Black Hills, SD

July 4, 2012

 The Black Hills are in the southwest corner of South Dakota, famous for the natural wonders and a few man-made ones. Mount Rushmore and Chief Crazy Horse monuments are in a loop that encompasses monuments, caves, lakes, rivers, amazing rock formations, and some wild roads. The only major town in the area is Rapid City to the north. Hill City, Keystone and Custer City are tourists’ towns touting their historic roles in the ol’ west and selling t-shirts.

To me, the roads are a story in themselves. A man named Peter Norbeck was a water well driller in the early 1900’s who saw the need for a road through this beautiful wilderness. He spearheaded a group who devised the best path through the mountains, creating the Needles Highway. Needles are the best way to describe the rock formations that are found among the pines. Norbeck built towering bridges to support roads that wind over and on top of one another. He blasted rock out of mountains to create tunnels of varying height and width. The shortest tunnel is 10’7”. The narrowest is 8’4”. There are a total of 6 tunnels, each different from the last. There is one where you enter with Mount Rushmore framed in front of you. Understandably, each tunnel comes complete with cars, motorcycles, and tourists with cameras dodging one another. The best was the woman who followed their car on foot so she could film the process! (Russell found it more irritating than funny.) So at each tunnel the driver stops, honks, waits and carefully comes through to find a parking spot to join the crowd.

 Peter Norbeck went on to become a state representative, governor and US senator. His committee presided over the investigation of Black Friday of 1928. Quite a man!

 We have stayed in 2 RV parks in this area. The KOA is very close to the monuments on the western side of the loop. It is huge, family oriented and expensive. Short Stay. Wolf Campground is small, personal, retirement oriented and reasonable. Long Stay!  The owners have 2 wolves and give each visitor an education about the animals while you are free to pet them through the fence. They had a pot luck dinner last night providing the ribs and corn on the cob! We look forward to leftovers and more visiting tonight. This park is on the east side of the loop just miles away from the well-known Custer State Park.

We did drive through Custer State Park, saw a few animals, had a picnic and took short hikes. It is very pretty, diverse and sprawling. You drive in and out of the park to several lakes and along the Needles Highway.

 We leave in the morning for the area around Devil’s Tower in Wyoming.