Thank you for sharing this beautiful place with me
I just wanted to share my recent trip to the black hills area. You all were so helpful in planning this trip and it was one of the most amazing experiences.
Feel free to read all or some of this or just enjoy my photos :). I just wanted to share my appreciation for all of the help we got here.
At first I was worried about it. I wasn’t sure if I should go during the sturgis rally because of the crowds. I was worried about the weather as it was forecasted to rain most days. It was a 17 hour drive, and I didn’t want to waste my precious time off. The wonderful people here eased my worries and told me to go for it.
Now a lot of this may seem like small things to those of you who are local, but I got to see so many things I’ve never seen before. I’m so grateful.
First day we spent camping at the boondocks at the badlands. The weather was a bit dreary and wet, but we mostly avoided the rain during the day. It was a wonderful introduction to the trip. We did all the famous hikes and the free hiking was so fun, too! After hiking, we drove around the prairie and it was my first time experiencing prairie wildlife. We saw a couple pronghorns, a badger, a million prairie dogs (I’m obsessed), and a few bison.
Then we headed over to Custer and spent the night at north stockade lake. The crowds from sturgis was not an issue for us at all! We don’t eat out or go to hotels, so that helps. We hiked up to black elk peak, and I think that just might be one of the most beautiful summits I’ve done! The weather was absolutely perfect even through the forecast said it would rain all day lmao (I’ve learned the forecast is wrong more than it is right). We drove needles highway and the wildlife loop and visited the wildlife visitors center where a wonderful lady told up to head across the street to see the entire bison herd. Now, where im from there are no bison’s, and I was pretty amazed by the four or five I saw in the badlands. And here I was, driving past over one thousand of these magnificent creatures! I even got a cute picture of a bison and a prairie dog in the same shot lol!
Once we made dinner and settled down that night, we drove over to Rushmore and enjoyed that at night.
We went back to our campsite and slept in our tent through the ambience of a crazy thunder storm. The rain was less like rain droplets and sounded more like we were under a giant faucet. Super cool, and our gear was super wet haha.
The next day, it was a bit rainy. We walked around sylvan lake and did the Sunday gulch trail. Probably super beautiful, but a bit scary because, while it was beautiful weather when we started, it had torrential downpours on the way back up. It was an adventure, though!
We then drove over to elk mountain campground at wind cave national park. We went to the visitors center, and did some scenic driving where we got to see some more creatures! We saw some bison (playfully?) fighting and a coyote on the hunt. Before bed, the starry sky was incredible and we got to see a few shooting stars.
On the last day, we did a tour at jewel cave where I was so delighted to see about 10 bats! We even got to watch one chase another for awhile flying about the cave. I was also so amazed to see the sea shells deep within the cave! We then changed all of our clothes (as to not spread disease or microbes) and headed over to wind cave for our tour there. The box work was so detailed, and the mystery of it all is so cool. We learned so much.
After that I took a little nap in the car and then we went on a hike at wind cave. The wild life was so cool and enjoyed all the trees.
We then drove and found a cool spot for dinner and a sunset. As we cooked and ate we watched a bison graze from afar and we enjoyed all of the varied clouds and beautiful colors. A bit later, we saw the most spectacular lightning show. Never in my life have I seen anything like it. It lasted for almost 2 hours. It was probably my favorite part of the trip. \
Now I’m off to drive back home, my motivation being a glorious shower!
Overall, I think we packed all we could in 4 days, but I can’t wait to come back. Thank you for sharing this beautiful area with us. I appreciate all the feedback everyone gave on my first two posts while I was planning this trip, you helped us make the most of it!