South Dakota – You Surprised Us!

Kevin said, “Let’s find Nemo!” While looking at a map at the state visitor center he saw there is a little town in the Black Hills, South Dakota, named Nemo. So off we went. The drive, oh wow, was so pretty. Rapid City, South Dakota, is on rolling ground, hardly any trees, and wild green grass.

Then just to the west is Black Hills. I read they look black from afar and that is how it got its name. I can definitely see that. The road is paved nicely and winds past houses scattered in the pine trees. Also saw small ranches in wide open meadows. The elevation ranged from 3000s to barely 5000s. We like this area very much. Not a lot of traffic on this road. At one point we saw a sign for the city limits with a population of 3. Three, not a typo! It was over before we could grab the camera for a picture.Driving past Sturgis  Autio (footnote 1) told us the motorcycle rally now brings in more than 500,000 people for several weeks in August!!!It just ended yesterday. I looked up the population of the town…7000. Can you even imagine?!

Tuesday: Later in the afternoon I continued reading The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick. So much information and to be here in the area where part of Custer’s life was is really thrilling because I can picture it as we are here. Love that! When Kevin was done with work we drove to Custer State Park. Most people, me included until I did research a few months ago, think the Last Stand happened there. But no, it happened near Garryowen, MT. Right at the park entrance ($20 for 7 day pass) the hills start. You go from rolling ground and wild green grass to big hills with pine trees and meadows.

Remember, I am deaf. We stopped at the visitor center. They have a beautiful theater with a movie playing. Kevin asked the guy and lady working there if they have closed captions for the movie. “Ah, no.” Really? I was very disappointed. Apparently the movie was about the history of Custer State Park. After watching the “silent” movie, I wrote on the comment card about their lack of closed captions and how it is the law for them to provide accommodations to the deaf. I also wrote that I will look for their answer as to how they are fixing this problem on my gmail. I am not the first deaf person in these places! Frustrating! NOTE: a few days later I received an email from the head person of the visitor center. She apologized, said she knew that American Disabilities Act require them to accommodate deaf and hard of hearing. She said the movie did have captions but the staff didn’t know how to turn them on. She was doing intense training with each worker and would follow up to make sure they were doing it. Good! Grateful for the action. I suggested she leave the captions on all the time; I find that helps a lot of people who miss words of the voices. I hope she does.

Drove along Wildlife Loop Rd and what fun that was. We even saw a huge herd of bison in the distance. We also saw pronghorn, deer, big horn sheep, prairie dogs, fish and a turtle. Oh, the prairie dogs: Kevin pulled over when he saw them. As he got out there were 10s and 10s of them scurrying along, pop in a hole, pop up to look around. It was very funny. I know these are the most we have ever seen.

Wednesday: Around 5:30pm we started walking to the Hart Ranch Rodeo grounds. The campground we are staying at, Hart Ranch Camping Resort Club is amazing! So beautiful. We decided to buy tickets to their rodeo, right on the campground grounds. This was Wild West Wednesdays Rodeo, part of World Champions Rodeo Association. Hart Ranch has this rodeo every Wednesday throughout the summer and this was the championship. At the guard station a guy said there was a hay wagon that would pick us up. That is so cool! We waited just a few minutes and soon was on the wagon. It was pulled by a funny looking truck-thing. It took us to the short distance. We walked around the food trucks seeing what we wanted for dinner. The smells made a person hungry! It wasn’t too crowded and we got seats at the top of the bleachers where we could lean against the back. The weather was perfect – slight wind sometimes, just enough to keep the bugs away, and we had a banner at our backs so it blocked the wind which was nice. The announcer was great and from Missouri. The entire time he sat on his horse in the arena and did the announcing. It was a lot of fun. This rodeo looked to have about 700 people, with a good chunk of people bringing their camping chairs and sitting in an open space. Very small, compared to the big PRCA rodeos we are used to in Utah, but fun, nevertheless. The activities were bareback horse riding, saddle bronc, barrel racing (all ladies but one guy), and bull riding. Interesting, there was only one person who was able to stay on the bull 5 feet from the gates. His score wasn’t high enough and the guy with the highest total scores from the other nights won, even though he was injured and couldn’t ride tonight. Happy for him. A lot of people in the audience were from Wisconsin and Minnesota. Perfect evening.

Thursday: We drove to just inside Custer State Park and headed north on Iron Mountain Road. We liked this road even more than Wildlife Loop. We only saw a deer or two but wow, the twisty road, the views of hills and trees and vistas were great. Thankfully, even though a Thursday evening, there was hardly any traffic. We were able to stop at 1 of 3 tunnels and actually stand in the middle of the road and take pictures through the tunnel to see Mt Rushmore.

We passed Mt Rushmore but didn’t go in since we will be there Tuesday. We drove through Keystone, population 250. I laughed and said there were more cars parked here than population! We stopped for blizzards at Dairy Queen. Sat outside on a bench for a little while but soon Kevin was getting eating by mosquitos!

Friday: The cashier at the campground store, called Hart Mart, is a very nice older man. We asked if he work camped here and he said no, he lives in the area full-time for 25 years. We told him how much we like this place and the area. He said the winters aren’t as bad as Missouri, where he grew up. A neighbor talked with Kevin and said this green grass and wild grass is unusual for this time of year. Usually is all pretty dried out.

Later we headed west to Custer State Park. We drove Needles Hwy and wow. It gets it’s name from rock that looks smooth, is white-tan in color, and stand up with pockets or sides that look like a needle. They aren’t mountain-tall, more just off the side of the road. The road was a bit busier than Iron Mtn yesterday.

We came upon a van from MN that was stopped in the middle of our lane, going up a kind of steep grade. We pulled over to the side in front of them (no shoulder, really) and Kevin went back to see if they needed any help. The van had just stalled. They talked a bit and then Kevin came back to get his phone so the guy could call; his phone had no service. Wouldn’t you know, the only place we have had only SOS service anywhere in this entire area, was right there. The guy didn’t call but tried van again and it started. Kevin asked if he wanted us to watch them behind us. Yes, please. I was glad they (man, wife, and 3 kids) could get going again since they were stopped in the middle of the road. We went to a little way and pulled off to a parking lot overview. Here you could see even farther these needle-like rocks. The guy from MN pulled in, too. Our new friend thought maybe it was his transmission, even though a fairly new vehicle. Kevin asked if he wanted us to follow him, yes please, he said. It is just nice to know someone is behind him who stopped to help. Down the road we went. They got a ways ahead of us and as we stopped at another pull off, they were there. Oh no, did the van stop working? Nope, just taking in the view. Whew. We visited a bit with them, telling them we are going to MN the following weekend and what did they suggest we see. They said Mall of America. We also asked about the flour mill I had found out about this morning and they said, yes, it was very interesting. They have a hotel room at Keystone. We soon lost track of them but wish them well on their trip. We don’t know how to fix these new cars but at least we were there if they needed a phone. Nice to have someone available instead of everyone just passing by.

Needles Hwy ends up at Sylvan Lake, elevation 5145. We parked and walked the mile loop around the lake. It was beautiful. A very small lake with grass slopes, needle-like rocks, people picnicking and others swimming and in kayaks. Very serene. The trail was fun to walk along but somehow we got off the trail (when it went over flat rocks) and we got in sort of a steep place where water would run through rocks. Sometimes the way over a rock was taller than my legs! That was fun. HAHA Behind the lake is a man-made water fall of the dam. We saw a young lady getting her pictures taken. A teenage boy was over on the top of a needle-rock looking like he wanted to jump into the lake. There are warning signs all around to not jump from the rocks. We never did see him jump in so hopefully he followed the rules for safety. The weather was 70 and sunny. A real paradise place. I had packed a sandwich picnic but we decided to eat it on our way and not take the time to stop since it was getting later in the day and we wanted to see more.

This is one of my most favorite photos I have taken. The sun is setting and it is shining between two trees. Captured this on our short walk through Black Hills, South Dakota. Thank you for reading my travel journal.

1. Autio is an iPhone app that tells all sorts of history and stories about places all over the country. It is narrated and with my iPhone on accessibility, it shows captions of the words being said. So thankful!