10/12/22

Spearfish, South Dakota

Welcome to South Dakota! We've reached our final planned sight-seeing destination. From here, we'll be high-tailing it toward home...not for a couple of days, though. There's still a little bit of work to do before we can wrap up our "Great Lakes 2022" trip. (That's the label I gave it in my photo folder.) 

We spent a leisurely morning before leaving Chadron State Park. Smitty got out for a final walk and one last snack of Negrasska.

When he was safely back inside, Mike and I went out for a walk. It had clouded over just for the beginning of our walk. I turned back to take this photo of our campsite. It was certainly one of the more spacious sites we enjoyed on this trip. It was pretty with fall color all around, tallgrass prairie behind us, and a few pine trees thrown in.


Also looming over us, this bluff with one small tree at the top, growing against all odds.


Walking along, I can never resist taking a picture of something like this:


Thank you for indulging my dandelion fetish. We stopped off to see the horses at the park stables.


There were a few more to our left.


And what a nice place they have here. I'd be happy to be a horse here...if I were invited...and if I were a horse.


Our walk was short, and then we packed up to pull out. On our way out the front gate, I stopped to take a picture of this sign. We didn't spend much time exploring this park since we'd really come to see Fort Robinson.


Behind the sign was this pretty pond. Paddle boats could be rented here.


And then it was just about 25 miles before we crossed the state line into South Dakota. Sorry for the blur. Bumpy road. The sign below the state sign indicated we were traveling the US Marine Corps Memorial Highway. And since I'm a Marine Corps brat, it seemed completely appropriate.


Fairly soon after crossing the state line, we saw a herd of antelope. I wasn't quick enough to get a picture, but I found this one on Creative Commons.

("Antelope" by NatalieMaynor is licensed under CC BY 2.0.)

Here are a couple more I've taken in the past. This one was seen in Teddy Roosevelt National Park in North Dakota.


These were seen while traveling in Wyoming.


Getting back to South Dakota, the first small town we passed through was Oelrichs. There, we saw this historical marker. Again, this isn't my picture. I found it online with credit given to the photographer.

(Photographed By Barry Swackhamer, September 7, 2015)

Here's what the marker says: 

The Town of Oelrichs, Dakota Territory, began in 1885. Harry Oelrichs (1856-1902) of New York came in 1882 and bought out several large cattle ranches, totaling 35,000 head of cattle, for the Anglo-American Cattle Company. At this time, thousands of Texas Longhorn cattle roamed freely throughout the area.

In 1885 the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley Railroad was completed through town. In the same year Harry Oelrichs established his headquarters east of the railroad tracks, which was formerly the Tan Ranch. He brought culture to the town, and many social activities took place. Celebrities frequently visited. Ill health forced him to return to New York in 1887. The town boasted over 2,000 people at this time. In 1887 an abattoir was built near the railroad tracks. Cattle and hogs were slaughtered daily and shipped to eastern markets. The abattoir closed in 1889. The settlers began fencing their claims, closing the open range and forcing the larger ranches out. Oelrichs became a farming and ranching community and remains that today.

Okay, so that was interesting. We were watching the map carefully because we've been through this area before. I took a picture of the map to help explain our concerns. 


We crossed the border where it's circled in teal, and our plan was to drive the highway with the pink arrows (which we did). We didn't want to get off on US 385, marked with a yellow line (where our nav unit wanted to take us), and especially we didn't want to get off on SD 87 marked in red. It's a beautiful road along there, and those areas are stunningly beautiful. When we bought our first RV back in the late 90's (that would be the previous millennium for those keeping track), we kind of closed our eyes and put our finger on the map and selected Wind Cave National Park as our first long trip in the new RV. We had a blast. Neither of us had ever visited South Dakota, and we enjoyed our time in Custer State Park, Wind Cave National Park, and the Needles Scenic Highway.

Okay, so here's the part we were scared of: The Needles Eye Tunnel in Custer State Park. It's one of the more interesting spots we've ever driven. Here's a photo I found on Creative Commons.

("Needles Eye Tunnel 2" by foxtail_1 is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.)

These are the size restrictions for passing through the tunnel. We're not only too tall...we're also too wide.


Our first RV was quite a bit smaller than the one we're in now. We could make it through the tunnel then, but I got out and walked to the other side, holding up traffic until we'd safely passed through.

Okay, so we watched carefully as we went along, and made sure we stayed on the SD 79 until we reached I-90. The terrain looked pretty much like this most of the way.


Straight and flat...that was our day for most of the day.


We passed by a lot of cattle ranches and at least one bison ranch.


Also, a few abandoned homesteads...


And barns that looked as if they might as well be abandoned...


And some of my favorite classic red barns.


As we approached our final destination of Spearfish, the terrain grew more hilly, and it's very pretty here.


We have three items on our sight-seeing agenda: Drive the Spearfish Canyon Scenic Byway (19 miles); visit Lead, SD (pronounced "leed"); and visit Black Elk Peak. As it turns out, it's raining and windy this morning. We'll probably just hang out here if the weather doesn't improve. We're just barely awake at this point, and only just now getting a start on our day. You and I will both have to wait to see what happens next. For sure and certain, Friday morning we'll begin the long slog toward home. More later.

10 comments:

Barbara said...

Wherever my story takes me, however dark and difficult the theme, there is always some hope and redemption, not because readers like happy endings, but because I am an optimist at heart. I know the sun will rise in the morning, that there is a light at the end of every tunnel. ~ Michael Morpurgo

Edith said...

We loved our quick trip into the Black Hills a few years ago but we just had our car so it was easier going through those twisty roads and tunnels. Wazy took us that way for some reason. Most direct I guess. Such a pretty area. And it smells wonderful. We accidentally found an embroidery shop named Mindy’s I think in Eugene so I bought a couple of small things to try. I bought a book on Stumpf work that is beautiful looking but I’m unlikely to do it๐Ÿ˜€. I have yet to convince my husband that RVing is for us! I think ii will continue to enjoy your travels. Have a good trip.

piecefulwendy said...

On yeah, you definitely needed to avoid Needles - that would not have been fun for you at all. I'm pretty sure we got through some of those tunnels just because I had sucked in all the air in the car - hahaha - just kidding (kinda). Those long prairie views still tug at my heartstrings - I am a SDak gal at heart. I miss them, although I can find them here in MN, too! Enjoy your drive!

dgs said...

What a beautiful area of the country and so many gorgeous animals and barns. If this is your final leg, it is awesome. But it is hard for me to think about your amazing road trip coming to an end soon. I think you should stay in this beautiful spot until you get totally bored, or the kitties are scream "take me home". It is just too beautiful to leave.

Sherrill said...

I was just up there last year and traveled that road that you were avoiding. It IS really pretty up there and the area was crowded up by the little tunnel. We were in the area when the big biker fest was going on and they kinda messed up our Spearfish Canyon experience with their loud bikes. But it was gorgeous.

Sara said...

I never get tired of driving through Spearfish Canyon or the Needles Highway. Those are 2 of the "must do" things nearly every time we are in the Black Hills. Our kids always loved going to the lighting ceremony at Mount Rushmore.

Angei said...

I so love your travels and sightseeing adventures. It has shown me places that I will never see and most importantly how beautiful America is.
Safe travels home.

QuiltGranma said...

It is so fun traveling with you again. I don't take up any space, don't eat you put of house and home and the darling kitties are not upset by this stranger tagging along. Love your descriptions and photos.

Camp Stanhope Happenings said...

Your blog came up on "bloglovin' daily digest' page because I subscribe to a cat blog (Poppy q, who lives in New Zealand).
It looked interesting because I, too, love cats (we only have 1 now; Watson, who is 8 and fat) and my husband is an engineer (drives trains) for the Union Pacific Railroad.
We visited North Platte a few years ago in September, the weekend they have the 'train festival' and you can tour Bailey yard in a van, etc. One of my husband's aunts said, "I don't even like trains, but it was really interesting going to the top of the tower and watching the action in the yard!"
Thanks for letting me tag along on your journey. Your pictures are great!

Magpie's Mumblings said...

Size notwithstanding, there's no way I'd be the least bit happy about going through that hole in the rock. I enjoyed seeing the great barns - thank you.