Spearfish South Dakota

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The drive to Spearfish from Custer was just over one hundred miles which would have been a nice drive but for some very heavy rain storms. Fortunately they only slowed us down and didn’t cause any real problems. We had reserved a site at Spearfish City Campground for six nights. After 10 nights at Bismarck Lake campground with no utilities, it was going to be nice to have full hookups with 50 amp electric and even cable TV! When we were planning our route for this spring, summer and fall, we had made sure that if we were going to be camping without hookups at one stop, we would plan on having full hookups at the next stop in order to get caught up on laundry and rinse the holding tanks. We stopped at the Cabelas in Rapid City to pick up something we forgot to get when we stopped a week and a half ago. 

Fortunately the rain had stopped well before we got to Spearfish so we didn’t need to setup camp in the rain. There was some road construction just a few blocks from the campground that our Garmin GPS was unaware of but we managed to find a road in that worked. The campground itself is pretty nice although the sites are a little close to one another. We got parked and situated and then I “checked in” on RVillage. I guess you could think of RVillage as Facebook for RVers. I’ll admit that I don’t really use RVillage that much. Although we do have several RVing friends that also use it so I can quickly check to see where they happen to be. At each location I check into, it will tell me how many other RVillagers are in the same campground. There are only about 140,000 people on RVillage so 95% of the time the website or app will tell me there is one in the park (meaning us). This time there was at least one other member here and they contacted us thru the system. Turns out they are here for the season as volunteers at the fish hatchery just across the street from the campground. We wander over to their rig and sit and chat with them for nearly an hour after dinner. It was interesting to hear from another couple that is on the road and to learn about their experiences. They knew of a few things in the area worth checking out during our stay. 

The next day was a very nice day weather wise. We decided to check out Spearfish Canyon in the morning. It is supposed to be a very nice drive basically up a canyon but we decided to see how nice it was on the bicycles. There was a reasonable shoulder with some pullouts along the way plus there wasn’t too much traffic so it was a nice ride. There were lots of interesting rock walls on either side of the road.

Rocky Canyon View

Small Waterfall

Heading Up Spearfish Canyon

The funny part of ride was the fact that Chris was convinced we were going downhill so she was concerned about not going too far so we could make it back to camp. The fact was, we were heading up a canyon! It wasn’t until we stopped to check out the small stream that was running along the road where she realized which way the water was running. All I can figure is that the slope was rather gradual. We only gained about 500 feet in the 6.5 miles we rode up the hill and there was a bit of a tailwind on the way up so it tricked her into thinking we were going downhill. We made it as far as Bridal Veil Falls before we turned around. 

Bridal Veil Falls

After lunch we decided to check out a place the couple we met had suggested. The towns of Lead and Deadwood are only about 15 or 20 miles southeast of Spearfish. Deadwood is well known for its gold rush and old west figures like Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickok. It looks like Deadwood was a bit more touristy than we really were looking for. The attraction in the town of Lead (pronounced leed not led) is the Homestake Mining Company. The mine is over 8000 feet deep and was in production until 2002. However the mine has taken a high tech turn and is now the home of the Sanford Underground Research Facility. At first, it might seem that going from a mining operation to world leading physics doesn’t seem like a plausible transition. But the depth of the mine provides the perfect environment for conducting experiments on neutrinos and other particle physics experiments by nearly eliminating any affect from cosmic radiation. 

Sanford Lab Homestake Visitor Center

There is a new visitor center next to the huge open pit mine. They offer multiple tours daily. We ran into some road construction on our drive to the place and worried we wouldn’t get in on the tour time we wanted. Well that turned out to be a nonissue. We were the only 2 people on the tour. Since we are over 55, the tour only costs $7 each. We start the tour at the overlook of the open pit mine. It is over 1200 feet deep and is about 1/2 mile by 3/4 mile wide. Next we get some hard hats and hop on the small shuttle bus. Our driver slowly takes us through town while the tour guide points out historic buildings in town and some of the local history associated with the mine and the company town that was built to house all the employees. 

Impressive Open Pit MIne

Old Elevator Car

The next stop on the tour was at the hoist building for the Yates shaft. They have several displays showing the equipment used to drill for gold as well as some of the mini locomotives used to haul the rock from the mine shafts to the main hoist. Inside the hoist building were two massive machines used to raise and lower the two cages. One is used for people and the other for cargo. The main drums have a diameter of 25 feet. The cable is 1 7/8” diameter and has a breaking strength of 348,000 pounds! Neither of the hoists were in use, so I can only imaging what it looks like in action. As former engineers, this tour was right up our alley. It might be less appealing to others but we found it to be quite entertaining and informative. 

Mini Locomotive

Mining Tools

Hoist

Big Drum

Hoist Stats

The next day we were looking to get in some hiking. We had noticed some hiking trails and geocaches along them just on the other side if I-90 from town. Lookout Mountain has a several miles of hiking and biking trails. There is a parking area on the south side of the expressway and a pedestrian tunnel to get to the hiking trails. There was rain expected but not until afternoon so we got an early start in case the forecast was a bit off. The trail started out running parallel to the interstate but it didn’t take long to start climbing. The views improved as we climbed. We got in three or four miles with about 800 feet of elevation and managed to beat the rain. After lunch with rain on the way, we headed to the local theater to watch the Elton John movie “Rocketman”. Being a fan of his music, we enjoyed this movie. 

Heading Up There

View Over Spearfish

Coming Back Down

Generally we keep our day trips to fifty miles or less, but we really wanted to visit Devil’s Tower. When we were planning the route for this summer, it seemed to make more sense to have a slightly longer day trip out of Spearfish rather than add another stop with the motorhome for what looked to be one days worth of sightseeing. Especially since it would be out of the way for our next destination in North Dakota. We had planned the 65 mile drive for a day with a good weather forecast. Our route took us by Sundance Wyoming so we made a quick stop in town to check it out and get a couple geocaches. One of them was at a piece of art dedicated to Harry A. Longabaugh who is better known as the Sundance Kid.

Sundance Kid in Jail

Decorative Street Boot in Sundance

Devil’s Tower can be seen for quite some distance before arriving at the National Monument. The surrounding area is by no means flat but by rising 867 feet, the tower is hard to miss. And while there really isn’t anything else to see or do in the area, the place is amazingly crowded. We likely sat in traffic for 15 minutes just to get past the ranger booth. The next problem was parking. With so many people and not a whole lot of parking we were afraid we would need to circle a while for a spot, but we got lucky and found one our first pass thru. The saving grace might be that this isn’t the kind of park that people normally spend all day at. Admittedly, we spent nearly 5 hours here but we aren’t normal!

Devil's Tower from a Distance

Our first hike was to walk the Tower Trail. It’s a 1.3 mile trail that basically circles the tower. Some of this trail is close to the base of the tower where other sections are a thousand feet away. Since each side is different especially depending on how the sun is lighting it, I find myself stopping and just staring at the unique beauty of the tower. Every now and then, I remind myself to look away from the tower to get some pretty spectacular views of the surrounding landscape. 

Panoramic Views from Trail

On the backside of the tower, visitors were more intently looking at the tower. It didn’t take us too long to realize there were two people climbing the tower and were roughly halfway up. We sat down and watched them for a bit. I cannot seem to get my brain to come to grips with the required mindset to even think of trying something like that. As we came around the southeast side of the tower, we could see the entrance road far below. There were cars backed up as far as the eye could see. I counted 43 vehicles in the photo I snapped. I’m glad we got here early.

Look Closely for Climbers!

Even More People Arriving

We grabbed our picnic lunch and found a spot to eat in the shade. With plenty of energy remaining, we headed out for another hike. The Red Beds Trail is just about 3 miles in length. As expected, it circles the tower although most of it is much further out from the tower - about half a mile in spots. Since the trail is also lower, the perspective of the tower changes. By now you might be getting tired of looking at one feature. I suspect that is why most people will do part of the Tower Trail and call it a day. We probably only saw a dozen people out on this trail. But what all these people are missing is the beautiful red rocks on the east side of the park. You might get a glimpse of them on the drive in, but most people are too focused on the tower to notice this other feature. The area of the Red Beds definitely reminded us of Sedona Arizona, but smaller in scale. This trail does have about 450 feet of elevation change, but in my estimation is well worth the effort.

Red Cliffs

On our way out, we figured we had one more short hike left in us. We head down the dirt road to the Joyner Ridge trailhead. This 1.5. mile loop starts out up on a ridge and has what I might argue to be the best view of Devil’s Tower. About halfway through the hike, we proceed down a series of switchbacks to get us down into a meadow area. The two deer we came across are obviously accustomed to people and had no desire to move as we approached within 30 feet of them. The hike was fun but if you’re inclined to skip the it, I would still suggest you make the short drive to the parking lot to get a picture or two of the tower. 

Beautiful View from Joyner Ridge Trailhead

Atop Joyner Ridge

For the drive home, we took the longer, scenic route up state route 24 stopping at a few geocaches along the way. One of the places we would have buzzed right by was the Aladdin Tipple. A geocache located here got us to stop.  Of course if you’re like us, you wouldn’t know what you’re looking at either. Aladdin is the name of the small town nearby where this coal mine was in the late 1800’s. A tipple is structure that is used to load rail cars with the coal. A small minecart loaded with coal was positioned at the top of the tipple and then “tipped” over to send the coal down a shoot to a waiting rail car. The structure here had to be rebuilt to some degree and is still unstable enough that the whole thing is surrounded with fencing to keep vandals out and the general public safe from collapse. We finally got back to camp after a long and eventful day and I think the plan to tackle Devil’s Tower as a day trip was a good choice since it didn’t seem like the was much else to do there had we camped just outside the park.

Aladdin Tipple

The following day, we headed over to the D. C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery which was only a few hundred feet from our campsite. We have visited a few hatcheries in the past few years during our travels. While this one does still does some real hatchery work, it is setup more like a museum than a workplace. There are still raceways and ponds with plenty of trout. The fish tend to get well fed. There are several quarter fish food vending machines or you can go for a bag of food from the gift shop. The trout are definitely used to being fed and will approach your location whether you are tossing food or not. When a handful is tossed in, there is a mad dash by dozens of fish and the food disappears nearly instantly. There is also a below ground, window lined viewing area. It was neat to see so many fish swimming by.

Trout Waiting to be Fed

Swimming By Window

Built in the late 1800’s, the old hatchery building is kept in pristine shape. One of the volunteers that resides in the campground for the season will greet you at the door and give a brief description of the history of the building. There are plenty of things to see and read about. A movie about the man originally in charge of setting up the place plays on a continuous loop. 

Hatchery Building

Office Area

Lots of Displays

A refurbished railroad car that was used by the hatchery to get the fish from other parts of the country was a pretty interesting stop. First off, the oak woodworking was quite impressive. The railcar was both the fish holding area as well as the sleeping and living quarters for the workers. I suspect the smell may have been overwhelming at times. The last stop was the original home for Mr. Booth and his family. From the looks of things, they lived fairly well. 

Hatchery Railcar

Beautiful Woodwork in Railcar

Precarious Bed Layout

Main Residence

In the afternoon, we headed back up Spearfish Canyon, but this time in the car so we could make it further up to the town of Savoy. This is a very small place, but there seemed to be a lot of activity. There is a nice looking restaurant and motel and a place that rents four wheel drive vehicles to head back some of the nearby dirt roads. We stick with a couple of the short hikes to nearby waterfalls. Spearfish Falls is a very short walk and the falls are nice although only 20 feet or so. 

Spearfish Falls

A longer hike is one back to Roughlock Falls. It’s just over 2 miles round trip from town. Although it is possible to drive the dirt road out to a parking lot and make the walk be probably less than a quarter mile, it was an okay walk. The falls here are spread out a bit but still pretty. I do like the capability of the Sony RX100 III that I use for longer hikes. It has an ND filter option that allows me to use much slower shutter speeds than I normally could. Since I don’t carry a tripod, I have to be extra careful when using a shutter speed of 1/6 of a second, but I do like the water blur it produces. 

Roughlock Falls

Heading Back Below Roughlock Falls

For our last full day in the area, we had one more must do stop - Sturgis. Now we weren’t going to be here for bike week which isn’t until early August, but it still seemed like a place we needed to investigate. What I find interesting in our travels is that I get a preconceived picture of some place we are going to and 99% of the time, my mind’s eye envisions the place much smaller and more remote than it really is. Sturgis was no exception. While not a bustling town, it wasn’t as sloppy of a place as I was thinking. We arrived right around lunchtime and rather than bringing a lunch like we normally would, we figured we could find a place to eat. We ended up parking right next to the Knuckle Saloon so that was the place. Besides a wide assortment of beers, the food menu looked pretty good. I picked the Murtha burger based on the unique toppings - jalapeño jelly, cream cheese and fried onion tanglers. It turned out to be one of the better burgers I have ever eaten. 

Welcome to Sturgis

Our Lunch Stop

After lunch we walk around the merchandise area and the main bar room. And while there were plenty of motorcycle t-shirts and hats, none really spoke to us. We knew there was a motorcycle museum in town so we walked a few blocks to visit the place. While I have ridden a motorcycle a few times and driven one once, motorcycles are not our thing. But that said, I found the museum quite interesting. Obviously I didn’t appreciate some of the old bikes on display like my former neighbor back in Rush NY would have, but I still enjoyed the neat old ones or some one of a kind bikes they had in their collection if only from their photographic qualities. We ended up spending more than an hour exploring there and really enjoyed it. 

1940 Indian Scout

1937 Knucklehead

Indian Emblem

Artwork

Looks Fast!

Flying Merkel

Excelsior

Cleveland

Even a Scooter

Custom Paint Job

Honda Mini Trail

With that, our six night stay had come to an end. Spearfish City Campground is a nice stop and we found a nice mix of things to do in the area. Next stop North Dakota.