY INTERESTING & EDUCATIONAL! We went 2 hours out of our way to visit. It was worth mile and second out of our way!

Fantastic site with lots to learn. Even better with the Jr. Paleontologist dig. A don't miss for sure.

Very interesting, the explanation of a sink hole did not make sense when considering the number of species in the hole. Why would a small fox sink (as they can swim). Also, the randomness of the animals and location of bones does not fit the "sinkhole" theory. I wish honesty prevailed and they said we really have no idea.

Terrific stop on our way through South Dakota. It's an active dig site that contains many mammoth bone remains. We were able to see parts they are working to uncover and tours are available. It's all inside so you get a break from the heat too! They also had a room in the gift shop for toddlers and kids to pretend dig and play (free)as well as a dig workshop kids can sign up to do (not free).

Very interesting well informed tour guides. Compact site with easy access. Tour takes about an hour.