From Devils Tower, we made our way into South Dakota, our first stop was Lead on the outskirts of Deadwood.
As we drove to Lead, we passed through the Black Hills of South Dakota and stopped for famous Indian tacos at Cheyenne Crossing.
As we’ve been covering some large distances to get to this point, we decided to have a big relax. Our accommodation, The old town hall, was historic and quirky, and had a very comfy bed!
Lead was a very quiet place to be based, was on a Sunday where everything except a small bar was closed. Once upon a time the largest gold mine in the world was here, but now the old mines are government run for scientific experiments. We managed a beer or three in the bar – where we had the cheapest round we’ve ever had – 3 beers and a strong gin and tonic for $8 total! Before settling in for some tv and a rest.
The next morning, feeling refreshed, we went for a hike in the Black hills- at spearfish canyon.
Just before lunchtime we took a cab the small distance into Deadwood, where we enjoyed vibe immensely (it helped being a non driving day- by 1230 we’d had 2 pints of South Dakota lager and a 5 shot whiskey tasting and a moon shine tasting too!)
We enjoyed a beer where wild bill was shot and enjoyed some live music too.
We decided to visit the brothel museum which was extremely interesting- we couldn’t believe that the brothel was in operation here (illegally) from 1880s-1980!
We also enjoyed the cowboy shootout in Deadwood- all good fun!
Before leaving Deadwood the next morning (with a slight headache might I add 😂) we visited Calamity Jane and Wild Bill’s grave.
From Deadwood it was time turn the wheels toward the Black hills for some scenic exploring.
We visited Crazy Horse memorial which actually we were a bit underwhelmed with – it was our own fault as we didn’t realise it was un finished and therefore we thought the entry charge or $30 was steep.
From Crazy Horse we went into Custer State Park, where we had a picnic lunch and then a very scenic and thrilling drive along the needles highway which was stunning. A highlight was driving through the dinky stone tunnels!
From The needles highway we took Iron Mountain Road and then to Mount Rushmore National Monument which is staggering to see in real life. Amazing to think this was completed in 1930s!
Our base for the next two nights was Hill City, where the following day we were booked on the 1880 train, a historic steam engine that winds its way through the Black hills between Keystone and Hill city. Keystone is a very small little town, set up for tourists but with a cool little tavern where we enjoyed Big Dave’s show. It’s not often Keith, who is 6 ft4, is dwarfed, but big Dave is 7 ft 2!
It was nice leisurely day and we enjoyed the return train journey- we found it very relaxing indeed.
From Hill City we made our way to Rapid City. We stopped off at a part of the Dances with Wolves film set, where we saw the original film set building which was used for the Headquarters where Lt Dunbar received his posting to Camp Sedgwick. We also saw the gun shot in the window where the Major shot himself. It was really cool!
From there we went into Rapid City for an hour. We had an hour wandering the historic streets of Rapid City , plus a bit of shopping from Lakota artists. We also enjoyed a beer in the old fire department brewery before moving on!
The afternoon was spent at the Minuteman missile National historic site. We had a fascinating guided visit to the old bunker where the nuclear launch command pad was. Goodness me, what a sobering place it was. The launch site has been preserved as a national monument and it was very interesting to see the various buttons and equipment deep underground.
From here we went to Wall, SD, which was to be our base for the next chapter. Wall was an underwhelming place in our opinion. We’d read lots about Wall drug store but let’s just say it wasn’t our cup of tea. The whole town seemed to be owned by one person and it just wasn’t for us. However- our reason to visit was The Badlands National park, and whilst Wall wasn’t for us, Badlands was. It was everything we hoped it would be a whole load more. Utterly breathtaking. We wasted no time and went off for sunset explorations which was magical. We stayed around for the night programme which was good although a full moon hampered our star gazing! The warden talk was very interesting though.
The next day we set off at sunrise and had a nearly full day of exploring more and a bit of hiking too. We also enjoyed the fossil ranger led hike. I honestly can’t rave enough about Badlands. It was just brilliant and somewhere everyone should go at least once.
We reluctantly left Badlands and drove south through the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation – home to the Oglala Lakota Nation Sioux Indians, into Nebraska.
We’d competed our South Dakota section of our trip and it had been terrific. Just one more stage to go before our return into Colorado!
Stay tuned for more.
