The Clan's 2020 SD (South Dakota / Social Distancing) Vacation - Episode 6: Experiencing the Wild West in the Northern Black Hills

We started Day 6 with a brief trip through the famous small town of Sturgis, a sleepy little town which for one week ever year hosts the upwards of 400K visitors during the famous Sturgis Motorcycle Rally - even this year smack dab in the middle of Covid. In fact, some studies have pointed to the 2020 Sturgis Motorcycle rally as one of the recent super-spreader events, possibly linked to hundreds of thousands of cases around the U.S... By the time we'd arrived in Sturgis, however, it was back to it's normal sleepy self, with nary a soul on the roads.

A throne made of motorcycle parts in Sturgis

We continued our journey to the historic Wild West town of Deadwood, South Dakota. This town was founded in 1876 in the midst of a gold rush in the region, attracting characters like Wild Bill Hickok, who was killed here  in 1876 when he came here in search of fortune. His murder is a centerpiece of the town, which reenacts the events of his unusual story at the actual sites where the purported events occurred!

Several of the characters who spent time here in Deadwood in the Days of '76

Deadwood is also notable for hosting the annual Days of 76 Rodeo, a parade and rodeo event that has taken place for 97 years!

Deadwood transformed from essentially a gold mining town to a sophisticated city in the early 20th century, bringing all kinds of international trade to the region, including Chinese traders, as seen here

The Wagons and Carriages exhibit showed the evolution of wagons, from functional cargo and passenger carriers to luxury horse-drawn vehicles as Deadwood became more cosmopolitan

Some funny masks

The site of the poker game that claimed Wild Bill Hickok's life

Part I of the daily re-enactment!

After our Wild West history lesson, we continued further northwest. By now, we'd explored the southern part of the Black Hills twice, with visits to Custer State Park and Mount Rushmore, and we'd also explored the Badlands to the east twice. This part of South Dakota, I learned, is pretty unique since there are wildly different landscapes in each of the major directions. You had the prairies and granite needles in Custer State Park to the south, and the unique ever changing terrain of the Badlands. To the north, the landscape becomes very lush and green, as we would find out in Spearfish Canyon.

The Black Hills had actually seen its first snows the week before, but when we got there there was nothing but Autumn colors!

Beautiful Autumn canopy framing Spearfish Falls

Some loggers

Roughlock Falls

These mountains evoke images of China's Yellow mountains a bit...

Not to be outdone by the wildlife in the southern Black Hills, this family of mountain goats was grazing in the cliffs by the road!

Stay tuned for our last day in South Dakota, next on Grant's Pad!

The Clan's 2020 SD (South Dakota / Social Distancing) Vacation - Episode 3: Mountains, Lakes, and Wildlife at Custer

 After two days of a lot of driving, we had finally set up base in Rapid City, South Dakota. This is a relatively metropolitan city in the otherwise very sparse state of South Dakota. As such, it is fairly well equipped with typical city amenities, like large supermarkets, fuel, amusement parks, and chain restaurants. Being the city slickers that we are, this was helpful for us so that we could get supplies and make meals in the hotel room kitchen between the many adventures we would take throughout the week. Of course, the tradeoff is that we wouldn't get to spend our nights in the rural aesthetic of South Dakota, but we would somewhat make up for that at the end of our trip!

We started our day at Dinosaur Park, yet another kitschy attraction that evokes vibes from 1950s Americana. The dinosaur statues are very cartoony and fun, but perhaps the coolest thing about this spot is the spot itself, high upon a hill overlooking Rapid City!

Next, we made our way for our first trip into the Black Hills National Forest. Our mission for the day? Exploring Custer State Park!

Named for the famous/infamous Colonel Custer, who conquered much of the Sioux/Lakota people during the 1800s, this large state park features a wider variety of things to do and see than your typical public park. Most parks have a one or two featured attractions, such as a particular lake, or a particular monument, or a particular activity like horseback riding or whitewater rafting. Custer State Park, however, features three primary scenic drives, with vastly different sites and activities.

The first scenic drive we tackled was the famous "Needles Highway" loop - a 14-mile loop through some of the most unique scenery in America, all made possible by the vast amounts of granite to be found in the area:

We started our adventure with a picnic lunch outside the Visitors Center

Our first of what would be many Bison/Tatanka encounters of the day

Admiring sparkly chunks of granite

Some of the Highway's famous needles!

A lovely lake on the south side of the park

We found some ninja on the trail!

Longhorn!

Next, we would take on the second of Custer's famous scenic drives - the Wildlife Loop! This loop offers a striking contrast to the rocky towers of the Needles Highway, winding through a vast prairie that is heavily populated by many of North America's large mammals: Pronghorn Antelope, Mule Deer, White-tailed Deer, Elk, Burros, and of course Bison! I felt like we were playing bingo with our favorite memory game!

Cherry and I played this memory game years ago when she first came to America!

Pronghorn Antelope

Not wildlife, but interesting as an Avionics engineer - I think this is a rudimentary DME/VOR station for the tiny local airstrip in the park!

The Great American Prairie

Some burros riding into the sunset

Tatanka tracking!

This burro blew me off as soon as he realized my phone wasn't going to be a food handout...

Elk in the distance

Bison/Tatanka herd!

This is scarier than it might seem...

This herd was pretty big!

Some more elk in the hills

A small group of mule deer

Stag on the move!

After spending several hours in the wildlife loop, the sun had set, so we skilled the third scenic drive, the Iron Mountain Road, and headed back to base in Rapid City to rest up for the adventures for the next day.