The Black Hills

After collecting Rita at the Denver Airport we headed up to Sheridan, WY for a couple of nights before continuing on to Custer, SD and the Black Hills. Drove up to Little Bighorn Battlefield NP to spend a couple of hours, then retraced our steps and visited historic Fort Kearney just south of Sheridan. Had been to both places before on previous visits but the individual sites are so evocative of western history, and represent such a significant chapter in American westward migration, that we usually stop by whenever we're in the area.

Since the drive over to Custer was a short one we opted for another side trip enroute to visit Devil's Tower, mainly to break up the drive a bit, stretch our legs with a short hike around the base of the monolith, and have lunch.

Still an impressive impressive place. Can see why Spielberg used it as the setting for Close Encounters.

The Prairie Dog village down at the base of the hill has expanded into a Prairie Dog city since our last visit a couple of years ago. The little guys are still cute, but there were signs cautioning visitors to keep their distance since it's been discovered that they can carry fleas infected with the plague virus... of all things.

When you think of all the scenic wonders that America has to offer your mind doesn't automatically turn to "South Dakota", but I think the Black Hills have to rank right up there with anything else the West has to offer. Amazing scenery, terrific hikes, and animals all over the place.

Custer State Park in the Black Hills has to be one of the prettiest in the US. Planned to do a short local hike on our first morning there, but this herd of Bison came wandering over the hill and into this meadow just as we were arriving at the trail head, which is located just the other side of this broad lawn.

Instead we hiked along one of the rivers nearby. Chanced to look up as we were proceeding along and saw this mama mountain goat with her calf looking down at us from the rocky outcrop above. One negative about the hikes here, especially along the river bottoms, was that they had the most luxuriant crop of poison ivy I've ever seen - absolutely fields of it in some places. Fortunately I recognized it from my previous encounters with poison oak in the Gorge, but I pity the casual hiker who wanders into the area unaware and unprepared (and in shorts).

Another risk encountered on hikes into the back country is the likelihood of meeting big bull bison like this one. Meeting one on foot is always guaranteed to recalibrate your startle reflex as you mentally rehearse your exit strategy should he take exception to your close proximity and start after you. While the herds tend to stick together in the meadows and open valleys, these rogue bulls are the ones that came in second in the annual competition for the females and thus are exiled into the woods for the season.

On days we rested our legs we drove around the Black Hills and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery. While Mt. Rushmore is the big tourist attraction in these parts, fact is that the granite mountains that give the Black Hills their unique character stretch over several hundred square miles, forming picturesque formation like these - the "Cathedral Spires".

We stayed near the little town of Custer in this farm house originally built in 1895 during one of the Gold Rushes that swept thru the area. Started out as a boarding house for visiting miners, and was the center of the little community of Kiddville. Some of the other outbuildings are still there (that's the assay office just to the right) but are boarded up now - we had the whole pretty little valley all to ourselves for the week. Even had deer come down in the mornings and evenings.

On one of our early morning drives to get to one of the trail heads we came upon this group (gaggle?) of wild turkeys in the middle of the road. Slowed to a stop to let them get out of harm's way only to have them start milling about and generally going in circles (gobbling the whole time) as they tried to figure out what to do. Am told that it's rare to see them, but I swear these birds were as dumb as a bag of hammers - I finally passed them slowly on the left, and in the process basically herded them off the road and back into the woods to safety.

One of our last hikes was up to a local feature called Sylvan Lake. Not a breath of wind at sunrise made for a neat mirror-effect on the lake.

Sylvan Lake was the trail head for a hike up to Harney Peak which, at 7,000 ft is the highest mountain in the Black Hills...and the highest peak east of the Rockies. Local lore has it that Gen. Custer himself made the hike up to the peak during his Black Hills expedition of 1874. I think I made it to the top a lot faster than he did and the view, as you can see, was worth the effort.

Our last day trip was to the Pine Ridge Indian reservation a couple of hours to the east - specifically to visit Wounded Knee, site the massacre of 1890 that ended the Indian Wars. The monument marks the burial pit of the hundreds of old men, women and children killed that day.

After a most enjoyable week in the Black Hills it was on to Gardiner, MT and Yellowstone.