Spearfish, South Dakota

Traveled through the Badlands July 3rd, then on to the site of the Wounded Knee Massacre.  Met a descendent of one of the Sioux chiefs that was murdered at the site.

(Photos of the Badlands are on a CF card and I left my CF card reader in Braselton.  Amazon to the rescue, one should be delivered to me here Thursday.)

On the way to Spearfish, we encountered a thunderstorm with marble sized hail, torrential rain and 60+ mph winds.  We could see the rain falling miles before we hit it . . surreal.  The wind and rain were so intense, we pulled over as we could not see the pickup that we were towing.  When the wind and rain stopped, there were many cars behind us.  The interstate was totally devoid of traffic.  No hail damage to the coach or truck, just frazzeled nerves.  On to Spearfish.  Due to rain and wind conditions, we stopped short of our destination, just north of Rapid City.  Wind was so intense that it actually shook the coach.

In the morning, we continued travelling north and made our first stop in Sturgis, of motorcycle rally fame.  

If you look real close, you can see Sturgis spelled out “Hollywood Style” on the hill behind us.  We visited the famous (infamous) Oasis Bar on the main street.  Lots of motorcycles in town.

Had lunch at the Jack Daniels Bar then on to our destination for the day . . Spearfish.

Since we has accumulated so much “extra time by our rush to this area, we were able to make a couple of side trips that were not pre-planned. First, to the historic town of Deadwood in the afternoon, where we walked the streets, shopping, (just shopping, not spending), witnessed the famous re-creation “shootout” on the main street, and generally was amazed at the amount of gambling, no, “gaming” establishments in the town.  Went up the hill to the Mt. Moriah Cemetery, the final resting place of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane.

The next morning,  we traveled to Custer State Park and Wind Cave National Park, about 250 miles (R/T) south of our camp. Saw Pronghorns and of course, numerous Bison aka “buffalo” for us common folk. Had to be careful as a couple were getting very close to me as I tried to get a photograph of their calf.  Pretty interesting how the females can “steer” their young in the direction they want them to travel.

In the park we negotiated a couple of tight tunnels . . didn’t want to experience what it feels like to be “between a rock and a hard place” !!

A little apprehensive to enter the hole in the wall, but alas . .

There was plenty of room, didn’t even have to fold the mirrors back!  Probably could even get the motorhome through here, but glad we were in the truck.

Today, we decided to take it easy and went for a morning hike in the Canyon.  We watched a young lady fly fishing in the creek,  she pulled in three brown trout on three casts. Almost wanted to go get a license.  The fish were between 16″ and 18″ each.  The water in this creek is crystal clear and you can literally see the trout.

Also hiked our of Savoy (in the canyon) to the base of this waterfall.  There used to be a railroad trestle above it but is washed away years ago and was not replaced.

Went up a 12% grade of loose rock, boulders and gravel to a mountaintop that was supposed to be a good Bald Eagle viewing place.  After climbing about 6 miles to the top, we saw 0 (zero) eagles.  Good thing we have four-wheel drive. (We were stopped at the base by a local in a Jeep and warned about the road/trail condition before we decided to give it a try).

In the afternoon, we headed towards Sundance (Wyoming) and stopped by the Vore Buffalo Jump historic site.  This was used by multiple tribes to capture buffalo from 1500 to 1800.  They estimate that around 10,000 buffalo were driven off the cliffs here.