The Black Hills of South Dakota

Thursday – Sunday, August 19- 21, 2016

Our first five days in Rapid City were spent relaxing and seeing family while enjoying the Elks Lodge RV accommodations and meeting and making some new RV friends.  Meeting new people is always enjoyable and learning where they have been in terms of campgrounds and places just adds to our own list of places and parks for the future. 

Today we came to the town of Custer for four days to do more relaxing away from the city. So far we have not left the RV due to the gusty winds and intermittent rain showers.   Also the temperature has dropped down considerably and as I write this at 12:30 p.m. on Friday, the temperature is only 53 degrees, 5 degrees lower than when we got up this morning.  Has fall arrived already? 

Our summer has been one of very different temperatures.  We really can’t complain as we have not had the hot, hot 90 degree temps for more than a few days since we left Albuquerque on

June 1.   I know when we arrive back in ABQ on August 30 that the temps will still be very hot compared to our summer on the road.

Saturday under warmer temperatures and some sunshine we take a drive through Custer, Keystone and Hill City, all little mountain communities here in the Black Hills.  It is quite busy today though not as busy as I have seen it on previous visits to the area.  It is also the end of the season and the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is over. 

Ron has taken me through these areas and Custer State Park many times in the past, but today we visit several places I have not been before.  Keystone is one of those.  The 1888 Narrow Gauge Railroad from Hill City has just arrived so you can see the engineers filling the water tank for their return to Hill City and people anxiously awaiting their boarding of the train. 

From Keystone we do a lengthy drive through Custer State Park where we take in the Needles and find the eye of the needle which I have not seen previously.  From the point where this is, you must pass through a one way very narrow and low tunnel made through rock.  This is just one of many in the Park.

Earlier in the day while driving on this same road in a different location, we found a 35 foot motorhome who had not seen the sign saying 10 feet wide and 10 feet 7 inches tall for a tunnel.   This poor fellow had traveled up a very narrow two way, hairpin curve road with no barriers one and ½ miles from where the last place to turn around could be found.  He was attempting to back down.  Not sure how if he made it down or who helped him, but we know that there are at least several people who do this every year here.  The secret to safe travels is to not trust your  GPS completely unless specifically made for motorhomes since it does not take into account your RV height, width or weight restrictions, be extra vigilant in observing signs that tell you widths and heights in an area and most importantly know what the height, width and weight of your RV is.  It can keep you out of this kind of trouble.    

Our next stop was at Sylvan Lake (one of many lakes in the Park and area) which has a general store, gift shop, and boat rental facility.  There is a path around the lake and numerous places to have picnics and fish in the lake. 

Further along and through another one way tunnel, we stop at the cathedral spires for a couple of pictures.  At this point we spot a climber who has reached the top of one of the narrow needle rocks.  I zoomed in, but you can hardly make him out.  From another angle, we saw there was another climber with him and yet another still trying to make the top.  It gave me the shivers just looking at them up there.

Part of the drive takes us through what is called the "Pigtails" which is several corkscrew type bridges which make a 440 degree turn as you climb next to the mountain.

The rest of the day we spend driving through various roads in the Park and lastly in the Wildlife Loop where late in the afternoon we come upon a very large herd of buffalo grazing off a short distance away.  It always excites me to see buffalo in the wild. 

This pronghorn up on a hill and lone buffalo enjoying the sunshine were about the only other wildlife we saw.  Several deer were spotted but most were where we could not safely photograph them as we drive by.

While most people know about Mt. Rushmore and Crazy Horse

when contemplating a visit to this area, there really is a whole lot more to see.   Rapid City attractions include the Norwegian Stavkirk Church,

Dinosaur Mountain, bronze sculptures of the Presidents on city streets, Story Book Island (an amusement area for young children with different sets of buildings depicting various story book stories), numerous lovely parks, The Journey Museum (a beautiful museum definitely worth the visit), historic old buildings and of course shopping.  Within a 50 miles radius of town is the Black Hills with sites I mentioned above, Wall Drug, the Badlands, the famous motorcycle rally city of Sturgis, Spearfish (they do a Passion Play each summer here which is very nice), 30 miles from spearfish is Devils Tower which is quite impressive, the old cowboy/mining towns of Deadwood and Lead and lots and lots of beautiful countryside and other museums and attractions.  The Black Hills is full of resorts, campgrounds, and state parks so there is something for every kind of tourist. 

While Rapid City is Ron’s hometown so he is prejudice, it is also one of my favorite places to visit in the summer to relax and enjoy the peace and beauty of the Black Hills of South Dakota. Monday we return to Rapid City for a few more days before heading toward Albuquerque.