Friday 9-27-24 & Saturday 9-28-24 Two Driving Days

 

 

Having fun driving

 

 

Friday 9-27-24  New State & Ainsworth City Park

 

Welcome to Nebraska

We spent 11 fabulous days in South Dakota and did a lot of hiking, camping and visited amazing places. We camped in three different campground in the Black Hills National Forest and camped a couple of nights in Custer State Park. It's time to move on.

After breakfast we put things away and secured. We weren't in any hurry, we wanted to wait a bit so the traffic for the buffalo roundup died down. 

We left the campsite at 8:15 and drove 12 miles through Custer State Park. We were pleasantly surprised and relieved because there was no traffic jams. As we were driving we saw a lot of turkeys, white-tail deer and a few black-tail prairie dogs. The road was curvy but very nice. 

After leaving Custer State Park we continued our adventure another 250 miles. The roads were two lane highways through the prairies of South Dakota and into the prairies of Nebraska. We saw a lot of ranches and farmland. We drove through a huge Native American Reservation. We saw three coyotes, a few Pronghorns, horses, cattle, sunflower fields and other farmland. The sunflowers look like they were finished with their cycle and were waiting to get harvested. The highways took us through a lot of small towns and by a little bit of the Badlands. We were going to stop to get a picture but there wasn't enough room for the Minnie. The drive was a lot of open land. I was awake most of the drove. We stopped a few times to stretch our legs and to eat lunch. A bit into Nebraska the time zone changed to Central Time so we had to advance our clocks one hour. We were stuck in road construction for 6 minutes about an hour from Ainsworth.

 

Waiting for plot truck

By the time we got to Ainsworth Nebraska it was 3:30, Larry had driven 262 miles. He was ready to call it a day. We stopped and filled the Minnie in Ainsworth. The city park was a half a mile from the gas station. 

Ainsworth City Park is a gorgeous park with a lot of oak trees. It has RV sites with electricity and without. It's $10 for power and $5 without. The RV sites are in a grassy area, some have shade and others don't. We got one with shade. It has old restrooms. The park has a playground, soccer fields, baseball field, football field, a huge area with horseshoe pits (24 pits), basketball hoops and swimming pool. When we went to the bathroom we had to be careful because there was a lot of sand-burs. It's a great place to camp.

 

Falls colors on an oak Sawtooth in the park

 

Camping at Ainsworth

 

Locals playing in the park

Playground

 

Horseshoe pits

 

Because it was 90 degrees we relaxed under the air conditioner. After dinner I walked around the park for an hour (8 laps) to get some steps. By the end of the day I had done 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group. 

 

Saturday 9-28-24  Good-bye Nebraska, Hello Kansas

 

Kansas welcome sign

 

We had another day of driving. Larry drove 325 miles. The drive was mainly in Nebraska on two lane highways. As we drove we saw a lot of farmfields with alfalfa, corn and soybeans. There were cattle grazing. We drove through a lot of small towns. Taylor, Nebraska was a cute town with painted silhouettes of people welcoming you to town. A couple miles before Taylor we saw a silhouette of a husband and wife waving. As we drove through Taylor they had other signs throughout the town. One I saw was a mother, daughter and son. The signs were all black and white but very well kept. In Taylor's neighbor town we saw one sign that was in different colors welcoming you. The signs made you smile. We drove through Grand Island, Nebraska. Larry had worked there when he was 19 years old and he remembered how it looked then, Forty + years has changed it a lot. After Grand Island we got on I80 for about 40 miles. Then we were back on two lane highways. We crossed into Kansas about 41 miles from our destination of Concordia where will spend the night at their city park. We started our drive at 7:15 and stopped at 2:30.

We have camped at Concordia City Park before, back in 2017. It's a small RV park and the sites have electric. Water is available but you share it with other campers. They have restrooms with running water but no showers. The restrooms have one stall and no privacy. They have a dump, dog park, playground and disc golf course. It's right next to the airport and Kansas National Guard. Across the highway is a Walmart. The campground is free but they accept donations, you can stay for 7 days but 3 days if you're a tenter. It very pretty with a lot of trees.

 

Kansas National Guard in Concordia

 

Concordia City Park playground

 

 

A carving at the park

 

It was 89 degrees so I had to wait until the sun started down to do my steps. I walked around the park for an hour. By the end of the day I had done 17,000 steps.       

      

Wednesday 9-25-24 & Thursday 9-26-24 Custer State Park

 

It's my birthday

Wednesday 9-25-24  My Birthday, Custer State Park and Jewel Cave

Today was my birthday. I woke up about 7:00 and we had pancakes for breakfast. Afterwards we put things down and secure because we’re moving on.

Larry told me we had a change of plans, we’re going to Custer Sate Park. He got up before me and wrote down all the sites that were available at Center Lake Campground. This campground is first come first serve but you have to reserve the site you want if it’s available. The sites come available at 6:00 am, which means if you don’t reserve it someone else can take it. You can reserve the site for one night online. If you want to extend your stay you just have to call them and let them know how long. He found out there was a lot of sites so we weren’t worried if we just show up. There is no cell service in the campground so you have to go someplace that has cell.

Custer State Park was 30 miles from Dutchman Campground. We drove through the small town of Custer. It’s a quaint touristy town with restaurants, souvenir shops, Dakotamart, Dollar Tree/Family Dollar, Dollar General, ATV rental place, gas stations with convenient stores and few little shops. 

 

Custer State Park

 

We got to the entrance to Custer State Park and bought a week long pass for $20. Then we drove to the campground. The road to Center Lake Campground was very curvy and at places the curves were tight. As we drove we saw a herd of deer on the side of a hill and in the ditch. This is the first time on this trip that we have seen deer in South Dakota. We got to the campground about 9:00, looked at the sites and decided on three we would like. We were very surprised there was a phone for you to use to reserve your site. We stopped and Larry called the number and got put on hold. Once the lady asked how she could help us. We told her what campground we were in and what site we wanted. The first site was taken but the second site wasn’t. We drove back to the site to put our chairs out because we were going to leave for bit. We have a beautiful site, that backs up to a hill, there are boulders and a lot of tree. Larry only had to block the front driver wheel up one block.

 

Larry reserving a site in Custer State Park

 

Once we put our chairs out Larry drove to Jewel Cave National Monument. We were going to go to Wind Cave but it was closed because they were replacing the elevator. Jewel Cave was about 25 miles from Custer State Park. We arrived at Jewel Cave about 10:15. We parked the Minnie in the RV parking, which was excellent because they were pull-through and they left a lot of room for the RVs to turn. No cars were in front of them. We went to the booth and bought our tour tickets, because we were seniors we got in half price ($3.00 a piece). Our tour was the Discovery Tour and didn’t start until 11:45. We had an hour to kill. We went back to the Minnie and had lunch. Larry wanted to take me out to lunch for my birthday but it didn’t work out. We had sandwiches for lunch and read.

The tour guide was Bob and he was a lot of fun. He cracked jokes throughout the tour and gave a four-year old boy (Teddy) a flashlight to help him show different crystals in the cave. Towards the end he asked a Special Needs guy to help him. This made the guy’s day, he couldn’t stop smiling. This was so cool. The tour was for a half hour, Bob wasn’t scheduled to give the tour but he asked the ranger if he could do the tour considering he had a friend there. She said of course you can. We started the tour by taking an elevator down to the cave. Our group was so big we barely fit in the elevator. We didn’t go down too many steps because our tour was about the discovery of the cave. Bob pointed out a few things and explained how the cave was discovered and that people are still discovering more of the cave. The cave was a dry cave, which means it wasn’t made by water. As we were exiting the cave we had to walk through a liquid chemical to rinse off our shoes so the bats wouldn’t get sick. We had a super tour. 

 

A bench at Jewel Cave National Monument

 

Some of the crystals in the cave

 

More crystals 

Bob our tour guide

 

On the way back to the campground we stopped in Custer to pick up a cake for my birthday. I decided on a turtle cheesecake. Then we drove back to the campground. As we were driving the park road we saw a bison, a group of turkeys and a couple of deer. The drive was very pretty. Once back to our site we parked the Minnie for the day. The rest of the day we relaxed in our chairs and read. 

 

My birthday cake

 

While Larry was relaxing the camp host (Bob) came by to welcome us to the park. He told Larry where the free showers were and where we can fill our RV with water.

After dinner I walked around for an hour and a half. The first 45 minutes I walked to where the showers are and the beach. Then I walked around the day area to the ramp. The last 45 minutes I walked around our loop. By the end of the day I got 17,000 steps. I had a super birthday.

 

 

Kayaking down Center Lake in Custer State Park

 

Canoeing on Center Lake

 

One of the picnic sites in the day area

 

Center Lake

 

Camping at Center Lake Campground

Thursday 9-26-24  Wildlife Loop Road and Buffalo Roundup Art Festival

 

I woke up before 7:00 because I couldn’t sleep any longer. It was 68 degrees in the Minnie, the warmest it has been on the trip. I made pancakes for breakfast. Then we put things down and secured because Larry’s taking me for a ride on the 18 mile long Wildlife Loop Road. We were ready to go at 7:45.

The Wildlife Loop Road was about 10 miles from the campground. The road there was very curvy and sometimes the curves are tight. We saw a few White-tail deer (two groups of a doe and fawn). When we got to the loop we checked in at the gate, the gentleman said we were ok because we have a pass good for the week. During our drive we saw a lot of black-tail prairie dogs along side of the road. As we drove we saw a lot of wild turkeys walking in the road, they were eating the acorns off the road. We watched them walk down the road and into a ravine. We also saw more walking on the prairie. We also saw a few pronghorns, they were huge and looked like white-tail deer. We saw a group of burros under a tree to keep cool. We didn’t see any bison until we got to a fenced in area with a gate and a cattle guard. Everyone stopped to see them. It was a nice size herd. Some were rolling in the dirt and other were just walking around. You had to watch the bison because it’s their home and they will walk right in front of a car. A little bit down the loop there was a spot, where you can get a closer look, in fact you can walk up to the fence where they are to take pictures. There was a visitor center right off the loop. We drove by the corral, where they roundup the bison. The Wildlife Loop is 18 miles long and is very beautiful. 

 

Wild turkeys on the loop

 

Burros under a shade tree

Pronghorn

 

A herd of Bison

 

A couple more bison

 

A black-tip prairie dog

 

Tomorrow is Custer State Parks yearly Buffalo Roundup. The park does this every year to control the size of the herd in the park and to give the buffalo their yearly shots. Thousands of people show up to see the roundup. They have cowboys on horses to roundup all the bison on the loop and put them in corrals. There are two viewing areas to watch the roundup from. They keep the buffalo in the corrals until they are branded, tested and sorted. They separate the buffalo into groups, some are sold and other will stay in the park. We’re not going to attend because there are thousands of people watching and it will be a nightmare. The lady, who checked us in said you stay in line for hours. The parking areas open at 6:15 am and the roundup starts at 9:30. It will end about noon when all the bison are taken care of.

By driving around we got a good idea on how the roundup works. The bison are already close by, they herd them into the corrals and process them. We also saw where you park, an open field on the side of a hill. In order to see you need binoculars. They have been doing the Buffalo Roundup for 59 years.

After driving the loop we went to the State game Lodge, where the Buffalo Roundup Art Festival was being held. They have been doing this for 31 years. This goes on for three days with continuous music, entertainment and food. Over 100 arts and craft booths are setup, artisans and crafters from across the Midwest sell their wares. The parking of the event is about .25 mile for where the booths are. They had a very nice paved walkway to get you there. You cross over a creek via a bridge. The booths are setup in four rows and there also are food, kettle corn and snack booths. We walked around and look at the different art and craft exhibits. The artists had a lot of talent, a couple in particular did their art out of copper and the paintings were gorgeous. The lady at that booth explained their process. We walked around for about an hour and had a great time.

 

State Game Lodge in Custer State Park

 

The Buffalo Roundup Art Festival booths

 

Welcome to the Buffalo Roundup Art Festival

 

When we got to the Minnie we had internet so Larry did some research on where we’re going from here. We were at the lodge for about and hour and a half. Then we went back to the campground to have lunch.

It was hot, about 87 degrees and we were very grateful we had shade at our site. We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book. 

Before dinner we walked over and took a shower. While there Larry got a little internet so he checked his e-mail and the weather. When we got home I barbecued a Bacon Wrap with Pork. I didn’t walk around the campground because I didn’t want to get sweaty. So I did my steps in place. I ended out doing 17,000 steps.

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 9-24-24 Mount Rushmore and Dutchman Campground

 

Welcome Sign

I woke up at 7:00 and got dressed. We had a quick breakfast and then we put things down because we're moving on. We were on the road by 7:30. Before leaving the campground we drove around to the other loop where the ramp and marina was. The whole campground was beautiful with all the trees. The sites were very roomy. We went to the other loop because it was close to the hiking trail. The campground is closing next week, they are going to do away with services and keep a loop open. We thought if we were to come back when it closes maybe we could hike. But if we did we would have to take the motorcycle to the hiking trail because it's a mile away from the loop that is going to be open. 

Our next destination was Mount Rushmore National Memorial, 20 miles away. The road was a curvy mountain road. We went through a tunnel. The last time we had come o Mount Rushmore we had gone through three tunnels but we were coming from Custer State Park. We arrived early, about 8:15. It was very easy to get in. You stop at the entrance gate and get a parking ticket. Then they direct you where they want you to park. We were a small RV so we were put in a spot designed for RVs less than 29'. At the entrance to the memorial you pay for the parking at a kiosk. We 're seniors so we only had to pay $5.00, the standard parking is $10.00. We walked the .6 mile loop round the facility and took pictures. Then we walked through the gift shop and visitor center. We watched the movie about Mount Rushmore and how it was built. While walking through the visitor center we learned about Mount Rushmore. We also saw that they were getting ready to do a culture performance. A local Native American told the history of her Lakota people and performed a couple of dances. They were Little Shell and Hoop. The Hoop dance was about her life and she danced it with hoops. She did an outstanding job with the presentation and dancing. We had a great time at Mount Rushmore.

 

Entrance to Mount Rushmore National Memorial

 

Mount Rushmore National Memorial

 

Performing the Little Shell Dance

 

Beginning of the Loop Dance

 

Ending of the Loop Dance

After having lunch we left Mount Rushmore and drove 30 miles to our destination for the day. It was Dutchman Campground. There was only one other camper there besides us. Camping is free because it closed for the season. It's a beautiful campground with some hiking. It also has Deerfield Reservoir. Each campsite is surrounded by beautiful Ponderosa Pines. We were there by 1:00 and we spent the rest of the day relaxing.  

After dinner Larry and I went for a 3 mile walk to find the trailhead, we also walked and one of the closed loops of the campground. We found a gate to the trailhead, it was suppose to be open year round but it was padlock with three different locks. This gate was only a half mile from the campground. We continued another half mile and found another gate to the trailhead. The problem with this is if we wanted to hike the trail we would have to hike a mile up and a mile back so we really could only hike about two miles of the trail. This really wouldn't work for us. We went back to the campground and walked around a little more. We took a trail but it only went downhill to the lake. When we got back to the Minnie Larry went inside and I stayed outside to do some steps. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 5th place in my group.

 

Deerfield Reservoir

 

 

Monday 9-23-24 Sheridan Campground and Doing Errands

 

Camping at Sheridan Campground

I crawled out of bed at 7:00 and got dressed. Then I made pancakes for breakfast. Afterward we got ready to leave. We had a fabulous week of hiking at Rod and Gun Campground now it's time to go. 

Once everything was secure we were ready to go. We were on the road by 8:30. Our next destination was 70 miles down the road. On the way we stopped and did some errands. We mainly drove two lane highway. The first three miles was down the dusty dirt road from the campground to the lodge and restaurant, where we turned right. 

We drove 24 miles to Lead, where we went grocery shopping at the local Lynn's Dakotamart. Lynn's Dakotamart was a very nice store with a lot of things. You just have to watch what you buy because some items were very high in price. Cheryl checked us out and she was very fast and friendly. After putting the groceries away we were back on the road. 

 

Lead South Dakota

 

We drove 5 miles to Deadwood, where we stopped at the RV park to take showers, get water and dump our tanks. The lady, who helped Larry was very friendly and helpful. It cost $5.00 a piece for showers and $5.00 for water but the dump was run by the city and was free. If you want to stay there you get electric and water for $55.00 a night. Your site was in a dirt parking lot and you were right next to other sites. The park is very well maintained and had a history museum. We didn't walk through it. After our showers Larry went to the front desk and asked the lady where to get propane. She said go Auto Value in Central City, which is in between Lead and Deadwood. The gentleman, who took care of us was very friendly. He was outside when we pulled up so Larry didn’t have to go chase him down. Now we’re set for another week or so. We drove back to Deadwood, three miles and parked the Minnie in a parking lot. We had lunch and I did the last week of my Blog. We didn’t post it because it was long and we didn’t want to sit around all day in a parking lot.

 

Deadwood welcome sign

 

Deadwood is an old gold mining town built during the gold rush in 1876 to 1879. Now it's a tourist town with shops, restaurants and souvenir shops. It has a lot of history and has hike/bike trails. 

We drove another 32 miles to a forest campground that was suppose to have a loop open. Larry drove down a curvy road to get to the campground and found out it was completely closed. Fortunately he had a backup, it was 11 miles away. He drove the road back to the highway and headed towards the next campground. We were delayed a bit because of construction. The construction was for 6 miles down a rough rough. They had torn out the old road and were working on making the road wider. It’s going to take awhile for them to get done. We got to the new campground by 3:30 and we were ready to call it a day.

The new campground was Sheridan Lake Campground. We were surprised to see a lady at the booth. She told Larry what sites were available and said the campground was closing next week. We drove around and checked out the available sites. We got a great pull thru site close to the bathroom, which is a vault toilet. The campground is very pretty with a lot of trees. The sites are big but there are no hookups. It’s a big campground and to get to another loop it was about a mile away. We set up the Minnie for the night and then relaxed. We had leftovers for dinner. After dinner I walked around the campground for an hour and a half to get some steps. As I was walking a met a lady walking her dog so we walked around together and talked. I ended up doing 11,000 steps.

 

Monday 9-16-24 to Sunday 9-22-14 South Dakota & More

We were camped for about a week with almost no cell phone access. Today is 9/24 and we may again be without access to cell phone access. We will see.

 

South Dakota welcome sign

 

Monday 9/16/24    New State, Site Seeing & New Campground

We had three outstanding days at Devils Tower. Now it’s time to move on. 

As we were exiting Devils Tower National Monument we saw some longhorn cattle on a private ranch. At the same place there were wild turkeys. We drove 42 miles before leaving Wyoming and entering South Dakota. The scenery changed a little in Wyoming, there was a lot of flat plains and South Dakota had some rolling hills and more trees. We saw some of the trees starting to change colors for the fall.

Our next destination was 84 miles away but on the way we did some stops. 

The first stop was in Bell Fourche. Bell Fourche is known to be the Center of the Nation. There’s a few other cities, that claim the same thing. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration moved the stamp from Kansas to South Dakota because they added Alaska and Hawaii. The museum was closed on Mondays. But we walked around the grounds. They had all the nations flags flying and an old log cabin, that was built in 1876 by Buckskin Johnny. The visitor center was being remodeled so there was a lot of construction going on. The grounds were very well kept up. It was disappointing that the museum was closed.

Tri-State Museum 

 

National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration Seal

 

 

 

Map of the United States

 

Buckskin Johnny's cabin

 

Next stop was in Bell Fourche at the Bell Fourche Rec. Center to take a shower. It was a very nice facility and they only charged $2.14 for a shower. The building appeared to be a high school gymnasium that was convert into a rec. center. We gave the lady our change and an extra $5 as a donation. She said she would put in the can for coffee. She said we could have coffee if we wanted. We’re not coffee drinkers. We had a great experience.

Then we moved on down the road 15 miles to Spearfish. It’s a very nice city and had a great city park. It had a walking trail and huge playground. People were playing pickle ball, walking the trail and walking their dogs. We had lunch and then walked around the park. The reason we stopped was they had the Spearfish National Fish Hatchery. The entrance to the hatchery was very nice. You walked over the creek via a bridge and there were a few big ponds with the trout in them. This was cool. It was a great hatchery and very well kept. It only had a few raceways and half were being cleaned. They had a visitor center but it was closed because they were remodeling. They had a gift shop that had souvenirs and sold food for the rainbow trout. They had the food already bagged, a small bag for $1 and a large bag for $5. This was better than the machines. Larry bought a dollar bag for me, it was on an honor system you throw the money in a donation box. While doing this a lady opened the window in the gift shop and gave us a map and explained the facility. She was very friendly. We walked through a train car, that had transported the fish to the hatchery. A gentleman explained the history of the train car. It was manned by a captain, three assistants and a cook. We saw the captain’s office, the bunks they slept in and the kitchen. We walked by the Ice House and a few other buildings. There was a half mile trail around the historic reservoir but it was too hot to walk. I fed the fish. It was cool to see the fish swim to the food and the ducks liked the food also. I had a little bit left over and Larry suggested I give it to this little boy because I was already giving some of it to him. I gave the remaining food to the little boy. He was thrilled to get it and thanked me. The hatchery was very impressive.

 

Entrance to Fish Hatchery

 

Gift shop and where you buy fish food

 

Some of the trouts at the hatchery

 

One of the raceways

 

The kitchen in the railroad car that transported trout to the hatchery

 

The statues that symbolize caring for the trout at the hatchery

 

A statue of a father and son

After touring the hatchery we went back to the Minnie and continued our adventure. Our final destination was about 20 miles from Spearfish but most of it was through a mountain road. The mountain pass was through the Black Hills National Forest. It was very slow because the speed limit was 35mph and curvy. As we were driving we passed a waterfall but it was too busy to stop. A lady had stopped at a turnoff because she saw something. It was a mountain goat so Larry turned around and went back. There a few mountain goats climbing up the mountainside, one of them was walking along side the road. I got out and took a few pictures. I think I scared Larry because the goat came walking towards me and was getting too close. I got back in the Minnie and we watched the goat for a little while. Then we continued on our way.

A mountain goat on the side of the road

 

The campground was called Rod and Gun Campground and it was down a dirt road. Usually Larry doesn’t do dirt roads but he did this one. It was about three miles, he said it wasn’t too bad. It did have some chuckholes. The campground only has seven sites and works on first come first serve. After Labor Day the water is shut off and they don’t maintain the facility but the camping is free. The toilet is a pit toilet and you have to use your own toilet paper. 

The entrance sign to Rod and Gun Campground

Tuesday 9-17-24 to Sunday 9-22-24     Rod & Gun Campground and Hiking

 

We stayed at Rod & Gun Campground in the Black Hills National Forest for a week. Rod & Gun was an old CCC campground and is very beautiful. There was a site close by where they filmed part of Dancing With Wolves. During our time there we hiked five gorgeous hikes in the mornings. The rest of the day we relaxed with a book. The temperatures in the morning were in the 40’s and 50’s. A couple of days in the high 30’s. The high temperatures were in the high 50’s and 70’s.

 

Camping at Rod and Gun Campground

 

 

The sign to Dancing With Wolves site

 

Black Hills Mountain view across from Dancing With Wolves site

 

Spearfish creek at Dancing With Wolves site

 

Spearfish creek at the campground

 

Tuesday 9-17-24 Motorcycle Ride & Hiking to Falls

After the sun warmed things up we loaded up on the motorcycle with things we did for our hikes and drove to the lodge where there were a couple of trailheads. There were two trails at the trailhead, one was the Savoy (2 mile one way) and the other was to the Roughlock Falls (1 mile one way) We took the Savory trail to a bridge, that took us over Spearfish Creek. Then we hiked by the Spearfish Lodge and Latchstring Restaurant. They both were rustic looking. Once at the restaurant there was a trailhead for Spearfish Falls, which was a 1.5 miles round trip. They had a couple of observation platform. The first one was the upper and you really didn’t see anything. We hiked to the the lower platform and the view was excellent. The falls were gorgeous. After taking a few pictures we headed back. We stopped at the lodge and rested. Larry had a little internet so he checked his e-mails. Once across the bridge we turned left and decided to hike the Savoy. We hiked it to the end, where there was a ladder system for the trout (brown trout, rainbow trout and creek trout). They use to use the stream for power for Lead and Spearfish. There was a nice parking area and a dock for people to fish from. We saw a lot of people fishing. The trout were all over the place. The scenery was beautiful of the mountain range. We turned around and hiked the trail back. The trail was wide and well used. By the time we got to the parking lot we had hiked 3.6 miles. I think the signage was a little off. The Roughlock Fall was a mile from the parking lot. You can either hike the trail or drive to the parking lot. We decided to drive to the fall. There was no problem finding a spot. We parked by a couple of cones, that way we didn’t take up a parking spot. We walked the paved trail to the falls, which was a mile round trip. It was about 11:00 so we saw a lot of people enjoying the falls and trails. We had an outstanding morning of hiking and site seeing.

 

Latchstring Restaurant

 

 

Spearfish Lodge

 

 

Spearfish Fall

 

 

A view of the Black Hills at the fish ladders

 

The fish ladder at the end of Savory trail 

 

 

Roughlock Fall

 

 

Wednesday 9-18-24 Hiking Rimrock Lower Loop

Today was a windy day but it didn’t stop us from going on a 3.5 mile hike.

The trailheads were right at the campground at site 1 and site 7. There was a trail map at the registration booth so Larry looked at it to see where to go. There were a few trails. There was Rim Rock Upper Loop (4.7 miles), Rim Rock Lower Loop (3.2 miles), both loops (6.7 miles), Little Spearfish (6.3 miles) and Old Baldy to Rim Rock Spur (1.3 miles). We decided to hike the Rim Rock Lower Loop. The trail took us up 700 feet in elevation but it did it gradually. We hiked through the pine trees and Aspen trees. The trail was very well kept up and used. People hiking kept the trail clear of growth. It was narrow and dirt but didn’t have a lot of big rocks. The wind was blowing hard but you didn’t notice when you were in the trees. But when we got on top of mountain and we were in the open the wind blew us off the trail and we had o hold on to our hats. We walked by a site that was used in the movie Dancing with the Wolves. The scenery was beautiful with all the trees and the Aspens were starting to turn to the fall colors. We rested when needed. When we were on top of the mountain we saw four blue and gray birds trying to fly against the wind. They ended up landing in a tree and waiting for until we got too close to them and they flew away. 

 

Fall colors from the lower loop trail

 

Part of the lower loop trail we hiked

Blue birds in a tree during our hike

 

 

Thursday 9/19/24 Hiking Three Trails

Today’s hike was a 6.5 mile hike on a few different trails. We started the hike from the campground at site #7 at the trail entrance sign. This trail was through the trees and the Spearfish creek ran along side of it. This trail wasn’t maintained like the other trail on the other side of the campground. But at least the trail didn’t disappear, we just had to work our way through high weeds. We hiked this trail for 3/4 mile to a gate. At the gate there was an opening in the mountain that looked like an old root cellar. Also there was a sign that said in 1997 they had cut down a 75 year old Black Hills Spruce Tree for the White House for Christmas. The tree was cut down 11/14/97, traveled 2500 miles, through 13 states and was delivered to the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol Building and lit on 12/10/97. This is so cool. Then we walked to the gate and opened it. The gate was built by the horsemen in South Dakota. This took us to the main road. We took the road about a half mile to a trail sign. We took this trail to the next campground up the road from us. Then we got to a trailhead marker. By this time we had hiked 2 miles. We took the Little Spearfish trail. Spearfish creek ran by the trail and we crossed it a few times using a bridge made of logs. We hiked a mile of it and Larry checked out where we were. He found we were on the wrong trail so we hike back the mile. There was a parking lot there and it had another trail map. We walked to the road and found the trail we were suppose to be on. Then we had to make a decision either hike the trail we hiked back to the campground three miles or do the trail we wanted to hike for three miles. We decided to do the trail we already hiked and hike the other trail tomorrow. The hike we did was very beautiful through the trees and had the creek ran along side of it. The trail signage wasn’t that good but now we know where the trail are for tomorrow hike. 

 

Opening in the mountain (maybe a root cellar)

 

Sign for the National Christmas Tree site

 

One of the pines in the same area

 

Spearfish creek flowing through a meadow on Little Spearfish trail

Friday 9/20/24 Hiking Rimrock Upper Loop Trail

Today we did the Rimrock Upper Loop Trail for 5.2 miles. We started at the trail marker on site #7, where it Yd off yesterday we went to the left today we went to the right. The grass in the campground was damp with dew and we knew that the growth on the trail will be damp and we didn’t want to hike with wet boots. The hike started out going up the hill and at places it was very steep. By the time we got to the top we had hiked up 600 feet in elevation. I had to stop a couple of times to catch my breath. I think I pushed myself too much and over exerted myself. Larry’s a great sport, he stops and rest with me and makes sure I’m ok. Once we were on top, where there was a trailhead sign about the upper and lower loop. After resting we continued on with our hike. The trail went up the hill through beautiful pine trees and Aspens. At one point the Aspens formed a beautiful canopy. When we started going down hill it was very hard because there was a lot of loose rocks and it was very steep. It seemed like it went a long ways. We were glad we had started the hike the way we did. The trail took us by Spearfish Creek. There were some down trees but they weren’t on the trail. By the time we got to the parking lot we were at yesterday we had hiked 3 miles. Then we got back on the trail we were on yesterday, it was Little Spearfish Trail. We crossed Spearfish Creek a few times using the bridges or logs. We also hiked partly to the Range Draw we were about ¼ mile away when we took the bridge off the creek and crossed the road. We crossed the main road a few times and to get back on the rail we had to go through a few gates. By the time we got back to the campground we had hiked 5.2 miles. 

 

A beautiful grove of Aspens on the trail

 

A view the campground above us from the trail

 

Saturday 9-21-24 Hiking on Four Trails

Today we did a 7 mile hike. We had hiked all the trails so we decided to combine different trails to form a loop. We started at site #1 on the lower loop trail. The trail took us through the grass and trees up the hill. It was pretty easy to hike until you started the climb the hill. The climb was 500 feet in elevation but we did this slow and steady. It wasn’t as steep as yesterday’s trail. The grass was dry but you had to be careful of loose rocks. Once on top where it Yd off we went to the right because the left kept us on the lower loop trail and we hadn’t done the other trail yet. The trail we took was 55, which went almost forever. As we hiked this trail we saw a mountain bicyclist and two ladies hiking. The ladies said they had been hiking for five miles already. We hiked his trail for 2.5 miles and decided to find away back. We could have hiked the same way but we decided to old logging road back. Larry looked at his GPS and it showed the road close to where we were. Larry checked it and said it was real close we would just need to hike through the field. We hiked a little farther because we won’t have to rough it too far. We were 3 mile into our hike when we got on 4X4 road 8050. Larry checked his GPS to make sure that this was the right road to hike. It was very rough and had big ruts in it. The trail curved around towards the upper loop trail. As we were hiking we stopped to let a group of 4X4 go by (7 of them). A little farther down the road we met up with two more 4X4. We saw a hiking trail sign and we thought it would get us on the upper loop trail. We had to get around a tree at the beginning of the trail. We hiked it about a mile and Larry checked hie GPS and found we were going away from the trail. Once again we hiked back a little bit and cut through a field to the trail. Once on the trail we turned left and it led us right to the trailhead sign for the campground, lower loop and upper loop trails. We took the campground trail, which we had hiked a few time. The hiked on this trail was for 1 mile through the trees and a long the creek. It was all downhill so we had to be careful of the loose rocks and roots and rocks on the trail. Our hike was four hours and 7 miles.

Sunday 9-22-24 Relaxing Day

 

We woke up to frost on the grass and it was in the high 30’s. We slept with the Wave3 running but it was still cold in the Minnie. When Larry woke up he turned the heat on high and the temperature in the Minnie stayed at 54 degrees. We didn’t do any hiking today. Instead we just hung around the Minnie.  I finished The Engineer’s Wife by Tracey Enerson Wood. It was a very good book about building the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. Today, I started to read 2001: Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. Larry read.

 

  Relaxing with a book