Black Hills + The Badlands

August 6-12, 2018

TL;DR: 500,000 bikers is a lot. But it didn’t take away from the beauty of South Dakota, a diverse spectrum of dramatic landscapes, thick forests, and man-made monuments. Also, the mud that almost broke Layla.

THE SIGHTS

Thunder Basin National Grasslands (Wyoming, but ya know…close to SD)

This was admittedly not as cool as we (ahem, Bri) thought. Nonetheless, it was interesting because of all the mining and oil activity, and we saw a ton of pronghorn.

Jess also drove… see Now We Know.

Spearfish Canyon

Shout out to the ranger at this station who was a wealth of information and kindness. We realized we probably should have stopped at Devil’s Tower, so that’s filed under “Return visit.”

We did drive down Spearfish Canyon, which was gorgeous, green, and a little foggy. This is where we started to see all the bikers… the hundreds of thousands of bikers who were in the area for the Sturgis rally. About 500,000 to be exact.

Iron Creek Trail

This Spearfish Canyon trail was not very well marked, but had a small parking area across from a melted house.

A beautiful creek wound next to the path next to the Black Hills, named such by the Lakota tribe because they’re so covered with trees that they look black from a distance.

About 1.25 miles in, we met a barbed wire fence, and decided to jump over and keep going. We appeared to have ventured into a mining claim. Didn’t see much, except for a pretty ominous skull.

It rained a bit, which was actually delightful.

Spearfish Falls

Instant gratification: A super quick and pretty walk, with a gorgeous tree grove and falls.

Lead, SD

Not big fans. Could be the bikers.

Deadwood, SD

Cute little Main Street but, again, packed with bikers, so a little hard to navigate.

Mount Rushmore Brewing

Invisible. Doesn’t exist. We’re writing to Google.

Miner Brewing

Nice little spot with WiFi and outdoor seating.

Rockin R Trails

Bri’s first horseback riding experience! Bri’s horse’s name was Lily. She was the Beyoncé of horses and farted the entire time. She used to be a plow horse on an Amish farm, but was too stubborn and wouldn’t plow in straight lines. Jess had Lucky, who was very sweet but very slow, so as to avoid the methane.

Horseback views of the Black Hills, Crazy Horse, and Aspens.

Saw an old site for a Micah mine, which was once used for oven door windows and firefighter masks—and is still used in cosmetics and electronics.

Crazy Horse

Drove past Crazy Horse but decided not to go in because we could see it pretty well from the road. We also didn’t want to pay $14 each, and didn’t dig the vibe. In short: Crazy Horse famously avoided being photographed, and was purposely buried in an unmarked grave. They never got permission from him or his family to create the monument, which is a violation of Lakota tradition––especially in light of his aversion to public recognition.

Mount Rushmore

Self-explanatory, but very impressive. Interesting to hear all the history behind the funding, portraiture, and upkeep. It took 14 years and just under one million dollars to complete, with no lives lost. Ninety percent of it was carved by dynamite.

Custer State Park

OK, so this was beautiful, with tons of rolling hills, but lots of dead trees, perhaps because of beetles. We didn’t see many animals until the end, and our first sighting was wild burros, which, unbelievably, people were petting. Also two prairie dogs and a deer of some sort.

Then we found the buffalo herd. They had found the only shade in the park, which also happened to be by a free and incredibly picturesque dump station (yas!).

Vertex Sky Bar, Rapid City

Rapid City was pretty cute. Got a very fancy cocktail at the tallest building in town, which afforded us a view of a dinosaur.

Wall Drug

Bri wasn’t too impressed with Wall Drug. Admittedly, Jess said it wasn’t quite as awesome as it had felt when she went as a kid. Cool story behind it though: The town couldn’t get people to stop in Wall so they started offering ice and water for free, then kept adding on. Lots of cool old pictures and history. And a whole bunch of crap. Almost found Bri’s first tank of the trip but at $22, it was about $17 too expensive.

Badlands

It was about 100 degrees here, which we are not used to. Very dry and very windy. Super interesting to see the different layers of rock and sediment creating these dramatic formations.

One part has a ton of yellow and red mounds from when it was a jungle (!).

Overall, the Badlands were a little underwhelming for Bri compared to Death Valley; sort of reminds him of Lassen vs. Yellowstone (but on a hydrothermal scale, of course).

Mitchell Corn Palace

Last stop out of South Dakota. V. corny.

DETAILS, DETAILS, DETAILS

PSA: There are a few roads in the Black Hills National Forest with tunnels that are too short for RVs. Definitely get a map and plan your routes.

We’ve decided we should dance to our wedding song every year on our anniversary. <3

Any Kevin Costner fans? The Black Hills is home to the site where they filmed Dancing with Wolves.

When you have good coffee and snacks, you can find yourselves accidentally spending eight hours in one place (see Harriet & Oak review below).

Air conditioning in 100-degree heat is fantastic.

Margaritas in a protein shake shaker totally work.

But when have a bunch to celebrate your 6th wedding anniversary in a 27-foot RV, this can happen…

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED…

On our way out of the Black Hills, a baby calf ran out in front of Layla and almost met a brutal end (as did our grill). All are safe.

There were quite a few logger trucks that started barreling down a very remote road in the Black Hills around 7 AM. Would have 100% crushed a cow, or us, had either stepped out onto the road.

We’ve gotten very used to free water and dumping, so when a place tried to charge us extra (on top of $10) for water—after telling us they had water!—we were appalled. He eventually came around, which was good because we were almost empty. The campground was called Horsethief. Ha.

In the Black Hills, we met our mud match.

We had ventured in about six or seven miles of very rocky––very frustrating––road, and were only about halfway when we came across some harmless looking mud.
We immediately got stuck, and against Bri’s better instincts, he laid the pedal to the medal. We were still very stuck.
To our left? A huge mountain of logged trees leaning precariously over the road. To our right? A small hill with lots of questionable poison ivy–looking brush. No service. Very far from humans.
But we ended up finding a perfect log to put under the front tire. Then we said a prayer, and pressed the gas. AND SHE DID IT!
Never again, mud. Never again.

NOW WE KNOW

Mud is the devil.

Jess drove for the first time in the Thunder Basin Grasslands and it quickly deteriorated. It was raining and there were tons of trucks/motorcycles on the shoulder of the road, and Jess may not have known you should switch lanes when you pass them at 70 mph. So. Bri will continue to be our driving champion.

When at a dump station, make sure you slowly turn on the water lest you get sprayed by it (poor Bri).

While the water level indicators are sort of helpful, they’re not always accurate. Better to stay on the safe side so one doesn’t run out of water post-workout. (Sigh.)

There’s such a thing as maple bacon jerky. It’s good.

If at first you don’t succeed leveling, try, try again. We had a very fruitful 15th attempt in the Black Hills.

Ah, the joys of lighting an RV oven. Patience is a frustrating virtue.

ROAD FOOD

Harriet & Oak is a place to recharge any time of day with inventive coffee and tea, addicting homemade pop-tarts, fresh grain bowls, burritos, even beer.

WHERE WE STAYED

Night one: Black Hills National Forest (Northeast)

Just past the Timon and Rod & Gun campgrounds in the Northeast part of the forest, there were allegedly some good dispersed spots. The one right after Rod & Gun looked impassable in Layla, so we kept on. After sleuthing around for an hour, we tried to level in one place, but couldn’t find a good spot. So we kept going for a few miles, then turned around, tried one more time at the previous place… and hallelujah! Level! And cell service! And a cow audience!

GPS coordinates: 44.348108,-103.983754

Night two: Black Hills National Forest (near Hill City, SD)

In the Black Hills, there were lots of overgrown areas that didn’t show up on Google Maps, but we eventually found a pretty good spot just off the road. Heard a ton of coyotes that night, but still sat outside to watch the stars.

GPS coordinates: 43.925082, -103.612533

Night three: Black Hills National Forest (near Custer, SD)

Post-mud disaster, we were willing to stop just about anywhere. Decided on a questionably overgrown spot, which worked. A kid with a dirt bike kept coming past and probably thought we were crazy. We probably are.

GPS coordinates: 43.756547, -103.560599

Nights four and five: Cabela’s Rapid City

Standard Cabela’s.

Night six: Badlands Motel & Campground

Tried to get a spot at the campground just outside the Badlands, but it was full, so we went about two more miles up the road to this one, which was just about deserted, but still had gorgeous views of the Badlands. Plus, we got a full hook-up, water, the works. Hello, sweet air conditioning. Hello.